Belmont Villa

Captains match report Round 7 v Melville City:

 
Due to lack of numbers at training Fred had no option but to start the same team that defeated Whitfords in the cup the week before. Just like every week Kenji was late but i think we have all got used to when we are playing away he will just turn up when he wants. (haha) Other than that everyone else was there on time and for the second week in a row we went through a long warm up and again it paid off although i will say that I thought we were a little flat before kick off especially in the changing room.
We probably had the better of the early part of the game, again we set up 4-5-1 with liam the lone man upfront. They looked to controll the game through the midfield but we were able to snuff out any danger and rebound to set ourselves up for chances. The first real note of the game was the first goal, a classic fred attack with kenji being sent free down the left crossing the ball to the back post for Musti to cushion the ball to myself, still with lots of work to do stepped inside the defender before beating the guy on the line and their keeper with a low finish. At this point we were getting the ball wide at every chance with Kenji and Musti seeing a lot of possession and again we werent really in any trouble with the back four standing tall and not letting them get the ball into the forwards. I really should have had 2 from a kenji corner shortly after the first. Then came the turning point I found space in the midfield and was able to clip the ball over the top to Kenji who was able to turn his marker easily after he did this he was taken out from behind in a one-on-one position, as the ref was jeremy he had no hesitation in sending the guy off. from the resulting free kick we had a couple of options finally we decided that stevie liddle would have a crack from just outside the box and did he ever almost mirror image of kenji's the week before sweet as you like into the top corner keeper no chance. from there it should have been 2-nil at half time but we fell asleep and with 10 men melville pulled one back. A corner was sent deep and we failed to deal with it eventually landing at the feet of their centre forward who prodded the ball past Danny. Up until then danny had little or nothing to do. 2-1 halftime.
 
Fred gave us simple instructions at halftime. Control the game. I feel we did just this, we all know (because we play for belmoont) how hard it is playing with 10 men and credit to melville they really stuck at it but as expected we had a lot of the ball and mostly in their half. the killer blow came with about 20 mins to go, again with kenji delivering a pin point cross for work-horse liam to steer home a header that was to powerful for the keeper to hang on to. After that it was all us and the icing on the cake was stevie scoring his second free kick of the game after their keeper had picked up a back pass he powered home the ball from 18 yards from a liam lay off. danny wanted me to mention he flying save in the final minute but after consideration i think the ball was probably heading just wide.
Very solid again boys and the new system is really coming together just have to keep on working hard. Stevie and Amin were again excellent in their positions and are becoming important to how we play. Yoni was strong in defense as he kept the guy who scored 6 against us last year to one tap in. Although we played against 10 men for a lot of the game im still very happy with the way we palyed, Queens Park up next

Captain match report cup Round 3 v Whitford City:
 

Very happy with our performance this weekend and a welcome change after 4 losses in a row.
Fred decided to change our formation as clearly something wasnt working. Liam went to playing upfront be himself with a 5 man midfield behind him.
 
The game started just as we would have wanted it to we let them have a lot of possession but nothing other than a couple of crosses from the right any where near our goal. Our pressure and an ability to mark forward allowed us to break quickly and turn their mistakes ( which there was a lot of) into good possesion or a goal scoring opprtunity. Eventually this happen we were able to shut them down on the half way line and with the ball being passed to kenji who passed forward behind the defense where liam got to it first. He then beat the keeper who brought him down inside the box. The keeper on another day might have seen red but was probably save as liam was heading away from goal. Yours truly calmly slotted home the penatly. Next was a piece of magic from "crowd favourite" Kenji. from a free kick about 22 yards out he was able to place the ball high into the corner of the net leaving the keeper no chance. Might even challenge jonny for goal of the year. Then almost straight from the re-start we were able to peg them back in their half and after a while a bad back pass allowed liam to reach the ball before the goalkeeper and stabb home from 12 yards. 3-nil at halftime and Danny hadnt even made a save. very comfortable at this point.
 
the second half was almost routine. For what felt like long periods we let them play the ball along the defense without causing us to much bother. A key note here was that Amin in a defensive midfield position and stevie liddle as sweeper were strong all game not allowing any space infront or behind the defense. Any attack they did have fizzled out and they only had one clearcut chance all game with their lad putting a header wide in the last 10 minutes. we did a lot of chasing and to be honest we probably could have nabbed a couple more goals with a few of us missing the target when in good positions.
 
