Albion Park Junior Soccer Under 13.3 Round 2 Vs Russell Vale at Terry Reserve #1, Albion Park.

Albion Park Junior Soccer Under 13.3 Round 2.
Vs Russell Vale at Terry Reserve #1, Albion Park.

After a good victory last week the team was looking forward to their first home of the season. The school holidays unfortunately robbed the game of some of its spectacle as Russell Vale could only muster 9 players, handing a big advantage to the Albion Park team. To their credit, the Russell Vale kids never stopped trying, and indeed put on some excellent plays especially in the second half. By the end though they had been dominated out of the match, with the Park kids playing out to the end for a 16-0 victory.

The kids scored eight goals in each of the halves, but the start was still a little sluggish and not what they have trained for. Eventually the team got on he board after five minutes, with Anton Anoop again using his silky footwork in the middle of the park to get past his defenders and then find the back of the net. This settled the nerves of the players and the coaches alike, and further chances began to come along. The extra space through the middle of the field actually seemed to stifle the attack of the Park kids, with eyes open on the goal rather than their teammates in the open. Opportunities arose, and Cohen Dick jumped on one perfect pass from Josh Peters to beat the keeper and take the lead to 2-0, before Will Schofield made a lovely run down the right and then finished it with a terrific right boot that hammered into the back of the net to give the Park a 3-0 lead.
Despite the lack of a midfield presence for Russell Vale, what won Albion Park this match was their superb run down the wings. In the first half it was the brilliant combination of left back Luke Beesley and left half Heath Gillis that provided all of the impetus for the team. Heath ran himself to a standstill, fed expertly from the back by Luke whose speed and size had his opponents well covered. Both these guys were just fantastic. Their work was directly responsible for the continued chances that came Park’s way. Kyan Van Helden was fed two great one-on-one raids with only the goalie in front of him, but both shots went wide. He learned from these miscalculations, and on his next two opportunities he beat the keeper before kicking into the open goal, increasing the lead to 5-0. With the lead secured other players were given their chance to be involved. Kane Rex also had several opportunities to get on the board, and eventually found the right strike to be on target. Cohen and Josh had moved out to the extremes to replace the tired incumbents and made their presence felt, first when Cohen made a great pass across from the right to Josh on the left where he struck the ball home, and then Josh played to the whistle after an aborted goal kick, stole the ball and wove it past the keeper to take the half time lead to 8-0.

The half time talk was to continue to play wide, and not let up, but to play to their ability. This produced a goal within 60 seconds of the restart, with Heath and Cohen combining to put Anton into the clear, where he again sublimely placed the ball between the posts.
Despite the scoreline, Russell Vale made some lovely attacking raids, and it was up to the Albion Park backline to keep the game in check. The blonde headed energizer bunny played another great game, being fast enough to shut down the raids that came his way, while Lincoln Calder again provided a tall and strong barrier at the back. Will at stopper in the second half again kept the opposition at bay while Matt Shepherd defended well and facilitated the ball back forward on numerous occasions. Luke Golding in goals was left alone for most of the match, but when he had to turn on, he did magnificently. Russell Vale got off one great shot in anger for the whole match, a ball that would have found its way into our goals if not for a magnificent save from Luke stretching high with his left hand. Super stuff.
This great defence allowed the attacking line to continue forward, and they began to take bigger and more extravagant chances. Two of the better goals, in regards to teamwork, came through the middle of the half. The first came from the halfway line, with Jack Pomery taking the ball towards his opponent, where he passed it to Anton who flicked it back as Jack ran past, before he found Josh on the left who crushed it home. Not long after this another long play started by Heath again found Jack whose excellent run through the middle was assisted by Anton, before the final through ball was finished off by Kyan. Beyond this was some great individual goals by Cohen, whose run down the right on his own saw him beat the keeper one on one before kicking the goal, and by Kyan with a big left boot from distance, and by Josh, whose launched chip shot from just inside the box beat the rushing keeper beautifully. Josh was also unfortunate to have a cracking right boot from well outside the box crash into the crossbar and bounce away. With some more mixing of the playing positions for the final ten minutes, it was pleasing to have both Luke Beesley and Jack get the chance to score their own goals, and to convert them as well. When the final whistle blew, it left Albion Park as winners by 16-0.

While it was disappointing for their opponents, it was also a shame in some ways for the Park kids, as we won’t know just how dominant they may have been if they had played on level terms. The excellence of several of the kids suggests that Albion Park would have won and won well in such a scenario. We will know more against next week’s opponents in Balgownie.