APJSC Under 11 Reds: Round 5 vs Kiama Gold

It has taken some time for the soccer season to break the incredible run of weather we have been having, but finally it managed to do so on Saturday when the Albion Park Under 11 Reds travelled to Cavalier Park (also occasionally referred to as Kiama Sporting Complex) to take on the Kiama team.

The weather was… atrocious. It was cold, it was windy, and was wet and raining. While the less hardy of the spectators gathered under the barely appropriate covered canteen area, some of us braved the sideline in order to encourage our kids to keep moving to avoid freezing to death. The fact that the rain was at time horizontal should give you an indication of what the kids faced. The delayed arrival of the team jerseys was fortunately not problematic as the game was delayed due to the grounds still needing to be set up in the awful conditions.

The game was shortened to just 40 minutes to make up for lost time, but for all intents and purposes it was over after just two minutes, at which point the Albion Park kids led 3-0. Josh Peters first touch of the match was to diffuse a missed pass from his Kiama opponent, which he then passed perfectly through the attacks to Ky Van Helden up front, who then ran in and crashed the ball into the goal for a 1-0 lead. From the restart Ky stole the ball, and then ran past four defenders before striking hot again for his second goal in under a minute. A third restart saw the ball move back into the Albion Park forward line, where Claire Kadwell on the left pushed the ball to the right of the goal, where Jack Tate also beat the keeper to give the team their 3-0 lead.

Kiama was able to regain some ground, but never really found any way to overcome the conditions or the barrelling offense. Ky soon had the ball again, and this time got a great pass away to Jack-Ryan Eberwein who booted the goal home. This was followed by some good play in the middle of the field by Indy Middleton and Josh who halted a couple of advances from their opponents before delivering the ball to their teammates upfield. Zoe Middleton made one terrific tackle on the left wing and also chased down two opponents and bustled them into giving up the ball as they tried to find an open player. As a result of this good work at the back and in the midfield Jack again got a pass to the centre where Ky took full advantage and scored yet again. Immediately following the restart Ky again bounced forward, stealing the ball and making another solo effort and finishing off with a great strike to beat the keeper again, and making the score 6-0 to Albion Park.

With the weather getting worse, one of the best pieces of play for the match unfolded, as Jack worked the ball past three defenders on the right wing before finding Ky in space and slotting the ball to him. Ky ran toward goal with only the goal keeper to beat, but unselfishly passed the Claire on his left who made no mistake with her shot on goal. The whistle mercifully blew half time, with Albion Park leading by 7-0, their winning score for the entire match the previous week.

Coaches Shane Black and Andy Middleton decided on a policy of ‘silent coaching’ for the opening of the second half, in order to see how the kids reacted without any talk from the sideline, as well as giving everyone a chance to have a run up forward. The early minutes of the second half saw the ball trapped mostly in the midfield, but it wasn’t long before the Albion Park team began to assert their dominance once again. After a couple of shots went wide, Jack-Ryan decided to launch a shot from long range which beat the keeper with its ferocity, and the score increased out to 8-0. Jack-Ryan was getting a taste for being up forward, and having beaten two defenders down the right flank he passed perfectly to Brock Young who was getting a chance to showcase his wares up forward, and he beat one defender before slotting the ball into the net for his first goal of the day, and making the score 9-0.

The attacking raids kept coming, and three consecutive corners finally made Kiama pay, as Jack’s cross found Josh from long range hitting the ball perfectly, only to be denied by a great save from the Kiama keeper, but the rebound fell for Belle Kadwell who jumped on the chance and kneed it home for her own goal and a 10-0 lead. Josh was also unfortunate to be denied another long range shot shortly after, which found the back of the net but was then called up and denied by the referee, though the reason was unclear.

The weather wasn’t letting up and neither was the Albion Park wave of attack. Ky and Brock combined expertly through the centre of the park for Jack-Ryan to boot home his third goal for the morning, and then some great lead up work from Claire allowed Noah Black, who had been keeper for the first half, to get himself into the game as he poked the ball past the keeper for his own goal.

The goal of the match followed, when Ky rescued the ball from the back of the field, and passed perfectly down to the left wing where Belle was playing. She took the ball on the sideline on her own side of half way, and then scooted down the left wing leaving defenders in her wake, she then jagged back infield on an angle directed towards the goal, where she lined up and fired the ball past the keeper for a fantastic and brilliant solo goal for the Energizer Bunny.

Still it was getting wetter, and Noah proved deadly from long range, firing the ball from outside the box to crash into the top right corner of the net to make it 14-0, and with five minutes still remaining the referee finally relented and called a close to the match, much to the relief I’m sure of everyone.

The kids were frozen and drenched, but winning always seems to help that. They all played wonderfully well and never let their foot off the pedal. Ky probably could have scored 14 goals on his own except for his unselfish play and then dropping back to allow other players a chance at scoring a goal.

Player of the Day was awarded to Josh Peters, which made his father wonder whether it was just because he was one of the few not to score a goal. He has been excellent at the back this season, and the number of clean sheets produced by this team can be partly attributed to his work in the centre back position.