3-0 was the way it stayed and like a said at the start a welcome change from 4 straight losses. An interesting fact here is that we hadnt kept a clean sheet since round 3 2010 thats a lot of football so a big well done to our defense but really we defended from the front and am very happy with how we conducted ourselves on sunday. the attitude 100% better and lets hope we can get on a bit of a roll now. melville this week is never an easy game especially at their dust bowl.    

This is the fourth of the Captain's match reports for season 2011: Round 4 (May 8) vs Spearwood by Andy Horrill 

Basically we lost to a team who had 3 players missing through suspension from the week before and played the whole 2nd half with 10 men. Not a very good sign.
 
We had some good news and some bad news before kick off, Yousef had come good to be fit enough to start but Liam was still sore from training and had to miss out. In the end it was probably the lack of fresh subs that cost us the game.

 They set out quick and sharp in the first half as we took a while to get used to the massive pitch but gradually we got into it controlling most of the possession up until half time. Jonny H in particular was playing a blinder strong in the tackle and set up attacks on the break. Then it was almost as though they decided to take him out, a very badly mistimed tackle sent Jonny flying but justly from the free kick Bartlett was able to float the ball over the defense for Kenji to finish from close range.

At this point we were in no trouble at all other than the one excellent save Danny made at his near post. Then in the 5 minutes before halftime momentum shifted and it was one incident that set it all off. I had promised myself before the game that would not give away a goal this week and as I made a challenge just inside the box, which we all thought was pretty standard, the ref decided that i had taken the player and awarded a penalty, which they converted. Then 2 minutes later Jonny was taken out from behind and had to go off injured, when he came back on it seemed like we switched off allowing them to have possession down the right hand side eventually a cross came in for their left midfielder to nod home easily.
 
2-1 to them at halftime
 
The second half started with a bit of luck for us with their centre forward clearly diving with no one around him and getting a second yellow card which meant he was sent off.  From there we had most of the play lots of corners, free kicks, throw ins to try and score and eventually Fred pushed myself forward to help Kenji and Dave who were both getting tired. Then with about 20 minutes, Yoni switched a free kick to Gavin on the left who crossed beautifully for Bartlett to head home from the penalty spot. In my opinion the best passage of play in the game. From then we continued to push forward looking for a winner leaving ourselves maybe a little bit lost at the back. We let them (and one player in particular) control the ball near the goal and they managed to score twice in the last ten minutes. It proved costly as every time we went forward the final ball was lacking or we made a bad judgement error. Maybe something to work on. 5 yard passes.
 
Its almost make or break time in the league already and the next 3 weeks can shape our season. Away at Whitfords this weekend will show exactly where we are in terms of where we might finish. Then Kingsway at home (always a tough match as they beat Subi 5-nil on Sunday) then Whitfords at home in the cup. We could be out of the cup and probably in the bottom 3 very soon unless we can turn things around.

This is the third of the Captain's match reports for season 2011: Round 3 (May 1) vs UWA Nedlands by Andy Horrill

Not a whole lot I will be saying about today as I am still pretty disappointed.
The day started absolutely terribly with the news of Sean Turners death. It defiantly took us all by surprise and some off us not sure if it was true because it is just unbelievable. Devastated for his family and friends and as a club I know we will send condolences in form of a card. RIP
 
Regarding the game; I will be short and sweet. First half we were very much the better side, they just couldn’t get the ball out of their half. I will hold up my hand and say it was my turnover that led to their opener but we responded quickly and managed to take the lead before halftime. Goals from Kenji and Musti.

As the old cliché goes, football is a game of 2 halves, so true today. Firstly we came out very flat and let them take a very strong hold on the game they equalised then took the lead within the first 15 minutes of the 2nd term and we didn’t even look like getting the ball at all. Then Steve Liddle was sent off and from there we were basically chasing shadows. We did have a couple of chances towards the end but as we ran out of legs they ran in two more to complete a convincing 5-2 win.
 
