We ground out an excellent result against Onslow College 1st XI in a gutsy team performance. The added pace and power of their players put us under pressure from the start and we made too many unforced errors in long sections of the game. We cannot afford to take a split second too long to tackle, trap, pass and shoot. It was pleasing to see everyone working hard and giving good effort. They penetrated our circle several times and there was some last ditch tackling to keep our goal intact. When we got our passing game working at pace we looked really good going forward. Jamie hit the inside of the post having done everything right. At the other end Tom made an excellent save and clear with his left pad. Jacob picked the ball up and slipped an excellent pass square to Finn who found Jamie with a straight pass into the circle and Jamie slotted the ball to put us one nil up at half time.
At half time we spoke about needing to get more pace on our passing, going to meet the ball and tightening up on our marking. Our defence improved in the second half but we still need to take responsibility and work on our marking. Bunsi, Jayson, Rupert and Raj are improving as a unit and it is good to see communication improving. The midfield worked hard all game but we gave the ball away too often and need to work on our vision and decision making. Onslow were well organised in defence and we tried to pass through them rather than around them and were not giving the ball carrier enough help. Jamie finished off another good passing move when we had won a PC but the umpire played good advantage and we capitalised.
Onslow were awarded a PC after some sloppy play from us in not clearing from the danger zone in front of our circle. They converted to make it 2-1. We will work on our angles of running on Monday and can improve our PC defence to put their striker under pressure but it was a powerful and well directed shot. Finn found Ethan with a superb clearance and Ethan controlled the ball to sprint down the left and take the ball round their keeper. It was particularly good to see Ethan getting his feet round quickly to hit a forehand shot into the goal from the left. Rayhan made some excellent clearances and was quickly off his line to close down shooting chances on several occasions. One time he dived and got to his feet rally quickly to clear the second phase. At the other end we had a couple of other opportunities to score and Riley and Jack both got into some good positions. Onslow won another PC against the run of play and used exactly the same routine to score a second. This was virtually the last play of the game.
It was very encouraging to see the team keeping going right to the final whistle. This was not the prettiest performance but it was brave and you kept working hard for each other. These are the kind of games that define seasons and we all saw how it comes down to a matter of inches. We can improve from here. It was great seeing Nick back on the sidelines and we look forward to his return. Players of the day were Jacob and Ed for some great work in mid-field. Well done on a great result. Let's keep this run going!
Result Wellington College U15A 3 Onslow College 1st XI 2
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