Langy sitting on top of the ladder
Posted: 11 June, 2008
| Langwarrin | 3 | — | 1 | Kingston Kingston |
| B.Caffrey H.Shippers Own Goal |
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Round 10: Langwarrin v Kingston City — 7 June, 2008
The young blokes were sitting joint second (only goal difference separating us) as we hosted Kingston in tenth position, so everything to play for and no room for complacency today.
The line-up today included young Nick Thomas in goal, who at 15 years of age must be one the youngest ever "ressie" players, as Sean Skelly stepped up to the seniors to cover for Jonesy.
David Breslin joined Matthew (Scud) Hodgson and Brenton Smith at the back as Sean Smith was out with a minor health issue (don't worry he'll be back soon). The midfield was as usual, Luke (Burgo) Burgess, Anthony Famularo, Adam Ahmadzai, Hayden Shippers and Kevin McAlister. Up front the dynamic duo, Ben Caffrey and Peter Ferguson.
On the bench: Mitchell Blake, Liam George, Daniel Biondo and Alex Mackie.
The first few minutes sent a clear message to our opposition….these points are ours!
The first attack of the day was sharp, fast and very effective. Famo raids down the right side, crosses to Adam who lays it off to Kevin, he hits it first time from the edge of the box. The Kingston goalie saves well, but he will have a tough afternoon coming up, that's for sure!
The next exciting attack comes down the middle to Ben; a quick switch to the right wing and Famo is away on a great run straight down the flank beating two players and his quality cross from near the corner flag finds Peter who bravely gets in front of his defender to toe poke the ball in on goal, Kingston clear the scramble in front of goal.
The pressure was considerable and the Kingston defence finally gave way to what was a superb goal. Scud won a terrific tackle on the defensive side of the circle, knocked it forward to Hayden on the left, he took it no more than 10 meters into the Kingston half, looked up early and delivered a beautiful, curled left foot 35 meter pass; just over the central defender. Ben calmly brought the ball down, adjusted his position slightly and coolly volleyed the ball home. A stunning goal. The build up, the technique, the speed and the finish. Top shelf!
Kingston did try hard to get back at us but our confident defenders dealt with each of their raids and many of our counter attacks were constructed from our back line.
Another first half highlight was a throw in from our left back position. Seven unchallenged passes later and we were into the Kingston penalty area again. The ball moved from Dave to Hayden to Burgo to Kevin to Burgo to Adam to Famo and with such speed and precision that not one Kingston player could get close enough to halt the onslaught. Famo's cross was nodded across the box by Ben and Hayden arrived to smack one just over. Breathtaking stuff!
Kevin surprised us all by being subbed at about the 30 minute mark and we were a bit confused as to why; as Kevin seemed to be moving well and was certainly making an impact. (Found out later that Kev had picked up a "bug" and was feeling off. Great effort that! Kev). Liam George came on and the momentum continued on. Proof once again of the strength available throughout this young squad.
Goal number two arrived shortly after when Adam was brought down 30 meters out. Ben took a quick free kick and sent the ever-dangerous Famo away down the right wing again. The Kingston defenders were caught cold and frantically tried to close and cover ground back towards their goal. Famo zeroed in towards the box and hit a hard low cross. A defenders nightmare, running towards his own goal, he tried to intercept the cross but only helped it into the left hand side of the net. 2–0.
This second goal stung the Kingston into a concerted effort, which produced a great save from our new debutant, Nick Thomas. A Kingston striker got free for once and hit a hard low shot from just inside the box. Nick advanced quickly and propelled himself to his left, producing a class save. Up till then our defence had handled everything Kingston could throw at us and Nick had showed a confident matter with his limited workload. Half time 2–0 up and looking good!
More of the same for the second half, Kingston could not cope with the pressure. They found fierce resistance whenever they ventured into our half. If it was in the middle third, Adam ran them ragged with his pace. Burgo won the ball and knocked it short and long, almost at will. Famo and Hayden terrorised the flanks. Liam won his fair share of tackles and worked very hard indeed.
Dave, Brenton and Scud threw a blanket over the Kingston forwards and it must have been very demoralizing trying to find a way through these blokes as they do not take a backward step! Peter and Ben continued to make life very difficult at the top end for Kingston with quite a few strikes on goal, either just wide, just over or simply beaten away by weary defenders.
Our dominance was reflected in several quality build up's. Burgo to Liam to Burgo back to Liam and away we go again. Short passing in tight spaces. Good to watch.
Another magic moment, a cushioned header by Burgo onto Ben, a flick around the corner to Hayden on the run… bang! A good save by the keeper, but it deserved a better result.
Famo has a go from a free kick on the left-hand-side. Smack! Goalkeeper, groping as it whistled just wide. Top effort!
Peter makes way for Daniel Biondo and receives a generous round of applause from an appreciative crowd for his afternoon's work.
Could this be a contender for the goal of the year so far? A short corner. Famo to Hayden. They took the first defender out. Hayden took off across the park and hit a glorious curling left foot drive from the edge of the box. If you want quality folks, then this was it! 3-0.
We are cruising from here on, but! we seem to have 10 seconds a game when the switch turns off. Kingston hit us on a rebound, midfielders missed the build up, defenders caught napping and we were once again made to pay with a simple tap in that Nick could do nothing about as he was literally "stranded" between the goal and the on-coming strikers. 3–1.
Soon after, the final sub of the day was made as Hayden came off for Mitchell Blake with about 10 minutes to go. One of the last attacks of the day saw Adam glide past three defenders and slip it through to Daniel who turned sharply and hit a good shot that the goalie palmed away.
Well, the Over the Fence mob was well pleased with the display from our young guns. Another very good display of entertaining, quality football. Can't wait for next week at Westgate! So don't be late, come along and support these young blokes as they surge to the top of the ladder.
Go Langy!
Cheers once again from the Man Over the Fence. Hope to catch you all next week.
My 1-2-3: Burgo - Hayden - Scud
Team: Thomas, Breslin, B.Smith, Hodgson, Famularo, Shippers (Blake 80), Burgess, McAlister(George 30), Ahmadzai, Ferguson (Biondo 69), Caffrey
Unused Sub: Mackie
