Langy Too Good For Malvern City

Posted: 16 June, 2010

Round 9: Malvern City v Langwarrin – 5 June, 2010

A typical Melbourne winter day – pouring with rain and freezing cold, provided the backdrop for the round 9 match between Langwarrin and Malvern City. Played on Malvern City’s home ground in Moorabbin, Langwarrin were clearly the dominant side throughout the match, despite a couple of slip-ups, taking the victory at 4:2.

Seany was back in goals after a break last week. Danny, Caff, Carl and Junior were the back four with Jo, Driver, Boris and Simon playing across the middle. Matty and Caleb were up-front. On the bench were Quinny, Alex and Nihad. Ray was out with an injury to his hammy. Mladen, Ben, Jonesy, Kris and Reha remain out with more extensive injuries.

Jo came out firing from the moment the whistle blew. He won possession in Langy’s half, dribbled past two defenders and blasted a shot on goal which the keeper had to run out to deflect in time.

The boys were back almost instantly, asserting their dominance in the early minutes of the game. This time, the keeper got down low to chest the ball but Matty sprinted towards him and deflected the out-coming ball. It flew back towards the goal, coming close to the line but curved away at the last moment.

Langwarrin won a throw-in minutes later which was taken by Danny. It went to Jo who passed it back to Danny. Danny sent it to Simon. Simon passed back to Jo and ended up directly behind him – in the perfect position to receive Jo’s quick back pass. Without batting an eye-lid Simon pounced on the ball and took a shot, but unfortunately, the ball sailed over the goals.

The ball made its way into Malvern’s half quite a few times but the boys worked hard for each other to get it out of the danger zone. Simon pestering the strikers and forcing the loose ball, Caff clearing them out. Junior and Carl produced some fantastic tackles and headers, respectively, to stop Malvern in their tracks.

Caff consistently seemed to be in the right place at the right time. When a one-two between Boris and Simon was intercepted and the ball aggressively taken up by a striker, it was Caff that stood between the ball and the goals. He calmly positioned himself in front of the man and put out a leg as he hit the ball to deflect it out for a corner.

The first goal of the game was born with Malvern awarding Langy a penalty when a defender pulled on Jo’s shirt during a one-two with Caleb in the box. It was taken by Caleb and confidently put away for a 1:0 lead in the 42nd minute.

It had started raining quite heavily in the 20th minute and did not let up. After the goal it became even heavier, not only making the ball and field slippery, but visibility poor.

This didn’t seem to stop the boys. Despite the freezing cold weather, they just kept heating things up.

Matty and Caleb employed a string of passes on the right wing to bring the ball up into Langy’s half. They lost possession but Jo managed to win it back. He speedily took it into the box and out to the left dribbling past all the defenders. He cut it back to the right, lined it up and put the ball cleanly away for a 2:0 lead in the 45th minute. He out-smarted the whole defence and keeper with his speed and agility to deliver Langy’s second goal.

Matty started the second half off with gusto, positioning himself in the centre of the box within seconds of the whistle blowing. He blasted a shot onto the goals which the keeper had to rush to deflect.

Malvern too had a few opportunities and managed to take advantage of one of them in the 57th minute. A striker found himself with possession in the box and placed a low shot which found a spot in the bottom right hand corner of the goal for a 2:1 score.

Langwarrin didn’t give their hosts too long to celebrate though, when, mere seconds later Boris won the ball and tapped it to Caleb who placed a through-ball to Matty. Matty received the ball on the right, out-manoeuvred the keeper, who appeared to be no obstacle, and put the ball away, strengthening Langy’s lead to 3:1.

The second half may have been colder and wetter but the boys thrived and played the ball around more than in the first. They seemed to find a zone in which they were comfortable and Malvern simply couldn’t break in. One such play began from Driver in the middle of the park who played it out wide to Boris. Boris to Jo, Jo back to Driver, Driver to Caleb, Caleb to Matty and Matty to Simon who took a shot that unfortunately went over and out for a goal kick.

It happened again minutes later and Malvern may as well have been witches hats. Boris passed to Matty right in front of the goals. Matty flicked it out to the right to Jo who had run up to receive the pass. Jo placed a quick, precise cross which Caleb anticipated and ran in to meet. He dove in and headed the ball, which again, unfortunately went over the goals.

Boris won the ball again in the 77th minute, in the centre of the park. He proceeded to lob it lightly over a defender to get it to Matty up –front, already on the run. Matty took it up and outsmarted the keeper with one neat pass to Caleb waiting on the right. With an open goal in front of him there was no chance Caleb could miss and miss he didn’t putting the ball away for a 4:1 lead.

Despite being outclassed, Malvern kept up the hard work and towards the end of the match it finally payed off one last time. A speedy attack on the right was almost stopped by Seany when he caught the resulting cross. Unfortunately, the wet ball slipped out of his grasp and was knocked back out to a waiting striker who put it away to bring the score to 4:2 in the 89th minute.

The boys attempted a few more attacks in the final minutes but the pitch was so waterlogged that each pass fell short of it’s mark. It seemed to become a real effort to move the ball around. The whistle finally blew after 96 minutes of play and Langwarrin walked away with the lead and a well deserved 3 points.

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