Jun
14
Hamersley Ladies give Ladder Leaders Carlisle a Scare
Michelle scored her first goal for the Rovers. End of report.
Well, ok, it went a bit like this:
On another bright winters afternoon at Carine, we found ourselves in the fortunate postion again, of having 5 subs....who wouldv'e known.. we will need them all...
The first half saw our coach Missing In Action (MIA) for some of it, so saw us yelling at each other and doing an ok job of keeping them away from Leesa, the hangover, Cramond in goal. One quick break saw their forward react quickly and resulted in her slotting the ball low past the hangover in goal. We were certain that she wanted to shoot from a distance as to not inhale the fumes....
The referee thought he was in South Africa, refereeing the England v USA game (did anyone tell him it was all over??) and became a bit card happy, wielding the yellow one to whoever swore in his general direction. Did he not read AMATEUR LEAGUE on his schedule!?
We had quite a bit of ball in their goal-square, mainly from Michelle's, first goal, throw-ins, but no-one could capitalise on the long throws which were cleared easily by their mid-field. A few corners from either side resulted in still no joy for the Rovers, so we went into the half 1-0 down, and quite pleased with ourselves!
Graeme was pleased with the half but needed Leesa, the hangover, to inject a bit more pace up-front and support Michelle, first goal. Volunteers were required for keeper, as Mighty Mell was MIA, and Laura was having a week off. Lauren, I just got married, bravely raised her hand and we gratefully accepted her offer to stand in-between the white posts with a net on them... lets just hope her defence kept her safe....
The first 15 of the second half was dominated by the oppostion, with them scoring two disputable goals. I am sure Mr Card Weilding Referee hadn't seen the goal keeping video yet! No, the ball didn't go ALL THE WAY over the line, and NO the ball can't be kicked out of the goal keepers hands by the striker when she has TWO hands on it!!! ROBBED! At this stage, Lauren, I just got married, decided volunteering for goal was not such a fab idea! Score line 3-nil and a mountain to climb.
With players falling like flies with injuries, we were becoming a bare 11 on the pitch, and needed everyone to keep strong to finish the game.. and we did. Michelle, first goal, finally decided today was the day to score, slotted home a pearler and celebrated in style... watch for the ensuing goal-fest!
An unfortunate incident with Carol, elbows, Marinkovich, meant they were awarded a penalty for a hand-ball in the box which they stepped up and scored. Score line 4-1. Now Michelle has finally fund the net, she knew exactly what to do and a second goal followed. Maybe those lucky undies are working ??
Unfortunately the game came to a close early for Brooke, khakis, Chandler who decided she would like to leave the pitch in style...on a stretcher, which gave us all a fright. We all hope for a speedy recovery! The referee evened out the penalties by a hand ball in the box by one of the opposition players. Leesa coolly stepped up and slotted the ball home. With 5 minutes to go we had a sniff with the score sitting at 4-3 but time was against us and it wasn’t meant to be.
The game itself came to a close with Carslile relieved to get the win over the Rovers, and Rovers gutted that the Referee decisions had been the deciding factor in whether we won drew or lost.
On a positive note as a coach you win some games, you lose some games, but it was very encouraging to see the team run the game out. We could have quite easily dropped our heads and given up at 3-nil but we fought on and got back to 3-4, just falling short at the end. You can’t ask any more. Good effort by everyone including our fill-in keeper (the job nobody wants to do).
This week we play UWA, lets not take them lightly, but see if we can put a few goals past them to get us back on a winning streak again. We’ll see if Michelle’s lucky undies work this week !!!
Jun
09
Hamersley Ladies Shine at East Freo - 6/6/10
We turned up at Gilbert Fraser Reserve in Fremantle in the sunshine, with a view of the Left Bank across the water, and salivated about the beer that would greet us after 90mins of football! Bring it on!
Yet again we had a good turn out, with 4 subs on the sidelines, even without some of our regulars being available. This is always a good sign for those starting on the pitch... they can always have a rest if needed!
We were weary of our opposition, who had thoroughly beaten our scary last opponents, but lost to Perth Hills, who we drew against.. but we knew this was going to be a good contest.
We started strongly with Bo, increasing her steps on her pedometer, and Tania the greyhound, running the wings and giving their keeper a chance to warm up. We had various chances from corners, which eventually paid off with a corner from the left, finding Sandy in the middle who slotted it past the keeper. They had a few chances in the first half, with one going right to the line... but with Leesa's safe hands in goal, they could find no way past. We finished the half positively, and with dry mouths... and considered that swim across to the Left Bank!
Graeme made few changes as the half, and maintained we needed to attack the ball, and be more agressive (something I try to work on more and more every week!). We went back onto the pitch in the same formation, but with Mighty Mel replacing Leesa in goal, and Leesa joining Michelle up-front.
Some great support play and wicked pass from Carol set up our second goal, who passed to Leesa who then sent the ball to Tania the greyhound (who said she was only a softballer!) and managed to beat the keeper on the left. We kept presuring them in the second half, much like the first, but we tired easily in the winter sun (dreaming of the beer garden...) and they took this opportunity to streak past a few of our players and score. Heads went down slightly, and they capitalised on this, with a corner not long after deflecting horribly off Brooke and into the back of our own net. Unlucky girl, but at least you're on the scorecard for the year!
