2008 ROUND 8
DOC vs LUSC Third XI 2 - 1

Goals:
Dimoski, Michael (13)
Jones, Michael M (65)

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Today we travelled to Eltham to play the little known DOC United. They were so little known that even our Captain couldn't find the ground in the maze that is Eltham College and was subsequently late. According to him, he thought it would be a good tactic to make sure everyone else in the team was alert. Eventually the team made it's way onto the pitch which by this season's standards was quite good.

The match started with both teams feeling each other out. The Big Sturg having his first game back from injury started in an unfamiliar midfield role, partnering the evergreen Johnny A, While Gaspar Gomez partnered Paul in defence.

On a few occasions the opposition strikers showed they had a little skill as well as some pace that could cause our defence problems given some space. The early exchanges saw both teams get forward and create some opportunities, however the final pass and composure was preventing us from scoring.

Big Mika as he has done on several occasions, opened the scoring with a very good finish following some good build up play. It was just reward for some of the good passages of play we had put together. After the goal, we seemed to go back in the shell a little bit, with our gameplay being reduced to either the defence or the attack with little in between. Although our midfield were not playing badly, they just weren't getting much passing together.

Towards the second part of the first half, the opposition sustained some passages of attack. Although they failed to create many clear-cut chances, we were on the back foot and rallied to make sure we did not concede.

Entering half time with a 1-0 lead, Raf was pretty happy with how things were progressing and what we had shown. Whilst the opposition strikers had shown enough to suggest they would be a handful in the 2nd half, our major concern was probably the bloke with the whistle who was happy to award the furthest thing from peoples minds. Goal kicks became corners and vice-versa, but if called two in a row against you, you got the next free kick. I think one was given against the wind for blowing too hard.

We kicked off the second half looking to take advantage following a good start to the match and it wasn't long before we celebrating with Micky Jones taking a leaf out of his idles book and curving in a free kick. A very good goal. As has been the norm in past, we could have been forgiven for thinking the opposition would fold. This was not the case and the opposition seemed to have been spurred by the 2nd goal and came back with more determination. It wasn't long after that the opposition got one back having made the most of an opportunity from a mix up between our players. It was game on and with plenty of time left in the match it looked like both teams could score again.

Off went Gaspar and down went Rades after a clash with an opposition player, which left the team looking slightly different from when it started. The last 15 minutes of the match saw opportunities for both teams, with the La trobe looking the more likely to score. We worked on created our opportunities and pressing forward. This opened up opportunities for the opposition to exploit and the dreaded "hole" showed it ugly head. Often all the opposition would have to do would be to clear it to the halfway line and they would have players coming from both directions able to launch their counter. As a team this is an area we need to improve.

Frustrated, that we had conceded a soft goal, Dukes was sprung into action and determined to not let them score again. Pulling off some saves and coming off his line at the appropriate time he showed the kind of asset he can be to the team. One save in particular was when the opposition striker was one on one. Dukes proved more than up to the challenge. In the end we made it to the final whistle with another 3 points in the bag. This was a deserving victory that we were made to work hard for. It was no coincidence that this team was undefeated before today. Afterwards we sung the song and took part in the usual post-match banter. Many thanks to the referee who provided more than his share of entertainment.

Better players today included Micky Jones, Arturo and Dukes (DUKES echo!). One more round to go before the halfway mark. Lets try and keep our perfect winning record in tact.

p.s. Someone might want buy a sat-nav for the skipper!