It is always great to get the season off with a win as many are always nervous, about so many things. The pitch was absolutely first class! Nunawading has a great set-up but only one pitch for every game makes me wonder how long that quality can last. Nevertheless it was fantastic to play on.
Nunawading's teams all play the possession based football. Its a highly attractive brand of football and they have had their own academy doing that for 4 years now. Each team played exactly the same way and it was great to play a team with such quality and precision. It does tire a team out playing against that type of opposition and a lack of focus can really hurt. My U14s found that out - two mistakes cost 2 goals and we missed too many chances - but we never would have deserved to win in U14 - we were totally outplayed even in the 2-1 scoreline.
The U18s game was decisively different. We had the firepower to continually counter attack and our forays into our offense looked far more dangerous. Nunawading had some chances but they were just denied by stout defense.
Thunder took a while to get going but the first two goals were absolutely class. An R1 and an L1 exactly how you want them played! Leigh and George made great runs and along with Nate the three had the hand in scoring. We countered many times and we probably should have had a few more in the first half. Nic gave us some great work up front, along with Leigh and George and Nate. Alex and Nanton teamed up very well to dispossess the opposition and held the midfield well. Anthony Santoro played great and showed excellent technique to break down and create turnovers. Adam loves to run off his flank and Dhruv and Connor were tight in defense. Dhruv showed lots of confidence in attacking space and making great passes up field. Lewis was great in goal and pulled off two great saves, but his talking on the pitch was sensational and demonstrates why he deserves to be captain. Charlie, Elia and Seb got their chances and worked hard. It was a tough first day, but one that put many things into perspective.
In passages we were brilliant, but at times we were sloppy and tired. We missed too many goals that other teams would bury. The worst moment was when we had three players against the keeper and we stuffed it up! The opponents even had conceded that it was a sure goal and did not even chase. We must do better in our 18 yard box.
It was the first game, however, and game two will be a repeat when we take on the mighty Senior NTC next Sunday. Dont forget we have a game Wednesday.
Thanks to Owen for recording the game and we will sit and evaluate our performance.
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