Albion Park Junior Soccer Under 13.3 Round 1. Vs Coniston at McKinnon Park, Coniston.

Albion Park Junior Soccer Under 13.3 Round 1.
Vs Coniston at McKinnon Park, Coniston.

The first game of the season is in the books, and Albion Park’s 13.3 side kicked it off with a spanking win over long-time hard-core rivals Coniston by 6 goals to nil.

The kids have been caged up for months and perhaps had forgotten what it was to get moving and quickly, as the start was a little lethargic when it came to breakdowns on the ball and getting the ball moving from the breaks in play. The leader in this getting moving for the young team was Matt Shepherd who took control of the sideline and grabbed the ball to make fast and long incisive throws into the attacking area. His enthusiasm began to rub off on his teammates and the Albion Park kids began to move better as a team.
Unlike previous years they were not intimidated by the size of their opponents and they stood firm to move the ball forward in several attacking raids. After one shocking corner from the delegated captain Josh Peters, a second not long after was a beauty, curling at pace into the goal square where Anton Anoop pounced and guided the ball over the line for a vital and pleasing 1-0 lead.

This seemed to spark a response from the Coniston team, but the young Albion Park team also showed a pleasing resonance that gives great hope for success in the coming season. Solid work in defence was transferred into the midfield, where Josh played a lovely ball through to a dashing Cohen Dick who took his shot and found the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. Coniston looked to hit back but by now the Park kids had taken up the call themselves and they were working their backsides off running and making sure that the breaks in play were used to their advantage. Late in the half it was Indy Middleton who made his presence felt dashing up from the backline, and a hard won ball was followed by a lovely through pass that once again found Cohen running hard with only the keeper in front of him, and he converted again for a 3-0 half time lead, and the team was motoring.

Favoured with the breeze and their opponents looking directly into the sun for the second half, Coniston knew they had to make early in roads to get back in the match. However, despite their best efforts they were held in check by the defence, led brilliantly by Luke Beesley and the young blonde bomber, who both had wonderful matches. Luke as sweeper stymied every long ball that came his way, while his partner was just as good, using wonderful foot skills to get away from his opponent and sending the ball back to the midfield. Their tireless work was the story of the second half. Zoe Middleton was a star again, not only holding up opponents in defence but making at least three beautiful runs, one memorable one where she beat two opponents and then crossed beautifully to the centre where the attacking raid continued. Lincoln Calder made his presence felt after spending the first half in goals, and his big body strength and speed was superb at the back and in the middle, putting the Coniston players who were used to dominating with their strength off their game. Lincoln made his teammates job much easier with his presence.
Indiana made several incising runs through the middle, and was eventually rewarded for his hard work when the ball moved from Kane Rex through to Jack Pomery and Ky Van Helden to Indy, who manoeuvred through the defensive line and beat the keeper with a lovely strike to increase the lead to 4-0. Ky had done well at striker without finding clear air, but his hard work had helped set up other opportunities. He finally had his moment, when after a good attacking raid down the left Ky picked his moment and slotted the goal for 5-0. With everyone now wanting to get into the act there were plenty of opportunities. Good work from Kane, Heath Gillis and Will Schofield down the right saw several attacking opportunities, and all three had chances at scoring without finding the back of the net. Finally, it was Anton again who with silky foot movements beat a couple of defenders and then beat the keeper to complete a double and send the score out to 6-0, where it finally came to an end.

Player of the Match was awarded to Matt Shepherd who had an outstanding match. Not only is he strong and skilful, his match awareness today was terrific and he was responsible for many great movements during the match. Well done Matt.

Coniston has been a bogey side for this team in recent seasons, and the dominance of this victory shows that the weeks of boring repetitive training have been worth it. They have shown they are a good team from the outset, and will now look to continue that improvement into next weekend’s match.