Match Reports Season 2008
Division 1 Firsts / Reserves | Division 3 Firsts / Reserves

S.A.A.S.L. Round One Saturday 5th April 08

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DIV 1 FIRSTS 1 vs 5 BOSA


(Photo; Barolo, passing etiquette)

Goalscorer: S. George

Lineup: Ciccianni, Kari (Gilbert), Barolo, Zanin, DeIeso, Sawicki, Drazetic (Andrawos), George, Stenta, Rossi (Galipo), Ripa

A beautiful day greeted us at Glenunga in what was supposed to be our triumphant return to the First Division, where we no doubt belong.  All four teams were playing at home, the sunshine was smiling down upon us, the pitch was…well shite (let’s be honest, we’ve all played at Glenunga before), the barbie was cooking with gas, the B’s had just accounted for their opponents with a come from behind victory and Woody was helping himself to a few coldies behind the bar before heading off to work.  Things seemed to be going to plan.

In an entertaining first half, both teams matched each other in terms of possession and chances created.  BOSA had control of the midfield, but our much maligned pre-season defence was able to deal with anything they threw at them with Barolo and Kari particularly strong at the centre of defence.  At the other end of the park, Ripa and Rossi were combining well in a new partnership the club hopes will bring it similar success to the Manou – Ripa tandem that had served the Wolves so well in the past; and George was at his ferocious best in the heart of the midfield.  Unfortunately, whilst we were unable to take our chances in front of goal, BOSA did, and took the lead midway through the half through a back post header that Ciccianni appeared to have covered.  This sent the Wolves in down 0-1 at half time, but we were by no means out of the game.

The second half was devoid of many highlights for the home side.  We panicked and, in a move that showed little respect for our opponents, pushed too many men forward in search of an equaliser.  The result was disastrous as we and conceded another 2 goals, one from the penalty spot, and looked out of our depth before Rossi found himself free down the right flank (aided by a stray elbow delivered to the face of his opponent) after a barnstorming run.  Rossi delivered the ball on a platter to Stenta who was unmarked inside the box; only for the highly-overrated defender come striker to scoop his shot over the bar from 2 yards out (he was seen after the game getting advice from the Wolves six-yard specialist, Hawkes).

In what capped off a best on ground performance for the Wolves, George found the back of the net, after a rare attacking foray by Iggies, mid-way through the second half.  It gave us hope at 1-3 down, albeit briefly.  BOSA lifted their intensity after we scored and finished with another two goals to complete a 1-5 rout of the home side.  It should have been six, but Ciccianni stepped up to save a penalty with a fine stop.

In a matter of words the Wolves, who were simply outclassed by a more wily and experienced opposition, were brought back to earth with a shattering thud.  Welcome back to Division One lads!  A tough road lies ahead, but I’m sure we will rise to the challenge.  President Steve Uren refused to comment after the match, as he was still recovering from cardiac arrest after refereeing the 3B’s match against Comets.  At training later in the week he declared that Coach Romano had the full support of the committee. 

DIV 1 RESERVES 3 v 2 BOSA

(Photo; Leach, Reffing Etiquette)

Goals: Rayner (pen), Matthews, Ortner

There was a sense of excitement in the air as the 1Bs strode out onto the field to meet BOSA in round 1. As Piero put the team through its paces during the warm-up we were all keen to get off to a good start to the new season. With new captain at the helm, Ryan Dew, the Bs started nervously and consequently conceded an easy goal within the first 10 mins. To the teams credit we kept our composure and dominated large periods of the half. We were finally rewarded for our efforts with a well taken penalty by Vossy. As we started to gain confidence our passing game improved and Sam ‘Budgie’ Matthews scored a cracking goal from outside the area. As the 1st half drew to a close a momentarily lapse in concentration at the back from yours truly lead to a BOSA equalizer seconds before half-time.

With Piero on for Galipo for the 2nd half we started sluggishly and let BOSA get on top of us. With BOSA bombarding our 18 yard box for large periods of the 2nd half the defense held strong and somehow makeshift keeper Andrawos kept the ball out of the net. As the 2nd half drew to a close Joel and Jordan were brought on to provide some extra pace out wide. This turned out to be a great move as Joel scored an impressive goal from the corner of the 18 yard box. 

An impressive first up display by the 1B side but coach Sparapani will certainly be looking for a more convincing performance in the coming weeks.

DIV 3 FIRSTS 1 v 8 COMETS


(Photo; Romano and Andy, coaching....nah)

Goalscorer: Sourdin

Lineup: E. Ciccarello, Condon, Williams, Woods, Lai (Hurt), Al Hinai, Kitching, Leach, Balestrin (Ortner), Sourdin (Caeran), Durand
.

“Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives”.  Season 2008 had finally begun!  A perfect day for football awaited us: mid-20s temperatures, little cloud cover, and a slight southerly breeze (the ‘Glenunga Doctor’).   A long preseason had presented with little match time and the whole squad was craving the action.  The club welcomed 4 new players into this team: a Venetian, an Omani (yes, an Omani), a man from a town allegedly called ‘Rugby’, and the son of a prominent Adelaide businessman.  Random.

