Maroubra United 5 - 2 Waverly Old Boys

Waverly rematch yields similar result

With a very limited pre-season, Waverly requested another game against Maroubra under lights which we were happy to oblige since it would benefit everyone.

The team had to fight their way to Coral Sea through the heavy traffic created by this interest in this game.
Would Waverly have a stronger side or a keeper even?

We had only 10 players in attendance by 7pm and Yoshi from the O45s kindly helped us out for the first half.
Playing against a strong breeze in the first half (we seemed to miss the coin toss?) we had no option but to
keep the ball on the ground and play to feet.

We started well with lots of possession with Pete playing numerous balls down the line to John, testing his fitness
levels. 20 minutes in, the cavalry had arrived allowing John a rest with Nap and Jason joining the fray and
Frank moving to right mid.
Soon after we won a corner which Nap floated in and was half cleared to Tom who smashed goalwards only
to be blocked by a player on the line, the ball fell to Frankie who intelligently smashed it at the same player,
then stuck a foot out and blocked the clearance with the ball spinning across the goal into the back of the net.
 
With Keith entering the fray, the midfield was starting to click, the ball was played forward to Tom who took a touch before smashing home from 20 yards
For the last few minutes of the half we became complacent, with some confusion over positions, Waverly got
some more possession in a forward position and pulled one back with an unchallenged shot from over 20
yards which was disappointing.

Anyway, at the break we regrouped and reorganised returning to  our usual format with Jimmy coming on at
the back, allowing Rod to move back to midfield with Nap and Keith.
With the wind at our backs it was one way traffic but sometimes it was hard to judge through-balls and a
number went for goal kicks.
Waverly did score 1 more but Tom, Rod and even Nap put the result beyond question with the Waverly
players visibly tiring and cramping. Not sure who got the assists but Leo seems to be claiming most of them!
The possession, movement and passing in the second half was excellent and we got our just rewards, putting the opposition to the sword even without our trusty Samurai.

We done guys and congrats to all the goal scorers!
Only one training session left to work on the finer points and be ready for the season kickoff on April 7th
Enjoy the Easter break and see you next Wednesday

Team:
Karl, Pete, Frank, Rod, Francis, Yoshi(O45s), George, Selim, John, Leo,Tom

Interchange:
Nap, Jimmy, Jason, Nelson, Keith,

Out: Yoshi, Justin, Terry, Kevin,Dennis