Young Guns vs. Bulleen Lions 30.05.09 (H) - 11:0 (5:0)
The 4th game of the season started and ended just like all the other 3 games before. With a decisive win, and at home at Larpent Reserve. With all the changes in the fixture we had our 4th game in a row at home. However, given that we had a timing clash with one of the other GWJSC U 9/10 teams we had to improvise a little bit. But there’s nothing in this beautiful country that Bunnings can’t fix. Setting up a 40 by 30 pitch in one of the best corners of Larpent was no problem. Goal posts also were quick and easy to set up. But off course strong crossbars were needed as well. And here comes the strong brown tape from Bunnings in play. Blowing in the wind they literally were a “flying target”. Good that the Young Guns decided not to test the wood too much but rather had most of their shots going straight into “bull’s eye” today.
Today’s opponent was one of the big names of the Southeastern Soccer scene, the Bulleen Lions. That’s why we started with a very compact backline with Ryan, Moritz, Victor, and Justin before one of our most experienced goalie Alex. Midfield and forward were packed with skill, speed, and power, or in other words Corey, James, Nick, Josh, and Callum. Skipper Nick won the toss and decided to play with the wind in the back. The story of the first half is a very long one full of excitement. Here just a short chronology of the highlights:
2. Minute: Ryan stops a Bulleen attack and passes the ball down the line. Corey flies around the defender; his cross is missed by Nick by just a few inches.
4. Minute: Bobby Scholes tanks his way through over the left side and only misses the target by a little bit
5. Minute: Victor cleans up in the left back pocket, runs a few meters, and boots a long diagonal pass into the forward line. Corey is faster than the whole Bulleen defence and slots the first goal through for the Guns. 1-0.
6. Minute: Moritz starts to get really involved in the creative play, sets Nick up who again gets stopped in last second by his opponent.
8. Minute: Bulleen start a dangerous attack over the right wing. But Victor throws his body on the line, goes down hard, and earns himself a drop ball. Off course he wins it and boots it long, Callum cleverly extends the ball to Josh who finishes in his own style with a hard flat shot into the left corner. 2-0.
9. Minute: Justin introduces him nicely to Bulleen with a big smile, taking the ball off his opponent and starting the next attack for our team. James is the receiver of his pass and tanks his way through on the wing. His shot really tests the yellow sticky goalpost. It tumbles, tumbles, but doesn’t fall – great quality equipment!
11. Minute: The Guns win of their many corners from the right side. Callum bombs the ball head high into the box. The forwards fly into the danger area but miss the great cross by just a little bit.
12. Minute: Same game from the corner. Callum delivers the ball, Bobby is there to finish but can’t quite his body behind the ball.
13. Minute: Moritz keeps putting the pressure form the engine room. A good combination over the left wing can only be stopped by Bulleen with a handball 10 meters away from goal. Josh tips the ball on for Callum who leaves the Bulleen keeper with no chance with a hard low ball to the right leading to his first goal of the season. 3-0.
15. Minute: Bulleen finds the only hole in our defence before the break and all of a sudden has a free shot towards Alex. However, the attacker scared off by Alex strong appearance in front of him misses to the right.
17. Minute: Nick puts pressure onto his opponent who loses the ball to Corey. His quick pass reaches Josh. Well, and that story is very well known this year. 4-0.
18. Minute: Alex has a long goal kick to the left wing. The ball goes through to James; quick pass back to Moritz, slick flick on to Ryan, and bang – the coach, constructor of the stylish crossbars, turns into a pillar of salt; the team’s executive director jumps up in excitement, but… Ryan’s cracker misses the target by 2 centimetres.
20. Minute: Justin is also back in action, running the ball from the back into the center of the pitch. Nick receives the ball and dribbles forward, but he gets stopped with a heavy tackle.
22. Minute: Victor, unstoppable from the backline runs and runs and runs over the left wing. His very precise cross finds Corey who finishes with a cracker goal. 5-0.
24. Minute: Callum is still running hot keeping the Bulleen defence busy. As he causes confusion in front of the opponent’s goal, James has another good opportunity but again misses by just a little bit.
