The Trafalgar Victory Under 14 Boys played the Traralgon City Gems for their round three clash at Traralgon. Having drawn and won their past two matches respectively, the Trafalgar lads were keen to get another win under the belt. The girls only Traralgon team, on the other hand, were yet to earn any points and were equally keen to do well.
The first 20 minutes of the game presented an even contest with both teams creating scoring opportunities. The Trafalgar boys certainly didn’t have it all on their terms and the Traralgon girls threatened to score the opening goal on several occasions.
Michael Judd was unlucky not to score when he hit the upright post in a penalty conversion attempt, as was Darcy Lewis when he too found the upright post only minutes later. Eventually the deadlock was broken by an own goal from one of the Traralgon City defenders.
Possibly the play of the day from start midfielder Jacob Holmes resulted in Hardy Kenny’s first goal for the season. Jacob executed the perfect roulette manoeuvre, leaving the opposition, team mates and spectators from both teams simply stunned. Having moved his way through three defenders he played the perfect ball to Michael Judd who set up his good mate Hardy to kick his first goal for Trafalgar Victory. The half time score was a modest 2-0 lead to the visiting Victory.
At the half time address, Coach Mark encouraged his chargers to attack the final third of the pitch with more speed and better passing. Quality service to the strikers was the theme for the second half of the match.
The second half of the game resulted in a further seven goals being scored by the Trafalgar team. Midfielder Nic Tammes burnt the grass on the left side of the pitch and scored two quality goals in quick succession. Both goals demonstrated Nic’s acceleration and control on the ball, as well as skill and confidence in conversion.
Michael Judd was most influential in several goals. He scored a lovely goal himself and set up team mates in the box no less than on four occasions. His play of the day was a lovely rabona pass to Nic on the wing. Two goals came from quality corner kicks also from Michael. One of which was headed in by Nic to complete his hat-trick. The other from Flynn demonstrated his desperation for a goal, whereby he was prepared to put the ball in the back of the net using whatever body part available.
Jacob added to his outstanding game by scoring a goal of his own only seconds on the ground, following a much earned rest on the bench at the start of the second half. However, the goal of the day came from striker Jack O’Connor. Jack’s maiden goal has been coming for a while and when he finally scored, it was a cracking drive across the goalie into the top left corner of the net. The entire team as lifted by Jack’s strike and the smile on his face was well worth the wait.
It was great to see new players such as Finn Vardon-Phillips get maximum game time. By the matches end Finn had used all his tickets and was totally spent. The match also presented an opportunity to try people in different positions upon the ground. Several boys were released from the backline and tried in a range of new roles.
Well done also to the backline lead ably by Connor Ibbotson and Jackson Clerks. Both guys played well and got better the longer the match was played. Keeper Luke Ibbotson, whilst not called upon often during the match was well positioned, came out to meet the ball and played a reliable game in the goals. Hs goal kicks directly set up Trafalgar goals on more than one occasions. So well done to the defensive team.
Final score line was Trafalgar Victory 9, Traralgon City Gems 0.
The BK’s Player Award for this week was given to Jack O’Connor for his awesome goal!