Anyhow, Captain Leachy donned the armband for the first time this year and we went into the game full of confidence.  Comets had been relegated from division 2 and we had heard little progress on their preseason recruiting.  Oops.  Having been division 1 champions for three consecutive years at the start of the century, the Comets board were seemingly unimpressed with consecutive relegations and proceeded to build such a technically gifted amateur side that a number of purists on the sidelines preferred to watch the display on the second pitch at Glenunga.

Nonetheless, the Wolves gave their all for the first 15 minutes of the season, holding their own.  Only a superbly taken long shot opened the scoring, which Ciccarello was unlucky to keep out.  The rest of the half was characterised by missed opportunities and haphazard defending.  We had a number of corners which came agonisingly close, and the referee missed a blatant handball in the box (sidenote: he claimed to be watching the ball.  When asked if the ball hit the opponent’s hand, he remarked: “I wasn’t looking that way”.  Touche).  However, Comets continually attacked us down the flanks, and scored 3 more goals before half time: their goals were all one-on-ones with the keeper – and as a result of defensive errors.

A switch to 3-5-2 at the break backfired for the Wolves as Comets (literally) walked through us twice in the first 10 minutes of the half to effectively end the contest.  As is human nature, the majority of our spectators decided this was the perfect time to go and snag a wolf burger (sidenote: Comets didn’t support our bar at all.  It was put to this author that the lack of souvlaki may have made a contribution to that decision), and missed the best goal of the game.  Ours!!!

Everyone that has ever trained with the Division 3 squad knows that Jimmy Sourdin has a habit of scoring from anywhere (well…almost anywhere).  After a speculative long ball, Jimmy found himself with his back to goal, 18 yards out (on a slight angle), with the keeper slightly off his line.  Showing the grace and agility bestowed upon all players in the Division 3 squad, an OUTRAGEOUS bicycle kick from a HALF VOLLEY was lobbed over the keeper’s head.  1-6 and we were back in the game!

Comets scored two late ones as we tired in the final stages of the match.  Division 3 is going to be a struggle this year if we continue to make the defensive mistakes that we did – remember that the bottom 4 of the 12 sides are relegated.  The next challenge to the Wolves is the former Sunday side Salisbury Villa; hopefully we’ve learned from our mistakes.

DIV 3 RESERVES 1 v 3 COMETS


(Photo; STORM IN A CAN!!!!!!)

Goalscorer: Morgan

Lineup: Lissner, Trengove, Tallarida (Angley), Patten, Jiminez, M. Bolognese (Innamorati), Walker, Nastasie (Callaghan), Fantasia, Morgan, Earls.

It was a fine and sunny Saturday afternoon, with the smell of fresh grass, wolf burgers and championship points in the air. The mood at the Wolf Pen (Glenunga) was one of optimism and anticipation, months of hard work and team bonding will finally be put on display for all to see. The fruits of our labor plump and ripe for the picking!

Upon the first whistle the Wolves showed their ravage hunger for championship points, attacking the ball aggressively and using the vast amount of space to their advantage. Comets appeared to be happy to sit back and let OISC do all the running. This was evident through “Zambrotta” Fantasia and “Hagi” Nastasie’s dominance with the ball down the wings.

The back four were as solid as the Great Wall of China, not allowing Comets soft counter-attacks anywhere near the 18 yard box.  Bacon, on debut in goal, was enjoying the long shots as it gave him an opportunity to show his improvement as a ‘keeper. The excellent marshalling from Patten and Jiminez was a great base to build the Wolves’ attack with M. Bolognese and Captain Walker linking up well in the middle, and attempt to bring the eager “storm in a can” Earls into the game at every opportunity.

25 minutes in, and the fruit was picked with a vengeance! Excellent work from the back line forced the ball down the right wing, Comets were caught off guard, an excellent ball from Zambrotta found the head of a diving Morgan, which redirected the ball into the top corner leaving the Comets keeper standing in awe and the sideline pumping – the first goal at Glenunga for the season!

The goal awoke Comets from their sleepy orbit and kicked their aarse into action. OISC, with some excellent defending in all areas attempted to weather the storm, however by some fluke of nature Comets whipped in a shot from 45 yards out which no ‘keeper in the world would have had the ability nor the foresight to read.  It was quickly dubbed ‘Haley’s Comet’.

Half time came and so did the cavalry; just as Totti was always swapped for Del Piero, Bolognese was swapped with Innamorati.  Coach Woodhouse through his command of the English language communicated that he wanted more attacking play through the middle whilst at the same time relieving Walker of any attacking duties. This worked well with the Wolves again coming out of the box hard and fast, all of the boys showed fantastic work ethic with great balls into the box and crunching tackles. Walker led by example never losing a 50/50 and even grazing the Comets upright with a 20 yard pile driver. 

Alas as the concerning trend is with the Wolves, we ran out of steam. The talking stopped at the back, players weren’t able to get back to their positions to cover each other, and the attacks got fewer and further between. Comets, after sitting back and absorbing, sensed their opportunity and dissected the Wolves midfield and defence: two late goals came to seal the Wolves’ fate.

Overall it was an encouraging start to the season, with everyone putting in a huge effort and really attempting to put in place the tactics that Coach Woodhouse had wisely imputed.