Despite the late arrival of the usual stragglers, the ressies began the game with great purpose and attacked Curtin from the opening whistle. Souths won an early free-kick 25 yards out which Tommy took – his curling effort was tipping over the bar by the Curtin keeper for a corner which came to nothing. After some more pressure, Souths won another corner that was swung in by Marco, a half-clearance fell to Sam Hardie who finished neatly with his right foot.
Ten minutes later long throw caused more problems in the Curtin defence, Webster’s flick on found Tommy and Boxy at the back post, with the older man turning like a man half his age to finish with his preferred left foot in to the far corner. It was Boxy’s first goal of the season and Curtin looked vulnerable.
Tom and Nocci were controlling the centre of the park well and the back four held their shape well, with Clint, Ben and Sam snuffing out any central attacks with ease.
Just before half-time great work from Webster put South Perth 3-0 up. The veteran forward turned on a sixpence to swing in an inch perfect cross for either Nocci or Boxy to head home. Age before beauty as the Box-man nodded in from point blank range for a comfortable lead at half-time.
The second half started much the same as the first, but after 15 minutes Curtin pulled a goal back with a long ball over the top. 3-1. Nocci, who was glad not to be struck in the face by the ball this week, was surprisingly pushed out wide to play as a ‘winger’ in the Angelo Di Livio mould (defensive and cynical).
Gary Wolstencroft gave some freshness up front and bagged a beautifully worked goal to settle the contest at 4-1. Some good work on the left with Tom, Boxy and Steve fed the Metros player through the middle who finished emphatically in to the roof of the net.
The game ended 4-1 to South Perth in what was a decent performance. The team still needs to get read of some dopiness when defending set-pieces and mark up much earlier. The slackness on the weekend will be punished by better teams in the season. Overall the back 4 defended very well and maintained their shape and discipline very well for the whole 90 minutes.
Following the excellent showings against first division winners Belmont Villa and premier division champs Stirling Panthers, the first team struggled to match the energy and fitness levels of a lively Curtin University side.
Matty and Dan recovered from the previous week’s illnesses to take their usual places in defence while Shannon and James replaced the rested Neil and Willy in midfield.
It didn’t take long for Curtin to take control of the game and they raced into a 2-0 lead with South Perth unable or unwilling to match the movement and work rate of the Curtin players.
The introduction of Willy and Neil midway through the first half added a bit of life to South Perth and the first period of prolonged pressure on the Curtin defence saw Shawn following up on a good save from the keeper to slot home calmly to put South Perth right back in the game.
Instead of building on this, Souths seemed content to sit back and wait for something to happen. The midfield struggled to provide quality final ball to the forwards and the shape and discipline that had been the hallmark of the previous two weeks was poor allowing Curtin far too much time to pick out passes at will and take control of any loose balls.
The rest of the game followed a similar pattern with Curtin running out comfortable 5-2 winners. South Perth’s second was added by Scott with an unstoppable strike into the top left had corner from the edge of the box, leaving the keeper with no chance.
On a day when it was hard to find many positives, the front pairing deserve some credit for persevering in the absence of decent service, while Dave and Matt in the middle of the defence did well to restrict Curtin to 5 given the pressure they were put under by those around them. Shawn followed up a good performance against Stirling with another decent shift and was rewarded with his goal.
It was disappointing to see ill-disciple creep in towards the end as frustration got the better of Souths. Some bad tackles and dissent were punished with the type of bookings that could prove costly during the season.
With only two weeks to go before the season kicks off, this result and performance will hopefully act as a wake up call to the first team. With the talent in the squad this year they should undoubtedly be looking to improve on last year’s 3rd place finish but will need to work a lot harder as a team than they did today.
Despite the late arrival of the usual stragglers, the ressies began the game with great purpose and attacked Curtin from the opening whistle. Souths won an early free-kick 25 yards out which Tommy took – his curling effort was tipping over the bar by the Curtin keeper for a corner which came to nothing. After some more pressure, Souths won another corner that was swung in by Marco, a half-clearance fell to Sam Hardie who finished neatly with his right foot.
ReplyDeleteTen minutes later long throw caused more problems in the Curtin defence, Webster’s flick on found Tommy and Boxy at the back post, with the older man turning like a man half his age to finish with his preferred left foot in to the far corner. It was Boxy’s first goal of the season and Curtin looked vulnerable.
Tom and Nocci were controlling the centre of the park well and the back four held their shape well, with Clint, Ben and Sam snuffing out any central attacks with ease.
Just before half-time great work from Webster put South Perth 3-0 up. The veteran forward turned on a sixpence to swing in an inch perfect cross for either Nocci or Boxy to head home. Age before beauty as the Box-man nodded in from point blank range for a comfortable lead at half-time.
The second half started much the same as the first, but after 15 minutes Curtin pulled a goal back with a long ball over the top. 3-1. Nocci, who was glad not to be struck in the face by the ball this week, was surprisingly pushed out wide to play as a ‘winger’ in the Angelo Di Livio mould (defensive and cynical).
Gary Wolstencroft gave some freshness up front and bagged a beautifully worked goal to settle the contest at 4-1. Some good work on the left with Tom, Boxy and Steve fed the Metros player through the middle who finished emphatically in to the roof of the net.
The game ended 4-1 to South Perth in what was a decent performance. The team still needs to get read of some dopiness when defending set-pieces and mark up much earlier. The slackness on the weekend will be punished by better teams in the season. Overall the back 4 defended very well and maintained their shape and discipline very well for the whole 90 minutes.
First Team Report:
ReplyDeleteFollowing the excellent showings against first division winners Belmont Villa and premier division champs Stirling Panthers, the first team struggled to match the energy and fitness levels of a lively Curtin University side.
Matty and Dan recovered from the previous week’s illnesses to take their usual places in defence while Shannon and James replaced the rested Neil and Willy in midfield.
It didn’t take long for Curtin to take control of the game and they raced into a 2-0 lead with South Perth unable or unwilling to match the movement and work rate of the Curtin players.
The introduction of Willy and Neil midway through the first half added a bit of life to South Perth and the first period of prolonged pressure on the Curtin defence saw Shawn following up on a good save from the keeper to slot home calmly to put South Perth right back in the game.
Instead of building on this, Souths seemed content to sit back and wait for something to happen. The midfield struggled to provide quality final ball to the forwards and the shape and discipline that had been the hallmark of the previous two weeks was poor allowing Curtin far too much time to pick out passes at will and take control of any loose balls.
The rest of the game followed a similar pattern with Curtin running out comfortable 5-2 winners. South Perth’s second was added by Scott with an unstoppable strike into the top left had corner from the edge of the box, leaving the keeper with no chance.
On a day when it was hard to find many positives, the front pairing deserve some credit for persevering in the absence of decent service, while Dave and Matt in the middle of the defence did well to restrict Curtin to 5 given the pressure they were put under by those around them. Shawn followed up a good performance against Stirling with another decent shift and was rewarded with his goal.
It was disappointing to see ill-disciple creep in towards the end as frustration got the better of Souths. Some bad tackles and dissent were punished with the type of bookings that could prove costly during the season.
With only two weeks to go before the season kicks off, this result and performance will hopefully act as a wake up call to the first team. With the talent in the squad this year they should undoubtedly be looking to improve on last year’s 3rd place finish but will need to work a lot harder as a team than they did today.