Masters I Rout Joondalup

17 April 2012 Written by HRSC

Joondalup Utd 1 v 7 Hamersley Rovers

Masters 1 kicked off their campaign with a resounding win, but despite the flattering final score line, Rovers were made to work hard by Utd right up until the last quarter of the game. The Masters have almost as many new players in the squad as Man City normally see in August as they look to bounce back from a disappointing showing last term.

Some recent Hamersley Amateur retirees have made the phenomenal leap to Masters football along with some welcome new faces to the club. The new coach was understandably optimistic going into the season with a talented group of individuals at hand.

However, Joondalup went into the interval with the lead, managing to score with their only notable chance of the half as a result of a little hesitancy between the Hamersley back line and the keeper. Jon Lochead was standing in between the sticks to do the team a favour as they wait with bated breath at the arrival of a dedicated keeper. Jon stood tall for the rest of the half claiming a few hopeful long balls from the opposition. Rovers were the more dangerous side despite the deficit in the first half with several decent chances squandered.

Hamersley went into the break a tad concerned at a disappointing first half display. Some constructive debate at half time lead to a strategic change in positioning with Hamersley pressing higher up the pitch to pin Utd back against the steady Heathridge sea breeze. Rovers also went out with a more patient philosophy of maintaining possession rather than looking for longer direct passes to an isolated front pairing.

The changes slowly started to take effect on the game as Hamersley started to create regular chances. Eventually the breakthrough was made as the fresh (ish) legs of Gary Mills got on the end of a sweet passing move to stretch and slide the ball in. Five minutes later and Rovers took a deserved lead, with Gary netting his second.

This seemed to break the Utd resistance and the goals flowed from there on in. Adrian Coppock scored a brace, Mills completing his 30 minute hat trick, not sure who got the 6th, and finally Trevor Courcha fluked one in from a cross (don’t let him persuade you otherwise) from the right touchline in the last couple of minutes to complete the second half routing. Thanks to Jon and Aaron for keeping goal to help out the team.

There was little doubt that the excellent turnout of 15 registered players helped the Rovers run the legs out of 13 man Utd towards the end of the game. Let’s hope we can turn out squads like this for the remainder of the season unlike previous years when we get down to the bare bones half way through the year and have to call on Stevie Mac :).

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