Maccabi 5 - 2 Maroubra United

 

MAROUBRA ENCOUNTER SEMI FINAL YIPS

With Semi Final positions still up for grabs, it was an opportunity for the Maroubra 35s to steer the ship back on course after a disappointing draw against Pagewood B's. Despite having several personnel out and another half dozen battling injuries the Boys in Green ran out on a rain drenched Mission Field full of confidence. Despite a strong start by Maroubra, dominating possession and field position, somehow our plans were thrown into disarray quickly when Maccabi took advantage of some good fortune with 2 goals against the run of play, with the muddy goal area playing right into the home side’s hands.

With our backs to the wall, the Maroubra team dug deep and fought back strongly creating several attacking chances and felt like it was only a matter of time the green machine was going to click and get onto the scoresheet. Napoleon’s corners were causing havoc for the Maccabi defence. And that it wasn’t long with our first goal being finished off by Russell after another of Napoleons deliveries

It was now imperative to keep the momentum going and the Maroubra boys did so and just before half time parity was reached following a free kick on the edge of the box. The Maccabi wall and defensive structure were in disarray allowing our set piece specialist Rod to step up and calmly strike the ball neatly into the right hand corner of the goals....half time, 2-2 game on!!

Maroubra went into the half time break in great spirits, full of confidence but on this occasion it was our worst enemy as it broke our rhythm and run we had on the game - either that or the half time oranges shared around didn't go down too well. Despite again starting the second stanza strongly, the second half was well, not something to write home about as our ever reliable, structured and disciplined defence was placed under a barrage of counter-attacks and within a blink of an eye Maccabi had burst out to a 4-2 lead and then later put a bit more icing on the cake with another to end the game at 5-2.

We moved away from the successful policies we had implemented early in the season and that was to keep it simple, maintain a solid defensive structure, wear down the opposition and maintain our discipline. This doesn't sound spectacular and although we were not winning by big margins we were still winning because we worked hard and focussed on this strategy. We all witnessed during Round 1 how many times our opposition lost their discipline and subsequently their focus which allowed us to take advantage of this situation - our match this week was totally opposite and was like we got a taste of our own medicine.

Special thanks to our reinforcements from the O45's - Keeper John, Trevor and Jimmy for making themselves available to join in for a 9AM Sunday kick off.

Big thanks also to Geoff for bringing the shirts and beers and as per normal has the difficult task of selecting the 3,2,1 Players Player of the Year votes. When you have done so, please email our Team Auditor Wayne only to keep record.

Team Sheet:
John, Dennis, Russell, Geoff, Peter, Rod, Napoleon, Keith, Jason, Wayne, Nelson, Subs: Con, Leo, Trevor, Jimmy