Scotch College

Match Reports - Week 1 - 19 April 2008

Seniors

A tough and even game, which could have gone either way. Both sides played exceptionally well setting uo many opportunities to score. (possibily Haileybury had more). We suffered two injuries in the second half where both players did not return to the game. Haileybury repelled our attacks towards the end of the game as fatigue set in. The game was played in a fair and competitive manner. Best players for Scotch Hopwood, Nikolovski, Cohen, McMahon.

To commence the soccer season the 2nds side had a convincing win against an understrengthed 3rds team on the McKendrick pitch. The team attacked in numbers throughout the match distributing the ball in a dominant fashion, getting into dangerous positions and getting shots on goal. As a result the game finished 7-0 with all players enjoying a hand in the action.

Our players were unfortunately simply outclassed in this match. However, after having a man sent off early in the second half, we dug in well and kept our dignity, despite the scoreline. Huan Gan and Ronald Teo played well on the wings, and Shaun Lim had a great second half in goal after our 'keeper was injured. There were some promising signs, and I'm sure that we will improve.

4ths soccer went to Geelong Grammar with 13 players full of enthusiasm. We had a good win 8-1, however, many chances went begging and one player scored a hat-trick. All players played well in an even team performance.

The Fifths Blue match was completely one sided, with our boys winning 13-1 against St Kevins. It didn't take long for the goal-fest to begin, with Oscar Rubenstein scoring after 8 minutes of play. From then on the goals didn't stop, with goals from Truong (2), O'yang, Wallis, Tham, and Chan with a spectacular 7 goals to his name. Overall, it was a well played team effort, with every player assisting in one of the many goals. Special thanks to Tom Bethune and Andrew Michaelson who both stepped in as goalkeeper for a half each.

Report for 5ths Golds: The season got off to a rocky start. Unfortunately due to an error, the goals were not yet available on the ground the team was to play on. Thankfully we were given the chance to play a shorter match on another ground by a senior level team. To compound matters, only 8 players showed up to the game on time and we were forced to play three men down. However, despite being outnumbered and with no substitutes, the team still managed a very respectable 0-0 draw. Oliver Chen stood out as a fill-in goalie, protecting the goal without even the use of gloves. All the players that came also worked very hard, running themselves to the point of exhaustion to cover the extra ground and stay in the match.

Year 10

Year 10 A/ Year 10C Red played a mixed team practice match.

The full-strength 10B's played a 9-man Brighton Grammar squad who struggled from the start. Early goals for Scotch allowed us to take full control of the game. Strong performances were shown throughout the team and the season looks very promising. The final score; Scotch 10 - Brighton 0

Year 10 A/ Year 10C Red played a mixed team practice match.

Year 9

9Bs played their first game of the season against Carey on Saturday. There were quite a lot of changes in the team from last year, but the team quickly found its marks, and were very organised from the start. They were in control of the game for most of the first half, created many chances and scoring 2 goals. In second half, Carey created some great occasions, but keeper and the defence managed to keep a clean sheet, while midfield and forwards led some great counter attacks and managed to score 2 more. 4-0 is the final score, but the most important thing is that the whole team played together very well, which is very encouraging for the first game of the season.

It was an entertaining match on the Lower West between the Scotch 9C Blues and Camberwell Grammar, with our boys winning 7-2. The match started as a tight tussle with Robert Walker looking particularly threatening down the left wing. Sam Hamza broke the deadlock in a goalmouth scramble and soon after Michael Rong broke free on the edge of the box, and finished with a delightful chip over the keeper. Shane Anthony finished off well, sidefooting home, to extend the lead to 3-0 at half time.

Sam continued his quality finishing with two more goals soon after the break to round out his hat trick! Robert clipped the ball home with a deserved goal from close range, while Shane got his second goal late in the match. Throughout the match, Adam Harris' throw ins were particularly damaging while Simon Ho led the defence. Our aggressive formation with 3 strikers paid off with all boys thoroughly enjoying an open and free flowing match. Congrats boys!

Year 8

Very one-sided against weak opposition.

Scotch goalkeeper Amrith Elridge kept the first half scoreless by saving a penalty with a tremendous display of skill. In the second half Caulfield were the first to score followed by Ben Grace scoring a penalty for Scotch and Theo Kastoras positioning Scotch in the lead with a nicely placed shot. Caulfield equalized in the dying minutes of the game, making the final score a 2 – 2 draw. Best players for Scotch, Marcus Pedersen and Daniel Strangward.

The opposition on the weekend only had 6 people and the ref said they needed a minimum of 7 to start. We waited an extra 20 minutes and that didn’t happen so the ref departed. The other coach and I agreed we should play a little practice game just so we didn’t waste the boys time and they could start getting match practice. Two of my boys volunteered to join the Caufield team and we played a shortened 8 on 8 game.