Look it only gets harder from here and we do need to stick together, I was impressed by the number of players who stayed back for at least a beer and a good moment of reflection for Sean was had after the game. If UWA are the benchmark this year we can take confidence that we matched them for 45 minutes. Lastly a couple positives today Kenji and Musti took their goals well and Liam gave 110% for the whole game and was easily our best. Let’s move past this, work hard in training and be ready for Spearwood.

This is the second of the Captain's match reports for season 2011: Round 2 (April 17) vs Subiaco United by Andy Horrill

As proud as I was last week I have to say I’ve doubled that this week. When we turned up at Subiaco Fred told us that Gavin and Stevie Liddle had pulled out of the squad hours before kick off. Fair to say I wasn’t feeling great as that meant that both Dave and Liam had to start and both were carrying injuries. Dave a lot worse than Liam and should never have even gone on the pitch. Credit to both for doing the right thing by the club and Liam worked so hard for 88 mins his performance defiantly deserves a mention.

To the game and after last weeks win we were still full of confidence and once again controlled the first half and could have easily scored 3 or 4. Liam, Kenji and I all missed shots from outside the box when we should have hit the target, I missed a cross by a hair diving and also had one cleared off the line from a corner. On the other end of the coin we did have some scares as well, Danny pulled off a blinder at the near post and I had to clear one off the line from a corner but it remained nil-nil at halftime.

This week Fred decided not to change anything at halftime and we went out very confident we could push to win the game. But the first 10-15 mins of the first half probably belonged to them as we allowed them to have space out wide and in the middle. We held firm and gradually got a foot hold back in the game. Then came the first big moment of the game, a classic Fred training ground goal, Mussi got the ball out wide and played it down the line and then it was squared to an unmarked captain who shot into the open net and it was 1-0 to us.

But like we always seem to do after we score we sat back and gave them time in possession and let them come at us and it only seemed like a matter of time before the equaliser would come. They swung a corner in and Kenji, who had a free header at the back post decided to head the ball straight up in the air in the box. Indecision followed which left Danny in no mans land and they managed to head the ball into an empty net. After that it was end to end again.

After about 10 mins of back and forth the final goal came, I passed the ball up the line to Kenji who was taken out by their captain which left us with a free kick in a dangerous position. Kenji took it himself and every now and then he gets it right, he floated the ball straight onto Liam’s head at the near post for him to nod home the winner. 2-1 to us and that’s the way it stayed until the final whistle.

Excellent performance again today boys but a couple of things still worry me, James Bartlett said it best at halftime, when we are defending well which we did for 90 mins, Yoni and Bartlett very solid again, we need to take our chances! Let’s get more confident in front of goal!

This is the first of the Captain's match reports for season 2011: Round 1 (April 10) vs Joondalup United by Andy Horrill

A great start to the season, a cracking 3-2 win over Joondalup United was just what the doctor ordered after lots of "experts" have us finishing in the bottom two this year.

The game started terribly. I gave them the ball straight from kick off and they went straight down the other end and scored 1-nil down after 1 minute. After that things got a lot better as we controlled the rest of the first half and were awarded by being 2-1 up at halftime. The first goal came from a long throw in from Gavin flicked on by me and landed at Lidsy's feet for him to finish in the bottom corner. The second was a cracker from an unlikely source, Jonny H, who hit the ball from 25 yards on the volley straight into the top corner of the net. Quality strike and great celebration!

At halftime Fred decided to go with a 4-5-1 instead of the 4-4-2 that we were playing and almost straight away they equalised. After that we went back to 4-4-2 and started to control the game again. Joondalup did have their chances but credit goes to the back 4 (Yoni, Jonny, James and Gavin) for standing strong and soaking up some pressure. Then with about 10 minutes to go and properly against the run of play, another Gavin throw in was sent to myself down the line and I managed to get past the right back before crossing the ball to the back post where half time Substitute Musti was unmarked to hit the ball into an empty net. After that we defended well and held on for a much needed win.

Very proud of all the boys today we played well at times but we still have a long way to go. An excellent win and we can now take some confidence into the Subi game next week.