Langy Lose To Whittlesea

Posted: 6 May, 2010

Round 4: Whittlesea Zebras v Langwarrin – 2 May, 2010

It was a fresh, overcast day when Langwarrin faced off against the Whittlesea Zebras at the Epping Stadium on Sunday. The team played in a 4 4 2 formation with Shawny in goals and Reha, Ray, Carl and Danny across the back. In the middle were Chris, Simon, Buzza and Jo with Caleb and Matty up front. Kristian, Caff and Boris were on bench. Mladen, Ben, Joe and Quinny, injured.

The Whittlesea Keeper showed his prowess early on. Danny ran up, providing Buzza with an option. He passed back and Danny took a long, powerful shot on goal. The keeper came out of nowhere to jump up and scoop the ball out of the top corner in a nick of time.

Langwarrin seemed to enjoy the perfect pitch and played the ball around beautifully in the beginning. Unfortunately they soon lost their momentum.

Whittlesea's attacks were always quick and often took the boys off guard. It also produced some quality defending from Ray, Reha and Carl. Danny had Shawny covered and made the clearance kick when Shawny hesitated. The boys were really working hard for one another. In fact, the first 20 minutes belonged to Langy's defence – they played beautifully.

Simon worked hard to win the ball and then throw off his defender in the 30th minute. He proceeded to place a stunning cross but the Whittlesea keeper, ever confident ran out to meet it before Buzza could.

In the 33rd minute the home team got the goal scoring started when a cross found an unmarked Whittlesea player sprinting in on the left hand side of the pitch. He put the ball cleanly away for a 1:0 lead.

Whittlesea's confidence increased and they often found themselves in goal scoring positions. Langwarrin, however did not enjoy the same number of chances. The few opportunities they had were produced by Simon and Matty who displayed some lovely footwork to find Caleb in the centre of the box. However, the Whittlesea defending was solid throughout the game, their midfielders continuously sprinting back, providing an impenetrable barrier to Langy's attacks.

In the 46th minute Reha and Carl both jumped for a header, but a Whittlesea midfielder won the ball and delivered a small, neat pass to a striker. The striker took the ball up and found himself one-on-one with Shawny. He tapped it to the side and kicked it straight into the open goal for a 2:0 lead, seconds shy of halftime.

Minutes into the second half found Caleb moving the ball around the box, trying to create some space. The ball was won by a Whittlesea defender and kicked long. A striker received the ball deep in the park and turned to face Shawny, again, one-on-one. He managed to make his way around and put the ball away for a 3:0 lead in the 56th minute.

Boris and Caff came on in exchange for Simon and Reha and provided a fresh set of legs in the 65th minute.

It was all Jo in the 75th minute when he took the ball out of defence and straight up the middle of the park. He had his pick of three players up front in Carl, Caleb and Matty, but just as he made the pass, the offside flag went up.

Chris and Matty were next, playing the ball around in the box where it rebounded off a Whittlesea defender and out for a corner. It was taken by Buzza and positioned right in the centre of the box. The keeper jumped up and attempted to punch the ball out. However, it didn't go far and Danny managed to header it up and over the keeper, into the goals for a 3:1 score.

The late goal fired the boys up for a little while but it seemed that the day just wasn't theirs. Apart from the first 20 minutes, the play appeared slow – the boys had time on the ball but this seemed to hinder rather than help them. Towards the end there were some lovely passes from Danny to Caff and a few shots from Caleb, but the ball just didn't find its way through the defence or past the keeper.

When the whistle blew the score remained 3:1 for the Whittlesea Zebras.

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