Caulfield started the better scoring within the opening 2 minutes, however after a shaky start from the scotch defence all the players rallied around each other and had the better of the next 15 minutes. We came close to scoring on many opportunities after some slick passes but to the credit of the Caulfield keeper, saved many one on one opportunities from Andrew Acutt, Angus Gill, Kyle Jagota and Phongpol Punyagupta however Caulfield finished the half in front.

The second half started brilliantly with quick passes between the midfielders and strikers allowing Phongpol's individual brilliance to score an inspiring goal. Scotch pressed hard with runs down the left wing from Nick Bernado opening up opportunities for the strikers. However our defence had to be weary of the Caulfield attackers who’s trickery had stunned the home crowd. Nick Maclean and Dimitri Dalla-Riva both did well to clear any incoming balls. Liang Qu, Chris Leung and Andrew Hung did well to prevent the Caulfield players attacking from the wings. This ultimately led to late but stunning goal from striker and captain Andrew Acutt into the bottom left corner of the goal. Caulfield pressed for the remaining 10 minutes with Tom Wong making some critical and brave saves to keep Scotch ahead.

Scotch prevailed 2 to Caulfield's 1. It was a splendid performance from the Scotch boys and was truly a team performance with all players putting in 100% to fight back from 1 nil down!

The Y8 C Blue Soccer Team played very well against St Kevins today. Will Zhang and Apollo Huang in particular made great contributions to the team. They ran so fast and led the team to win 4 goals against St Kevins 1. Other good players are JX Zheng and A. Liu.

Year 7

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It was a great game. We only had 9 boys to play a very strong St. Kevins full strength squad. Four times we came from behind to level the match. Unfortunately we conceded the last goal when 3 minutes left. Boys gave them best short and Will scored four beautiful goals.

Goals: Mitch Nikolovski and John Papaemmanouil

Establishing a sense of team in the first fixture at a new school is always going to be a difficult task. Nevertheless, soccer is a game where team play can transcend individual brilliance and so it was great to see elements of both emerging in this game for Scotch. The backs were solid in defence, albeit that they did not use the most of the space. The midfield had to run hard and found themselves a little short of match conditioning towards the end. The forwards tended to "hunt in packs", though I am sure that they will soon learn how to play together in attack.

Scotch had the better of the play but could not capitalise on opportunities. At one stage it seemed that a nil-all draw was likely, or perhaps the nightmare of all teams, the goal scored against the flow of play. The relentless Scotch attack was ultimately rewarded with a fine left-foot curling ball into the net from Mitch Nikolovski who had been looking threatening for much of the game. Not long after, a brilliant run from the defensive half down the left wing from John Papaemmanouil saw him turn the defender inside out as he brought the ball into the middle and then finished the great individual run with a shot that the goalkeeper deflected into the net.

The lack of an A game this week certainly means that this group are unlikely to play together as a team again. Hopefully, they will have picked up enough from this game to ensure that the lessons learned here carry over into future games. Thank you parents at the game for your support of your son and for the team. Thank you 7B for an enjoyable start to the season and good luck to those of you who will be in different squads over the coming weeks.

Scotch 7C’s got off to a cracking start to the season with a 5-0 win over Geelong College. It was a brisk morning down in sunny Geelong, with goals scored by Mathew Lew, James Cheng, Christen Paulson, Charles Tuckwell, and a screamer from the top of the box from Luke Stratford, that left the keeper with no chance as it rocketed into the top of the net.

The team played very well together for their first game, with all the lads doing extremely well. A few of the stand outs are as follows:

Aaron Ch’ng was best on ground in the sweeper role. After initially starting as a man marking defender, he soon made it clear he was better suited to the “libero” role, clearing out the few attacks that GC managed to get through our midfield. Charles Tuckwell showed his pace down the right wing, constantly knocking the ball past defenders and running on to it, and then angling in towards goal to have shots on target.

Linus Ng dazzled the GC defence with his ball skills, and many attacks came after he had beaten a couple of players and then continued on to set up the strikers. Jordan Hall proved that he could run all day, and after starting in defence, was pushed to a wide midfielder’s role, where he out ran his opposite number on numerous occasions. Stand in Captain Max Ellerly Thornley had an outstanding game in goals, and even made a marvellous save of a penalty to keep a clean sheet.

Late arrival Calvin Ho quickly settled into a defenders role, showed composure on the ball when under pressure, and managed to switch defence into attack with his long throw ins. Luke Stratford took control in the centre of the midfield, and quite easily beat players twice his size with his deft touch.

The lads were in high spirits after the game, and look forward to their next match in a fortnight’s time.