The TVFC Under 12s enjoyed a rare evening of soccer under lights as the youngest junior team at Trafalgar played against Morwell Pegasus for their Round 9 encounter. The team was very keen to have a win, having played top of the ladder Traralgon City in their previous match.
The match was rescheduled for Thursday the 12th June following a request made by the opposition. In hindsight the move was welcomed, especially given that the original game day of Saturday the 14th proved to be quite wet and cold.
The team looked to thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to play mid-week under lights. The fact that the vast majority of the club were also training meant that the kids were playing in front of easily their biggest supporter group to date. It was lovely for the kids to have members of the senior and men and women come along and encourage them. The support form the rest of the club was very welcomed.
It didn’t take long for the Trafalgar team to score against the relatively inexperienced and under aged Pegasus team. It was Josh who started the scoring blitz and the striker, who himself is younger than most in the team, was causing havoc up front. Along with Kate, who also played striker for the night, the two generated numerous shots on goals.
Trafalgar had winners all over the ground and the mid-field was well on top. At times it looked as though Ben and Michael had that much time on the ball, they weren’t sure what to do. Both played great games and set up the strikers with some lovely passing. Flynn was a welcome addition to the team and added some speed and strength to the list. Whilst Rhys and Jacob continued their fine vein of form and controlled the ball beautifully, regardless of the multitude of positions they were asked to play on the night.
By half time Trafalgar were well on top and had five goals in the book. Connor scored what can be best described as a very “sneaky” goal after dribbling the ball into the box and shooting a look away goal. Kate had many shots on goal and was only denied by some really good goal keeping by the Pegasus goalie.
In a problem not usually encountered, I find it difficult to recall exactly who kicked which goal and in what order. Even at the end of the night the goals kicked in the score book didn’t add up to the tally quoted by the players.
One goal that does stand out was that scored by Tristan. After numerous years of service in the back line for this team, Coach Mark eventually gave Tristan the nod to move up front. Tristan did so, but was a little unsure exactly where to be and what to do. To his credit he did exactly what his coach asked, that was “to kick a goal”. The crowd erupted as Tristan casually slotted a nice goal across the body of the outreached keeper. His hands reached to the sky as Trafalgar supporters as one cheered and celebrated this long awaited event. Congratulations to Tristan.
At the end of the night the score book read Trafalgar 9 – Morwell 0. However, if you believe the kids, and not the score book, the team scored 10 goals (Josh 3, Jackson 3, Michael 2, Tristan 1 and Connor 1).More pleasing than the win was the manner in which the team played. Everyone was provided a chance up front and the usual strikers were happy to give others a chance at glory for a week. At the end of the game every Trafalgar player followed the captain of the day Kate in thanking the referee.
It is good to see that this team of players are as gracious in victory as they are positive in defeat. This team plays the game in the correct manner and always in great spirit. A great night out for the team who now enjoy a week’s rest with the bye, followed by consecutive matches at home and away against the two East Gippsland (Bairnsdale) teams.
This weeks’ awards went to Josh, Ben & Jackson