25. Minute: The convincing referee blows the whistle – Halftime. Time to relax for an exhausted guest from Bulleen.
And also time for the Young Guns to recharge their batteries sucking all the vitamin C they can get out of the big orange box. And off course time for the usual changes in the line up. The back 5 move up front and vice versa. Corey puts on the goalie shirt and the gloves for the first time this year. Josh, James, Callum, and Nick close down the space in front of him. And the midfield and forward line is just about to be dominated by Justin, Ryan, Victor, Alex, and Moritz. The 2nd half is not a tiny little bit less exciting than the 1st half. Again, the desperate attempt to recollect the events of the 2nd 25 minutes.
26. Minute: The Guns don’t wait for long to show the Lions who is the master of this game today. From the kick off they start a very dangerous attack already. Alex to Victor, Victor down the left wing, crossing the ball in, Justin coming close, but not close enough.
28. Minute: Again it’s Victor and Alex involved. Victor tipps the ball to Alex, and bang – a low fast shot goes through next to the right corner. 6-0, and Victor’s 4th assist of the game.
29. Minute: Bulleen hasn’t given up yet. They come through wide on the right wing and pass the ball through, but Corey is sound awake, picks up the ball, and so starts our counter attack with a big throw to James. James sends Justin down the right wing. His pass misses Alex just by a little bit. Pooh, a bit of a breather for Bulleen.
31. Minute: Ryan and Moritz come from the bench into the game. And how they integrate themselves in our attacking game. Nick finds Moritz in the center of the pitch. He plays a Maradona-like through ball to the half right position where Ryan quickly runs into open space and starts his game of the season. Another flat hard shot and Ryan’s arms fly high in the air. Goooooaaaallllll. 7-0.
33. Minute: Justin adds some flavour to the attacking game. In his agile style he leaves two defenders behind him but can’t quite finish his decisive run.
35. Minute: The game swings towards our goal again. One of the very few sleepy moments in our backline is almost punished by the Lions. All of a sudden 2 attackers appear free in front of Corey. But he shows no fear and strongly holds on to the ball.
37. Minute: Throw in on the left wing. Alex has the ball in his hands, Moritz runs in space and picks up the precise throw. He runs 2 meters and then flicks a hard ball from the almost impossible angle. This was such a slick move that even our referee who usually sees everything has to rely on the goal umpire. 8-0.
38. Minute: Callum puts in a strong tackle and bombs a long pass up front. Victor is quicker than the whole defence of Bulleen, but can’t finish the attack with a major score.
40. Minute: Now it’s up to James to start an attack from the center defence position, 3 or 4 quick steps, and a good ball to Moritz. Now it’s payback time. Moritz puts Alex into open space and he thanks him with goal No. 2. 9-0.
42. Minute: Josh demonstrates that good defending is not only about strong tackles. Standing in the right position it is easy for him to simply run the ball off his opponent and keep it in play to start a good combination for our team.
44. Minute: Moritz continues his journey to put his team mates into great scoring positions. Leaving 2 defenders behind him like slalom sticks, he looks up and presents the ball to Ryan again. – The same hard shot, the same smile, and the arms up high in the air again. 10-0.
46. Minute: Moritz tries hard to put Justin into position. A series of long throw ins from the left wing keep missing Justin only by a little bit.
48. Minute: The 4th hat-trick for the Young Guns is just about to happen. Nick goes in hard into a tackle, the ball lands in front of Josh’s right foot. His long high ball bounces through to… off course – it was Ryan’s day today. Taking no prisoners he finishes the game for the Guns on a real high. 11-0.
50. Minute: Bulleen is desperate for the final whistle. And here it comes. Another great game of the Young Guns comes to an end. And believe it or not – the crossbars have survived the fireworks.
After 4 games the Guns sit beautifully on top of the ladder. But now the string of home games comes to an end. Next week we will have a bye resting from some tough weeks. But in 2 weeks we will finally have our first away game. And it leads us to another big name of the local soccer world. To Knox City. Let’s hope the boys can continue their enthusiastic run they have had so far and pull out another fine performance. Hope to see you all there again.
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