East Gosford vs Barnstoneworth B North Report

Due to our Round 17 game having previously been washed out, our final league game saw us travel to Hylton Moore oval play East Gosford. Having already been confirmed as minor premiers, the brief was to use this game to continue to build momentum for the finals series, whilst avoiding any unnecessary cards or injuries.

With our opponents needing a win to have a chance of grabbing second spot and the two finals chances that provides, we expected a tough game and so it proved. With our warm up somewhat disrupted by an end of season photo shoot, we started the game somewhat slowly and our opponents were clearly ready to take advantage. Despite our initial lethargy, we grew into the game as the half progressed and missed a gilt edged chance on the half hour mark, with Frank shooting narrowly wide after some good lead up play, meaning the scores were deadlocked at the break.

Our half time talk centred on the need to be better when in possession of the ball and using it smartly, something which had been very lacking in the first 40 minutes, given our tendency to play some pretty ‘free range’ football, which was generally working in our opponents’ favour and not our own.

Despite all the talk at half time about looking to exercise more control of the game, EGO seized upon some ponderous midfield play shortly after the restart, to loop a 25-metre cross shot over Geoff and into the side netting of our goal. As disappointing as it was to concede in that manner, that should take nothing away from the quality of the finish from EGO, which would hopefully lead to us lifting our game. Whilst going behind did seem to give our game a push, we were still second best in many areas of the park but we were still a little unlucky when Shane shot wide when through on goal, suggesting that it just wasn’t going to be our day. EGO then compounded our misery with a well taken header from a free kick on 65 minutes, the award of which was somewhat harsh, seeing that John was upended immediately prior to his contact with the EGO player. Despite our pushing to get something from the game, EGO’s defence was on top form and it was no real surprise when the final whistle sounded with our still having not managed to net a goal.

Without wishing to use the well-worn cliché that this was a loss that we perhaps needed to have, in order to shake any complacency from the team, hopefully we can use the result as a marker for where we need to be better in our major semi-final. As DOY also won their final game, we will now face them and not EGO, which is probably not a bad result from our perspective.

Despite conceding two goals, Geoff (thou shalt not pass) Channels was voted man of the match for keeping us in the game for as long as he did with some crucial interventions, whilst the whole team was collectively awarded the Scrotum Medal for playing like 11 individuals and not the team we know we normally are.