Russell Vale began the game well and their constant pressure in the first few minutes caused a Coledale defender to put the ball past his own keeper, 1-0 to the home side. The Cobras continued to have the lion’s share of possession but couldn’t create the clear opportunities their football deserved. During the last 10mins of the half Coledale had their best spell of the game. Firstly a poor pass was intercepted in our own 18 yard box and their striker made no mistake 1-1. Soon after from a corner Brody Armour pulled off a point blank save but with the away side swarming forward it was only a matter of time before they got their second. The defence were caught flat footed when their speedy striker latched onto a ball over the top and made it 1-2. Right on the very stroke of HT a misunderstanding in the box left their striker wide open in front of goal, 1-3.

Fired up the Cobras came out the second half and played the same flowing football they did at the start of the game but too often the play broke down in the final third without really testing the keeper. The best chance came when Russell Vale broke quickly and a series of one two’s between Hayley Waller and Jordan Errington resulted in their keeper producing a good save. With time running out the concentration level fell and once again we set up the other team to score and put the game out of reach 1-4. Then right at the death the referee gave a contentious decision when Brody Armour produced a fine save on the goal line but the ball was adjudged to have crossed over. Good case for goal line technology but either way it wouldn’t have made any difference to the final result.

Despite the 5-1 loss and the fact that we set up four of Coledale’s goals I wasn’t disappointed with the overall performance. I was really pleased to see the defence play the ball out well from the back. There were some great overlapping runs from Tom Curren and Baxter Bowler Prentice and one time even Jack Donnelly broke forward and found himself on the edge of Coledale’s 18 yard area. Ethan Larnach and Clayton Walker produced some crunching tackles and when Blair Dunn and Christian Baade Mortimer link up down the left wing there’s no stopping them.  Riley Hanlon and Baily Baade Mortimer put in some good crosses from the right but we just couldn’t find that decisive touch in the box.

The Coledale coaching staff were magnanimous in victory and praised our lads for the way they passed the ball around and were actually amazed to see a team pass it out from the back instead of just hoofing the ball up front.

The main difference between the sides today was Coledale had three big lads who knew where the back of the net was and their finishing was clinical. I still believe my little Cobras are playing the correct style of football and I understand it’s difficult for them to comprehend when you come up against teams with a few players that are bigger and faster than ours. The Cobras just have to keep faith that they are playing football the correct way and not lose heart .

YNWA

Coach

Winless all season, Bulli must have thought Christmas had come early when Russell Vale contrived to gift wrap all 5 goals. No disrespect to Bulli overall they deserved the win but sadly all five of their goals were set up by Russell Vale.

With only eleven players turning up on the day we were a little restricted with our team selection. Once again Brody Armour was between the sticks for the long term injured Ethan Johnson. He couldn’t be faulted for the goals, he tried his best and even managed a couple of good saves. The Cobras were a goal down leading up to HT when Blair Dunn knocked home the equaliser but once again our discipline let us down as Bulli went up the other end and made it 2-1 to the home side at the break. It had been end to end football besides their two goals Bulli had also hit the woodwork twice. Russell Vale’s reply was a corner and a free kick from Harrison Benn that both caused mayhem in the Bulli six yard box but despite a couple of frantic goal mouth scrambles the Cobras just couldn’t get the ball over the line.

When the second half restarted Bulli increased their lead to 3-1 before Blair Dunn drilled home his second of the match to give Russell Vale a chance of getting something from the game. Unfortunately goals 4 and 5 put paid to that slim hope and with no subs to call on the formation was changed to 3-3-4 with 5 mins to go to try and get a goal back but Bulli’s defence held firm.

This season it would appear we are consistently, inconsistent. Even in this game there were some flowing passing moves that led to Tom Curran, Riley Hanlon, Jordan Errington and Hayley Waller all going very close to scoring but alas not close enough. Although there were battling performances from Ethan Larnach and Baxter Bowler Prentice, much to my chagrin there were other times the team just stood and watched Bulli with the ball.

From my perspective the results are irrelevant, it’s all about performance and playing good football. There’s no easy solution to our erratic form this season, the players just have to concentrate and work hard at training. Like the first season when all the other teams were playing hoof ball we have to keep faith with our “pass & move” style of football………………….it’s going to be a long season!

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” (hopefully the players will take heart from the LIVERPOOL anthem)

Coach

Regards,

SHAUN HAMLET

As someone said after the game this was more like the Russell Vale of old. Once they scored the first goal there was only going to be one winner, despite a second half rally from Tarrawanna.

However in the first minute it nearly went so wrong. Brody Armour in goal for the injured Ethan Johnson was called into action right from the KO, he blocked the home sides first effort but Clayton Walker read it well and was on hand to clear the second effort off the line. After that wakeup call Russell Vale got their act together. Hayley Waller went bursting through the middle only to be thwarted at the first attempt but was quick to net the rebound, 0-1 to the Cobras. Blair Dunn came off the bench to score two superb goals and increase the lead to 0-3. With Russell Vale in full commend Baxter Bowler Prentice broke out of defence with the ball to set up Bailey Baade Mortimer to drive home number four.

In the second half Tarrawanna caught our defence flat footed twice but sandwiched in between was a cracking goal from Jordan Errington after good work from Riley Hanlon and Hayley Waller. Christian Baade Mortimer went close to scoring a couple of times and constantly caused havoc down the left hand side. With a comfortable 5-2 lead Russell Vale were content to play out the game which although it ended a few minutes early, there was still time for Blair Dunn to claim a hat-trick and make the final score 2-6 to the Cobras.

It would appear that visits to Tarrawanna are never short of goals but more importantly Russell Vale got their passing game going and played some good football.

Don’t forget training on Tuesday & Wednesday this week.

YNWA

Coach