Easts 2 - 1 Maroubra United

Not our day

Once again Easts were struggling for players but come 3pm, they all 11 ready to start. Without a keeper, they had one of their better players in goal
We struggled to get a toe hold in the game early doors. Easts scored after 5 minutes and looked well offside.

Luke volleyed his chance well late in the half following a sweeping cross field pass from Rod. On the balance the sides were becoming fairly even. They just seemed to have more a little potency from their midfield when they got forward. Perhaps we were lucky to be on terms at half time with a rash tackle adjudged outside after initially giving a penalty.

Second half they took control and we were lucky not to concede with several penalty and free kicks around the box, we lost it in midfield and the balls just kept coming back which wasn't helped by the wind.
Karl did everything he could to keep us in the game and they didn't look like scoring from open play.
He saved the second penalty but the ball rebounded to the taker who slotted home 1-2.
We seemed to regain it the last 20  with a more balanced side on the pitch and did try for the equaliser, Luke was unlucky with some of his misses.
Selim came close stretching for a header from a cross from Rod, Jimmy had a free kick that was also tipped over the bar by the keeper, an excellent save.
But alas, it wasn't our day.
We now need 4 wins and a couple of draws to secure finals football - how badly do we want it?

Maroubra United 5 - 3 Waverly Old Boys

Supersubs do the business

It was a cold windy afternoon at Coral Sea but never the less we had a solid squad turnout
With Terry away we had a slight reshuffle with Russell moving to centre mid and Daz taking up right back with Rod in front of him.
We started really well and went ahead after 10 minutes when Neil was taken down in the box and Luke duly converted. After 20 minutes Justin, aka the Pao, came on to give Russell a break and it wasn't long until he bundled home a corner after some ping-pong in the box. 2-0 and cruising or so it seemed.
With our midfiled tiring, their better midfielder made a sortie forward attepting a shot on goal which defence
blocked. Unfortunaltely, the ball fell kingly back to him and he smashed home, 2-1.
This sprung Waverly into life and they started to attack, especially down their right flank with their talented no11 causing havoc. He eventually made some space and whipped in a quality cross which their striker couldn't miss. 2-2 and almost half time.
A Yoshi inspired substition saw Frank return to the field for the remaining minutes of the half. Quickly he
intercepted a clearance and drove forward playing a through ball down the inside-left channel to Luke. He spun his man, cut the ball back, which was then fed across to Rod on the right who smashed it across goal towards the back post where Luke met to prod home, quality goal. 3-2 halftime.

The halftime chat concentrated on closing out the game, keeping our focus and limiting substitions for the sake of them. It was also noted that we needed to keep our mouths closed as they ref was getting card happy and obviously hadn't yet met his weekly targets.
For once we started the second half well controlling midfield and creating chance after chance with wasted opportunities and goal line clearances the order of the day.
Midway through the half Leo returned to the fray and was getting space on the right side allowing him to push forward and it wasn't long before he pounced on a pushed save from the keeper to double his season tally. 4-2
It was now up to the defense to hold firm and close out the game and they continue to work well as a unit.
when a Waverly midfielder raced towards a lose ball inside the Maroubra half, Philippe engaged the throttle,
pressed the nitro button, hitting warp speed as he advance towards the ball. However the Waverly player made it just before him, getting a touch, leaving Phil no option but to go straight through his man. Yellow card.
All the troops got back and were well organised however, the taker had different ideas and from close to 40
yards, place it perfectly just under the crossbar with Karl getting his fingers to it but not enough to tip it over.
4-3, not again....
We freshened things up again and maintained our dominance soon scoring again through the big man Justin.
5-3 allowing Francis a gloat at the striker he was marking. But it wasn't over yet, Neil was held back in the box but the ref was unmoved so Neil issued a few trade mark expletives but the ref took it personally, stopping play and issue a second yellow. Down to 10 men with 6 minutes left
The bench wanted to make some defensive changes but we resisted as we felt the unit was working well,
shutting down all sorties forward as a team..
Finally the full time whistle sounded and we had recorded our second win of the season.
The season is now at the halfway point and we sit in 5th, 1 point off 4th, although Dunbar still have to play
Waverly in a catchup. With only 1 loss in 8 games, its a solid start but our win ratio needs to improve to make the top 4.

Lokomotiv Cove 2 - 2 Maroubra United

Another Solid Result

We had an enthusiastic bunch out bright and early for this 9am away kickoff
Neil passed a late fitness test and Terry jetted in just in time for kickoff
Rods right peg returned to the side after an extended period of playing second fiddle to his ever improving left.
We started well and quickly figured out Loko's game plan, allowing us to start intercepting their through balls
and layoffs. Their burly striker was getting no space and the quick movement of our midfielders was causing
them problems.
Midway through the half, the defence broke down another attack and fed the ball forward quickly which was
switched to Rod storming down the right flank who crossed to the back post and somehow Neil, advancing at a rate of knots, rose brilliantly to head home. 1-0.
Of course we now needed to hold firm as Loko looked to get back on level terms but we started dropping too deep, conceeding space and after the ball had seemingly bounced around the 6 yard box with 4 defenders looking on, it was half cleared towards the edge of the area. A Loko player took possession with his back to goal and there seemed little threat but he was then fouled from behind, resulting in a penalty.
The Loko striker stepped up and delayed his run up, out psyching Karl with the ball going to his right as he dived left. 1-1 halftime.

Once again after half time we seemed to drop in effort allowing Loko to come back strong into the game with their no4 starting to control things. He latched onto a through ball and got himself into a 1on1 with Karl who closed down the angles well but he somehow still squeezed it in at the near post. 2-1 to Loko

Midway through the second half, the jetlag caught up with Terry and he went off for a quick nap.
With the game seemingly getting away from us, we battled on, rotating the midfielders to keep things fresh
Another quick break forward saw Neil and Burcin working well to feed the ball to Leo approaching from the right who smashed a first time shot into the corner 2-2.

Again Loko came back strong with Karl and the defense working tirelessly to keep them at bay. Another defensive clearance fell to Luke on the halfway line who spun his man and was about to set off when he was cut down. The defender had already been book so he was sent from the field.
With only a few minutes left, we pushed forward but Loko had all but 1 now playing defense.
A corner was won and Rod delivered the perfect ball which was met with a glancing header from Neil but unfortunately he couldn't get enough contact to get on target and it went the wrong side of the post.
That was just about the last chance of the game.

Overall, another very solid squad performance against one of the top teams in the division but we need to
get more ruthless and not allow teams back into games.