Westvale Olympic Vs LUSC Reserves 0-1 (0-0)

Goals: Thomas Randla

Go Back to Reserves Team Page here


Bouncing back from last week’s 0-2 loss to Avondale Heights, the reserves came to St Albans to play Westvale, with their minds set on getting the campaign back on track.

Starting off with a very strong line-up, with Bozza and Marco back in the team, as well as Ceri making his season debut - the major surprise of the day was the Caribbean super keeper, Gabriel Phillips in goals, covering for an injured Gandolfo.

Staunchly supported by their supporters Westvale surprised La Trobe straight away with a very technical and fast paced game, and hadn’t it been for the Carribean super keeper in goals, the score could well have been 1-0, or 2-0, after just 10 minutes. Again La Trobe defending a little bit too low allowing the opposition too much time on the ball, as well as not putting their body .

Half way into the half, Ceri’s head connected beautifully with a corner from Lucas. Heading for the far corner, the ball was miraculously saved on the goal line by the defender denying La Trobe a 1-0 lead on their best chance in the first half.

Coming out to the second half, La Trobe changed their tactics slightly, putting Ceri out on the wing and Lucas in the middle of the park. Having one more player in the central midfield, allowed Marco to push on, which put more pressure on the Westvale defence. Still dangerous when counterattacking, Westvale tired quickly in the second half. About 25 minutes into the second half Thomas could score on a well-placed header, from yet another of Lucas’ excellent corners.

The last 10 minutes of the game La Trobe defended well against a Westvale, desperate for an equaliser. So desperate, that one of their players tried to strangle Aaron in the process. The referee (not too bad taking the whole game into consideration) showed again the lack of understanding of the rules, which have been the trademark of the referees so far this year, when he pulled out the yellow card to caution the player. A red card, followed by a suspension, I think, might be what the ‘Laws of the Game’ say about strangling your opponent.

Nevertheless, the reserves recorded their fourth win of the season, playing maybe their most difficult opponent so far. Gabby in goals was probably the player of the day, keeping La Trobe in the game a number of times in the first half, as well as pulling off an impressive save at 0-0 in the second half one-on-one with the opposing striker. We’re not sure if we’re counting that one though, since the ref gave us a goal kick :-)

The players need to recharge their batteries this week, for another important home game again on Saturday against Banyule. Anything else than 3 points must be seen as a loss. So, let's shape up and look sharp at training boys!