Double Header Weekend

Box Hill saturday and Murray United Sunday - that was the weekend requirement, but on Friday that changed as the U18 Game set for Saturday was postponed to Thursday night to allow Box Hill U18 to be at their best against BG on Sunday.
So the U14s took the late Saturday time slot to play the Dandenong Thunder boys. They were second on the ladder before then and had only lost once by a score of 1-0 to Dandenong City and drawn to Springvale WE. They were tough and played very well - keeping possession extremely well throughout the first half. We really did not trouble them and then they scored a goal after some really messy play in defense. We went in 1-0 down and had to now kick into a howling gale. Box Hill came out supremely confident (and lets face it, the way we played our first half why wouldn't they?) Perhaps it was this confidence or the blast that the players got at half time they seemed to change our attitude. We all worked really hard and were far more desperate to win the 50/50 battles. As a result we caused pressure on the opposition - a lot more pressure and they started to make errors and poor passes. Liron and AJ were awesome all game while Lou was excellent in goal.Jordy B played well and in the second half all played well. Lavo gave a great pass to Liron who scored and made it 1-1. Then we won a penalty and Sanih put it in with ease  We really played good defense for last 20 minutes as the game was so tight.It was excellent work from the 14s to earn a win against a very good team.
Day two saw us take on Murray united who had played Nunawading and beaten them 2-0! It was obvious that we were a better team but we were not playing well. Sanih finally scored after we had plenty of play, but our efforts were simply not like they were in the second half against Box Hill. It was almost slack work and this was really disappointing. But after about 10 minutes we found the net again and again as Sanih scored again, AJ scored a cracker and Betim scored 2. It was half time and we were 5-0 up. We still had to play better and so we implored the players to just play team football.
We made a real silly error in defense (again) and it was 5-1. Lavo scored off an assist from AJ and at 6-1 we were playing better. Our defense strengthened and were giving plenty of opportunity to the attackers. Unfortunately the boys up front were wasting opportunities by not playing team football and trying to add goals to their names! As a result we did not score any more and the game ended at 6-1.
The U18s came out and we had to send a message. We were playing Murray United who were on a roll - having won 3 out of 3 including against Box Hill, Dandenong City, NTC, and drawing to South Melbourne 3-3! We had played miserably lately - wasting many opportunities and giving away silly goals. The boys came out and played some wonderful football - some of the goals were absolutely excellent! George slammed the first one home after some great play from the defence through to midfield and then across the front of the keeper. We were unlucky not to score another one after an unbelievable save from their keeper from a rocket header from Nic. But we were treated to some awesome team goals - Nate to Nanton for a sublime finish and  and Nic to Nate for a fourth! Everyone was playing well and our defense was super strong in the first half. Charlie was excellent, as was Dhruv and kane and Wahed. Nanton and Tucci were super in the middle and Nate, Nic, Andre and George were working beautifully together. We were not one dimensional and it was a real pleasure to watch. Could we continue this in the second half? We decided to rest George, Wahed and Nic - how would we cope?
The opponents came out with the intention to possess the ball but great pressure saw Leigh score a goal. This did not phase them and to their credit they really boosted their game and fought well, The keeper was excellent and their midfield really dug deep. They had some chances and so did we. We gave Seb and Tom F a go after their long injuries and I was really happy with their efforts! It was great to see Seb whipping the ball in left foot and Tom F played with heaps of confidence running the ball up the wing! Toward the end we saw a cracking header by Nanton from Tucci's cross and it was 6-0. Special mention must go to Connor who has stepped in to be a keeper while we wait for Lewis to get better. It was the first clean sheet for many weeks and that is excellent!
We play Thursday so training is on Tuesday this week at Edithvale Reserve at 7PM!
Great job Boys - a real enjoyable game to watch!

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