Ok, here I go again.
We were off to our second match of the season, heading down the freeway to Altona’s PJ Lynch Res. We didn’t know what to expect but the weather was cloudy and threatening to rain, as it was forecasted to do so in Melbourne today.
Rusty couldn’t make it this weekend. Tim Davis was nursing his (left or right?) hamstring as he felt it go in Thursday’s training session. He still suited up. Alex Orr was getting over his hammy but seemed OK. We had 8 Bendigo players and 10 MCC players selected on Thursday. However, when the game started there were 19 MCC/Bendigo players.
Our regular goalie, Frank Eckhof, was running late and Gino Iuliano had to step in. He was planning to manage the bench as there were lots of players coming out of the woodwork.
Altona had 11 plays lined up, but there were 4 others scrambling to change at the Altona bench area just before the match started. Our coach, Adam Burrowes, had the midfield strings, man-up and man-down plays sorted.
Alex Fagan and Peter Allen (Rio) dropped from Div. 1 to lead support, which was appreciated as Joel Spiteri was a late withdraw. Alex Fagan was the engine of The Team, coming out on top in the centres. Lemon (Ron Lowe) was not available this week and Vaughn Comley (Space) come in. There were 2 junior players Jack Cahill and Joe Shobbrook also taking the field. I was hoping to see our former player Tyrone Griffin (who transferred to Altona a season ago) but he was nowhere to be seen.
The match started and there were no goals for the first 15 minutes until a great clear from the Altona goalie to his defence men that started a fast break, which Altona scored the one and only goal for the quarter. It was end to end plays for most of the quarter. The MCC/Bendigo team (The Team) lacked composure and were missing catches and throw the ball away. Frank turned up and Gino was dragged with a few minutes left in the quarter. Gino resumed his management duties on the bench, while Frank made tremendous saves throughout the match.
Our composure wasn’t right in the second quarter either, as our forays in attack were thrown away. Altona pounced on the errors, which resulted in rebound goals. The Team’s defence: Jordan, Mike, Rio, Space and Jarrad were doing their best and held firm considering the pressure they were under. However, at times they didn’t respect the Altona’s attackers near the circle and paid dearly. Altona players were noticeably the next skill level up compared to Melb Uni.
The Team was down 6 to 2 at half time, with goals from Alex Fagan and Andrew Tratt. Adam (coach) got the boys around at the break and pleaded to calm down and get the ball to “X” in attack. He requested the defenders to stand next to or in front of their attackers. This seemed to work as the third quarter was ours, featuring 3 goals from: Matt Mellor, A Tratt and Joe Shobbrook. Our defence and goalie held Altona’s attackers to one goal.
The rain started soon into the 4th quarter and it was icy cold, especially if you were on the bench. It wasn’t a good omen as, Altona scored 3 goals to our 2, from Alex Orr and Andrew Tratt.
The Team went down 10 goals to 7.
After each win or loss we all need to learn lessons from matches we’ve played, and for me todays lessons were: play next to or in front of your opposition’s attackers when in defence; take the ball to ‘X” when in attack, unless it is a faster break; have faith in your ability against very good teams (as shown in the last two quarters of the match); and Altona will always play hard and sometimes not within the rules. As shown in the penalty count 12 to 5, where two of our penalties were questionable.
Even though we lost the match, it was encouraging to see improvement in our players and that we can match it with the very good quality teams.
Scorers: 3 A Tratt, 1 A Orr, M Mellor, J Shobbrock, A Fagan.
Votes: J Cahill, J Shobbrook, F Eckhof
Our next game is at home at Maiden Gully against Surrey Park, which I heard they gave a walkover this round. I hope they do have a team!
Scribe
Gino Iuliano
Last Modified on 27/04/2021 10:31