Bays United Fury 1 - HPL Victoria Wave U13 1

Mathew focuses on making a pass to his teammate

This past weekend we had a "league BYE" but were fortunate enough to be asked by the HPL Victoria Wave team from the U13 level to play against them at the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence. The game was very well fought and did not dissappoint. In the end, our team came back from being one down and tied the game literally with less than a minute to go on the game. In my view, this was a fair result.

Finn running at pace mounting an attack

 I will not go into a lot of detail about this game. I will just like to make some general comments:

1. We started the game a bit in disarray when it came to our checks. We were a bit lost on who had who and this caused us to be behind the play for the first bit of the game.

2. Our turn-overs were too many during this game. We seemed out of sync for periods of the game. Yet, we did combine well when we moved off the ball. That improved as the game went on.

3. Our challenges for the ball also improved as the game went on and I think in the end we were more dominant and stronger when retrieving possession.

Brandon flies while defending a long pass from the Wave

4. We definitely had more clear chances on goal than the Wave did ~ however, we were not clinical when finishing.

5. Our corner kicks continue to be a concern for me ~ it is becoming a serious issue that we need to get under control. We had three clear opportunities on goal that should have gone into the back of the net. 

6. We did however demonstrate that we have the capacity to come back from being down ~ combined with desire and determination, this will serve us well as our season goes on ~ Well done fellas!

Hamish tries to control the ball while closed down by two Wave players

Overall, I was extremely happy to see the boys come back. I think that the 1 -1 result was a fair result. We missed Ben, Thomas and Gabriel and I think that if we had them with us, we may have done even better. The Wave team was the top team in their division this past season. They are clearly talented and strong. So, I was happy to see a good result.

Marcel skips past Luca while attacking

Pierce relies on Koby while maintaining possession

I hope that this game shows the boys what it feels like to play a top team that consistently places you under pressure. It is important for the boys to understand that this is the type of game they will all face as they move into more competitive divisions in the coming years. It also allows us to see where we need to improve and where we are doing well. With that end in mind, I will try to see if we can get a game against a couple of VIPL teams during the break so that we can continue learning and improving.

Thank you all for coming this past weekend ~ I hope it was fun. Also, thanks for the snacks Katherine and Glenn.

See you at practice ~ Roberto