Under 12 Report - 13th June 2009

Dayboro U12’s vs The Gap – top of the table clash

What a great game, what a great result! The clash between our team (second on the table) and The Gap (top of the table) set the scene for an exciting game. Dayboro came out firing and put pressure on The Gap straight away. Ed got stuck in straight off the whistle with a solid tackle to take the ball away from the opposition and moved the ball forward. By the end of the second minute, Jed took a shot at goal. Another sign of things to come involved Alex and Oliver combining well in their passing to move the ball forward in a one-two sequence.

In the seventh minute, Dayboro scored the first goal. Alex moved the ball forward from the edge of the penalty box. He could have blasted the ball for a speculator shot, but as coach Scott had drilled into the team ‘control’, Alex chose to move forward and ‘with control’, and swept the ball into the goal!

Dayboro did not let up after the first goal. With The Gap rattled, Dayboro kept moving forward. Jake had a strong run, Travis made a long range pass and Kade had a shot at goal. Alex would have scored again in the ninth minute, but was called offside. With all the pressure on The Gap and Dayboro pushing forward, Alex scored again after being fed a good ball from his team mates.
The opposition spectators sensed the Dayboro dominance when one called out, "Two of you tackle him!" In attack or defence Dayboro dominated. More disciplined passing saw Alex, Kade and Olivia moving the ball up the field. Oliver showed tenacity against some of the stronger Gap players by tackling, falling over, getting up again and tackling a second time. Twenty minutes into the game and Dayboro hadn’t eased off. A second call from the sideline could be heard by all, "two of you tackle him" – a desperate spectator! With heightened excitement, Alex further entertained the home crowd with an overhead kick receiving a great cheer from the Dayboro supporters.

Toward the end of the first half, Dayboro let The Gap into the game. The Gap had several pushes forward with shots at goal. Franz did well to keep the ball out of the net. Finally, as Dayboro was anticipating the end of the first half, they were caught off guard by a long range shot from outside the penalty box. The ball rose high and long over the defence and went into the top corner of the Dayboro goal.

Half time gave Coach Scott a chance to reinforce the game plan "move the ball, track the ball". Scott also added some words of encouragement, "Our passing is sweet, we’re tearing them apart, and their goal caught us on breakaway!"

The Gap started the second half well with a shot at goal in the first few minutes; but again Franz was solid in goal. The beginning of the second half also saw more of the ball moving up and down the pitch in a midfield battle. Oliver took a superb shot from out wide with The Gap goalie having to take dive. The goalie was surprised at the shot on target from such a narrow angle. Against the run of plan, The Gap scored again. Another long range shot, Franz at full stretch got a hand to the ball and pushed it wide, but not wide enough. The ball hit the post and went into the goal. The Gap celebrated at levelling the score but Dayboro had a problem. With Franz committing himself to the previous save, he injured his hand and could not keep goal for the rest of the match. Brad, ever the enthusiast, did not hesitate when he was asked to go in goal. This would be a fortunate replacement as Brad was destined to entertain later in the game.

In the tenth minute of the second half, Dayboro would score again. An exceptional goal, Olivia took the ball down the right from halfway, dribbled it deep into the opposition’s half, then crossed the ball with a pin point pass. Kade connected with the ball and slotted in the goal. Dayboro’s intensity was back with passing combinations being one of many highlights of match. Again, Oliver crossed the ball and nearly scored. The Gap took advantage of whatever ball they could get and scored again to level the match.

Even though the game was levelled after 15 minutes into the second half, Dayboro kept dominance over the match. The game continued back and forth with Dayboro continuing to bring the ball out of defence. The strong Dayboro mid-field was dependable with Mathew and India. Jeremy was also strong throughout the match providing good balls to the forwards, or moving it forward himself.

Toward the end of the match, Dayboro had a corner and Coach Scott threw caution to the wind and called Brad up from his goal posting to try for the goal winning header. The ball was crossed in and Brad just missed scoring. As The Gap moved the ball out of defence, Brad sprinted back to his goal at full speed to the cheer of the crowd. This underlined the theme of the game, entertainment plus!

With only minutes to go until the end of the match, Jak had a couple of strong kicks in midfield to keep the ball in the oppositions half. More pressure from Dayboro moved the ball toward The Gap’s goal and fittingly enough, a third goal from Alex - his hat-trick!!

Minutes later the final whistle blew. The Dayboro players jumped around in excitement and the supporters cheered making it one of the best supported games of the year. Well done Coach Scott! Dayboro U12’s are top of the table, knocking off the previous top team – The Gap.

Player of the match was Jeremy Lake