Round 16 - Ringwood

MATCH DAY EVALUATION

Match Day 15 – Ringwood vs. Box Hill

Conditions: Teams faced a windy day, with strong gusts favouring one end. The pitch was short and narrow but well grassed – too well in fact as it was very long thereby limiting both teams an ability to pass the ball to feet.

PLAN: Team was asked to:
• Concentrate on what they do well
• Play as they played on Tuesday night
• Start strongly and keep the pressure on them

First Half – BH started slowly (again) and found it difficult to play to feet and put quality balls through to the forwards. Despite being advised before the game that all passes would need extra power given the grass, BH played like they were on Darebin. It was clear from the start that BH would have trouble breaking down a resolute defence and packed midfield, with Ringwood employing only one forward. After 10 minutes or so, a cheap free kick near the corner of the 18 yard box was beautifully taken by the Ringwood player. The ball sailed over the keeper and into the top corner for Ringwood to score. This appeared to sting BH into greater urgency (though it baffles me still why the team needs to stung into action ) and a fine run by Pagotto from near the half way line ended up with a fine finish and the scores were level. The midfield was struggling to link through to the forwards and the ‘rub of the green’ wasn’t going with the team. Balls would hit our heels, fall under out of control, just be too long or just be cleared by the Ringwood GK. However, a team makes its own luck and BH was not sticking to their passing game and quality of movement on and off the ball. In addition, an element of frustration was creeping into the team and some players were trying to ‘do it on their own’. The half ended and it was clear we would need to improve!!

Half time score 1 - 1

Second Half: Becker came on as did Tolo and Bryden. Given the score, we had to persevere with Jordan in goal which is not what we wanted. His influence on the left side of the team is sorely missed. Bryden and Tolo started strongly as did Becker and their influence and some greater effort by the team lead to a number of good moves. Lee was providing good width and attacked the Ringwood defence a number of times. With Becker dominating the centre of the field, we looked better and stronger but often, the ball would not travel well on the grass, crosses were poor or missed, and the final touch or control was poor. To make matters worse, it appeared the referee was calling any foul on the opposition but BH got nothing. This may be a view built on frustration but that’s how it appeared. A challenge near or just in the box by Kasapidis resulted in a penalty for Ringwood. The first effort was very weak and was saved by Mills-Warthold, but the ball wasn’t cleared and a hopeful looped shot, hit the bar, bounced down hit Mills-Warthold and bounced in. It was just ‘one of those days’. Again, BH lifted and tried to find a string of passes or a move that would result in a clear shot. A great cross from the right was just missed by De Blasio, Nguyen tried to use his pace to get by and Pagotto put in some nice crosses but nothing came off. With 5 minutes to go, a free kick from 25 metres or more was rifled to goal by Kasapidis and hit the cross bar flush and bounced back into play……..!!!!! Nothing would go in and I was resolved to not getting the result. The Ringwood players were booting the ball long and out at every opportunity and were determined to get a win and hold us out. The final whistle blew and the BH players were beaten for the first time in the season and had wasted their opportunity to wrap the league up. Very disappointing.

Final Score 1 - 2

Overall Comments

Opposition: This was a team who knew what they could do and what they couldn’t do. They knew the ground and played high and long at every opportunity. They defended well and were committed and strong. They had a fast forward and a good midfielder who they tried to use as often as possible. A good effort and their parents and coach were rightly proud of them.

Box Hill: We suffered through an inability to adjust to the conditions and (I don’t think anyone would argue with me here) a day when whatever could go wrong did go wrong. Balls bounced just too far, control was just too long, and crosses were not good enough or cut out by the 1st man. I cannot say the team didn’t try but a lack of football smarts by all lead to our downfall. We need to stick to our guns, play as we play and the results will come. The few times we did play the ball around Ringwood couldn’t get near us but there just wasn’t enough of this play. We suffered from some players trying to take on 1 too many players and win the game on their own and this cost us. To be fair to the team, the goals against us were the result of a great free kick and an unlucky ending to a penalty kick.

We have Glen Waverley this week a Wembley on our final home game for the year. We must win to secure the title from Malvern who are playing Ringwood at the Malvern home ground. A result for them baring a major surprise means we must win to be secure.

We were very lucky that Doncaster lost 3-0 at home to Bulleen so they are 8 points behind with two games to play. We must win our last two games to secure the championship by 6 points which I believe undersells how good we’ve been through the year.



Coach: John Di Martino 24th August, 2009