With the possibility of a draw on our hands, we knew we needed to pick the tempo up again to come away with a deserved win. With the backs keeping strong, and pedometer Bo running the right wing, Leesa received the ball down the right with their defenders no-where in sight. She had one to beat... the keeper, and safe in the knowledge that she didn't move well, Leesa slotted it past her low with no trouble at all.
There were 5mins left in the game for us to keep strong, fight it out, and keep the lead... and we did it well! Mighty Mel was getting bored because we kept the pressure on, and didn't let them much past the half. We brought the game to a fantastic close with a well derserved win. Now we can have a beer! Great effort by all.
Make sure we all keep fit, as next week we battle ladder toppers Carlisle.
Jun
09
Hamersley Ladies take on Rockingham, 23/5/10
To say we were intimidated was an understatement! To say they used their hands/arms before heads/feet, was no exaggeration! To say they used their ‘assets’ to their advantage was no word of a lie! But we had a win.. and here’s how it went:
The first half started in the sunshine, with the backline consisting of Leesa in goal, Emma and Erin centre back, Brooke left and Mel on the right. The girls stood strong in the contests, and covered each other well across the back. The midfield showed Lee and Vicky holding the middle with Erin (blondie) on the right and Tanya (new) on the left. Tanya and Vicky put in some great challenges and Tanya ran like a greyhound up and down the sidelines, and both girls played great support to Michelle and Laura up-front. Ashley came on soon into the first half for Laura, and used her speed to good advantage... just couldn’t finish it! Sandy then came on to impress down the right, and was kept busy with throw-ons and corners. There were few chances in front of goal in the first half, but with a few challenges going our way, we were keeping the pressure on. It’s not going to be long before Michelle scores her first goal for Hamersley!
We got to half time 0-0, and we could all say we were guilty of letting the ball bounce, and not attacking the ball. Graeme gave us renewed inspiration (perhaps) and we started the second half determined not to let these girls go home with a draw!
Graeme made a few changes at the half with Leesa coming up-front with Ashley, and Rachael assuming her normal position at centre back. Tania (old) came on for Tanya (new) and got stuck in straight away! The first 15 mins of the second half went much like the first, with us keeping the pressure on, but not maintaining the challenges. The last 30 mins though, we started getting angry! We were playing well and dominating, with all the play in their half. Mel, who replaced Leesa in goal, was getting cold! Better than picking the ball out of the net I say! Leesa was playing target practice at goal, (still from the army reserves!) and Michelle came on for Ashley to support her. But Leesa was just warming up...as she managed to power a shot past their keeper and score the only goal of the game and we celebrated like we had won the premier league! Laura felt the full ‘force’ of one of their players, and limped off, but Ashley replaced her and provided some good speed down the wing. We tried for another goal, with Michelle sending a few over, and Lee hitting the crossbar from 30 yards out, but alas, it was not meant to be!
So we will take it 1-0 win! Not pretty but damn nice!
May
13
Season Opener
Hamersley Rovers Ladies V’s Armadale
Well the much awaited season has finally begun and again as per last year we took our journey down to Armadale to commence our season. Always knowing this was going to be a tough game as Armadale won the league last year we were going to have to play as a team to achieve a result.
With several new players in our team this year our new look squad was very excited. This Sundays team began with Captain Leesa in goals, Emma, Eirin, Carol & Mel across the back, Sandy, Vicki, Tania & Brooke through the middle, up the front saw Michelle and Laura to start with. On a fairly warm day we kicked off with end to end football, for a group of girls who haven’t played a lot of football together we were stringing together quite a few good passes and clearing our lines quite well. At half time we both went into the break with a nil-nil result. I feel we had the better of the half, dominated play 65-75% of the time for no result.
After half time we saw a few changes with Shelbi, Tanya and Jacinta entering the play and Mel swapping keeper for Leesa to see if this would make any difference. Against the run of play Armadale received a corner, in a scrappy mess, we failed to clear our lines and resulted in a goal to them. We kept our composure even though we were 1-nil down, again with some quite good play, a couple of passes and a through ball for Leesa to run onto and slot one past their rather large keeper to put us on level terms – 1 all. From the kickoff again we seemed to have the better of play, from a wide ball to Leesa the keeper got sucked out of position and the ball was sent across the face of goals to nearly stop right in front. All we needed was someone to tap it in, but there was nobody in the middle and their defender managed to kick it out wide. This is a great reminder why we always must have somebody in the middle and awake at all times, to always expect the unexpected.
Time was against us and it finally ran out, we were lucky to keep our composure in the last minute of the game because we were under pressure in front of our goals and could have quite easily ended up conceding, but to our credit we cleared our lines, the whistle blew and a 1-1 draw was the final score.
I would like say that on a final note it was very pleasing to see everybody put their best effort in and for such a new team and more girls to strengthen the side we can only build on this effort and results will come our way. Well done ladies !!
Graeme
Coach
