Round 13 - Casey Comets

MATCH DAY EVALUATION

Match Day 13 – Casey Comets vs. Box Hill

Conditions: Teams were moved to play on the main pitch at Comets Stadium. Pitch is well grassed, and of a good width though a little uneven in patches. The wind was heavily favouring one end which compromised both teams ability to play a good style of football.

PLAN: Team was asked to:
• Keep the 4-3-3 structure
• Play simply on the ground and diagonally
• The 11 fit players had to commit fully given injuries and lack of a GK

First Half – BH started with 11 fit players and one reserve that was not fully fit, though stripped to play in case of emergency. Lee, Pagotto and Bryden were injured and Bondole was unavailable. Box Hill started the game well and the new 4-3-3 structure was allowing plenty of width and also helps to ensure the forwards stay apart from one another. Tolo missed a glorious chance after 3 minutes when the ball was cut across the box, but he blasted over the bar when the goal was gaping. Unfortunately, this type of miss was to be all too prevalent throughout the game. BH were dominating the game and moving the ball well and a number of through balls lead to goals to De Blasio and Nguyen. However, the 15 minutes of good play then degenerated into BH looking for someone else to do the hard work. Casey were coming into the game and were having some reasonable possession, especially their #2 on the left who was a very creative and willing player. A free kick and an open shot on goal resulted in Mills-Warthold tipping both onto the cross bar. Bircham and Becker had had quiet first halves though Becker was crunched early in the game and may have been seeing stars……

Half time score 0 - 2

Second Half: The team was asked to lift their game play and intensity to that of the 1st 15 minutes and to take responsibility as there were no fit reserves and no-one could help them overcome the odds stacked against the team as a whole. Unfortunately, Casey scored after 4 minutes, almost as pay back for a glorious chance missed by Box Hill just prior to the Casey goal. Becker was then fouled in the box and the resultant penalty was coolly converted by Kasapidis. It was clear now that Casey had decided a more physical type of game was warranted and a number of heavy challenges went unnoticed by the referee who should have taken control of the game. Box Hill then scored a fourth and fifth before Casey scored again following poor marking and a good cross allowed them to score. The ball did not appear to cross the line but the referee gave the goal. Then, after a few minutes of the restart, the referee awarded a free kick to Casey after a drop ball because the BH player allegedly touched the ball before it hit the ground!! To add insult to injury, the 10 meters he measured looked like 15!! BH were so far back they needed binoculars to see the ball………. The free kick rebounded off the BH cross bar and post before going out. Finally, suffice to say that Nguyen and De Blasio need to think about how to better
beat the onrushing GK. We spurned AT LEAST 5 glorious chances, more like 8. They need to dink the ball over, shimmy and go round the keeper, etc. We will work on our structure and how to beat the keeper during training this week.

Final Score 2 – 6

Overall Comments

Opposition: Team is willing and physical, and are held together by their central defender Karim and on the forward line by the blonde #2. Apart from that, they tried to play football and string passes together but were not skilled or trained well enough to do so.

Box Hill: Given the massive disruption to the team and its structure, I am immensely proud of all the players on the day. All gave and fought for the team and delivered the required result. Everyone gave all they could and I cannot say they did not try their best.

From myself, Perry, Peter and Connie and the club, well done!!!

This week, given the return to training of all players (thank goodness!! ), we will work on width, possession of the ball and playing the ball out from the back, rather than kicking long. In addition, contested headers and tackles need to be worked on and encouraged as an all the time reqmt, not a sometimes reqmt. We will also work on beating the GK when through one on one. We CANNOT waste our chances against Malvern and Whitehorse.

Remember and ask yourself the following:

 Am I willing to do anything for the next 5 weeks to drag my team over the line?

We now have Whitehorse and Malvern in the next two weeks. Two wins, and the season will effectively be ours as I am certain Doncaster will drop points against North Caulfield or Bulleen – both these teams are playing better now than at the start of the season.

Coach: John Di Martino 3rd August, 2009