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Season's report
The Under 15 Blacks started this year with a heavy nucleus of players from the Under 14 Black team of last season. We were also bolstered by the addition of quality players such as Tim Polmear, Scott Brown, Daniel Lawrence, Dave McCarthy and Marco Gjocaj. This brought together a large squad of 15 useful players. Unfortunately Marco only managed the first four games before succoming to injury, keeping him out for the rest of the season. Better luck next year Marco.
With the coach unable to make Friday night pre-season training (whose idea was that Steve?) due to work commitments I must thank Rick Huizing and Peter Shumack (Under 15 Blues) for taking all 30 players on those nights - thanks guys. A pre-season talk established that every game would consist of 6 players playing half a game with the changes being made at half-time. This way, throughout the season, every player would get the same amount of court time. This system worked very well and caused less confusion and disruption during the matches compared with continually rotating players. During this pre-season talk we decided to talk about our aims for the season to come. The guys unanimously came up with two aims for the season:
1 - TO WIN THE LEAGUE
2 - TO BE UNDEFEATED
Talk about putting pressure on ourselves! Well, I was game to give it a go if they were!
The first game, against St. Virgils, resulted in a 4-0 away win and the second, against New Town Eagles at Clare St., a 4-2 win. A tougher test came aginst Calvin at K.G.V. and the team ground out a terrific 1-0 win. After each game the guys were looking a more established unit and were becoming a joy to watch with their flowing soccer and commitment to each other. An emphatic 5-0 win on home turf against Friends followed, with four different scorers on the day. In these opening four games we already had SEVEN different goal scorers! Maybe these young men were capable of fulfilling their aims for the season. The next game, against Hutchins at Lightwood Park, was crucial as they were our main threat, After going a goal down just before half-time the guys rallied together to grind out a 1-1 draw, albeit for some dubious refereeing decisions we might have taken all three points. The next game, against South Hobart, was a stern test of character too. The game was at Wellesley Park and you could see more water than blades of grass on the pitch! To my amazement the game went ahead and with strict instructions to get the ball out of our danger area and into theirs as soon as possible i.e. kick and rush soccer, we soon went 2-0 down! The guys were still trying to play how they had been taught over the last few years (keep the ball, find black and blue shirts, don't give the ball away). To my disbelief the guys kept trying to play soccer and in the end won the game 4-3, albeit from a spectacular shot/cross from JEFF WESTBROOK.
A three week lay off due to inclement weather followed and the guys were not able to train in this time either, although we did manage a fun night of training on Kingston Beach.
Half way through the year now and the guys were sitting pretty on the top of the ladder. We were well on course to fulfill our pre-season aims and we were still playing some excellent soccer. Even though we had the best 'goals for' record in the division our finishing was starting to let us down a little as the next game, against New Town Eagles at Queens Walk, showed. We had all the possesion and limited them to very few chances but the 1-0 win, courtesy of PETER KOLABINSKI did not reflect this, a more realistic scoreline would have been 8-0! More of the same to come against Calvin at Lightwood in our next game, this time a very cooly taken BEN CROMBIE penalty taking us to a 1-0 win and another three points on the board. This win nudged Calvin out of the title race; it was now a two horse race between ourselves and Hutchins. The next game was at Bell St. against the struggling Friends side. As I tried to explain to the guys before the game, when you are on top of the ladder, every team you come up against is going to put in that extra effort to try and knock you off, no matter what their league position. That they did! They started the game at 100 miles an hour and took us by surprise, taking an early 1-0 lead. Now the guys knew they had to work for the three points. We soon got control of the game in the middle of the park and created chances at an embarrasing rate. Unfortunately we were not converting them again. We eventaually pulled level and finished up comfortble 4-1 winners, one of those an excellent strike from JOHNNO ROWE.
After trying to get blood out of a stone (trying to find out from Soccer Tas. if we were going to play our two cancelled games and being assured that we probably were not going to play these games) mathematically we only needed a draw against Hutchins to win the league. The guys were "up" for the game and by kick-off time they were fird up for the tough encounter this fixture always produces. We started off by far the better team and created lots of early chances that again were not converted. Our flowing passing game and movement off the ball, that was our trademark all year, was at a premium today. Even the Hutchins supporters at the side of me were commenting on how well we were playing! The second half was a differnet story where Hutchins got back into the game as we knew they were capable of. Chances were created at each end and MARTIN REYNOLDS made a couple of excellent saves to keep us in the game. TIM POLMEAR was outstanding at the back and the reliable BEN CROMBIE scoring the only goal of the game to give us a 1-0 win and the league title.
The two remaining games, against Sacred Heart and a re-arranged game against South Hobart, resulted in our only losses of the season, 3-1 and 2-0. Poor finishing and player unavailability were the key factors in these losses (the latter game was played with only ten men) and the guys missing out on their second aim - to remain undefeated!
I would like to thank Martin, Chris, Tim, Tim, Scott, Daniel, Keith, Jeff, Ben, Peter, Dave, Johnno, Marco, Daniel and George for the magnificent effort they put in through the year on the park and at training and would like to wish them all the best for next season, hopefully still playing for the Lions,
Thank you to all the parents for their support throughout the season and help with setting up the nets and goals when needed. Special thanks to GUY WESTBROOK for taking the reins on numerous occasions when the coach had to leave at half-time to play his own game.
This squad of players are highly talented and a pleasure to be involved with. Should they choose to stay with the Lions and continue to develop, they should form the basis of future senior teams at the Lions.
CONGRATULATIONS ON A TERRIFIC SEASON.
Brian Reynolds
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Final match statistics - league position : Champions.
| P |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Ag. |
Pts. |
| 13 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
28 |
12 |
29 |
Goal scorers
| 12 |
Ben Crombie
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| 5 |
Peter Kolabinski
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| 3 |
Keith Westbrook
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| 2 |
Daniel Hannington-Pinto
Jonathan Rowe
Jeffrey Westbrook
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| 1 |
David McCarthy
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