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

S.A.A.S.L. Round Two Saturday 12th April 08

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DIV 1 FIRSTS 2 vs 2 NAVARINO FC

Goals: Stenta (2)

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

After a disappointing first up outing back in division one, the Wolves went west to tackle Navarino FC, formerly known as Adelaide Gryphons.  We had a point to prove after being humiliated the week before and, despite a few key personnel arriving late, we were focused and looking for maximum points.

The game started promisingly with the Wolves enjoying the line share of possession.  Coach Romano had masterminded the switch back to our customary 3-5-2 formation that had served us so well last season and the early signs were positive.  Kari, Barolo and Zanin had their attackers’ measure at the back, dealing with any Navarino forward thrusts with ease.  George and Drazetic were controlling the centre of the park winning contested ball frequently with hard challenges and distributing quality passes to the forwards.  Sawicki and DeIeso were menacing out wide in their unforgiving wingback roles, taking on players and supplying dangerous crosses, whilst upfront, the trio of Stenta, Rossi and Ripa appeared to be more cohesive in their interplay around the edge of the area.

Despite this, Iggies fell behind at the 25 minute mark even though we did not deserve it.  Sloppy finishing up front saw Ripa, Rossi and Stenta waste good opportunities to score first, with the later (Stenta) missing 3 gimmie goals; all one-on-one’s with the keeper.  These misses would prove costly as soon after, following a turn over in the midfield, Navarino scored off of a cross that was headed in at the back post by a midfielder making a late run into the box.  Determined not to let this set-back get the better of us, we dug deep and ran out the half well, creating more opportunities to score but again failing to find the back of the net.  For the second week in a row we headed into half time 0-1 down.

This week we would not capitulate in the second half though.  Again we came out positively and controlled the tempo of the game taking it right up to Navarino.  We needed to be patient though as they were proving a tough side to break down.  Wave after wave of attack bore little fruit and the Wolves appeared to be heading for another frustrating afternoon.  That all changed however, when our dominant backline again thwarted an opposition attack and sent the ball via Zanin down the left flank.  From here DeIeso took over with one of his typical mazy runs (I’m not even sure if he knows where he is going when he gets the ball?) that took him deep inside the box.  A neat little cut back was played to Stenta, who finished off well and it was 1-1.

Buoyed by this the Wolves pushed on, eager to score another, but it would be Navarino who troubled the scorers next.  A long ball managed to find its way to an unmarked striker and suddenly, out of nothing, he managed to put the ball past Ciccianni and we were down again.  It was a cruel blow for Ciccianni and the defence who had played so well all day, with the keeper making many fine saves to keep us in the match.  Not to be outdone, the Wolves lifted their intensity and surged forward on numerous raids searching for the equaliser.  It was to come from the hard work of Ripa, who chased down a long ball the Navarino keeper had come off his line to clear.  The under pressure keeper fluffed his clearance which went straight to Stenta who, after controlling the ball preceded to lob it back over the keeper’s head into the empty net; 2-2.

The score would remain this way until the end, despite the Wolves pouring on the pressure in the final 10 minutes.  Even the introduction of Gilbert for the tiring Drazetic and the lightning quick Pavia for the not-so-quick Rossi couldn’t get us over the line.  By the end of the game we were more disappointed that we didn’t take the 3 points from this match then we were the previous week before when we were belted 1-5.  Still, we were happy enough with our first point back in Division One and it is something to build on for next week’s grudge match against St Peter’s.  President Steve Uren is already putting on the pressure declaring, “Nothing but 3 points will do in the match against the spooners!”  Let’s hope that’s the case.

DIV 1 RESERVES 2 v 1 NAVARINO FC

Goals: Iordan, Takumi

With a somewhat depleted line-up and our star speedster (aka Hawkesy) out for personal reasons we faced Navarino FC away at Collin’s Reserve. With our confidence up from the week before there was a good vibe around the change rooms that we could get a result on the road.

After the ritual warm-up we settled into the game comfortably and just as we were getting on top of our opposition a goal was scored in bizarre circumstances. A Navarino player played the ball off his arm and took a shot that went wide. Strangely the referee awarded a goal kick and waved play-on. Unfortunately, Andrawos, instead of taking a goal kick played a lovely through- ball right to the feet of a Navarino player thinking it was a free kick. The Navarino superstar scored into an open net and continued to claim the goal despite our protests.

Fortunately, we equalized straight after the re-start with a lovely flowing move leading to Jordan scoring his first goal for the club.

The message at the half time talk was clear, we needed to keep our composure and the result will come.

We came out in the 2nd half controlling the majority of possession but we continued to lack the quality in the final third. With two changes made, bringing Chiano and Sparapani into the game we continued to press for the winner. This finally came through our new international signing Takuma scoring on debut with a cool finish.
A great game by all and everyone should be commended on how they fought back from 1-0 down.

Special mention should go to Takumi and Jordan for scoring two vital goals in their first full games for the club.

It’s on to next week with the 1Bs still the only team to sing the club song in 08. Hopefully this good form remains for family day at Glenunga.

DIV 3 FIRSTS 0 v 9 SALISBURY VILLA


(Photo; Protect the Club Rooms and the Beer)

Goalscorer: Nil

Lineup: E. Ciccarello, Woods, Condon (Caeran), Williams, Lai, A. Rossi, Durand (Al Hinai), Kitching, Leach, Ventura (Angley), Sourdin.

When you travel north of the city, it is quite easy to propagate the typical socioeconomic stereotypes associated with the region.  Needless to say, I still thought we had a few hundred kilometres to go before we reached Woomera (see attached photo).  The pleasing visual aesthetics aside, the Salisbury Villa pitch was green and large; which meant we were in trouble, because our pitch is neither (Burnside Council is our friend). 

It also had to be pointed out to a number of spectators that we were in fact playing a team with an Italian ethnic origin.  The furthest north some of the young pups had been was Gepps Cross (!) – a quick lesson in the difference between ‘market garden wogs’ (Virginia, Salisbury, Campbelltown) and ‘AFL playing wogs’ (Fulham, Brighton) furthered the already enriched Jesuit education that some of these boy’s parents had taken out a second mortgage to achieve!!

We approached the game with gusto, however, it was obvious from the first whistle that we were faced with another technically gifted and fitter side than ours.  To our credit, we fought it out to the end, and didn’t resort to any of the methods stereotypically used by other northern teams.  We attempted to adapt to a new 3-6-1 formation designed to utilise our speed down the wings; however, it did little more than confuse our positioning, and we conceded two very quick goals.  We enjoyed our best spell of the match in the next 15 minutes, creating a number of half chances and a number of corners.  Our best opportunity came from a sublime through ball from Kitching to Sourdin, who narrowly failed to beat the ‘keeper.  Needless to say that at 1-2 the game would have been interesting – unfortunately, 20 minutes later at half time that score was 0-6 after a number of defensive lapses at set pieces (and miskicked clearances).

After a quick check on our cars (I HAD to put in a northern suburbs gag somewhere), we entered the field for the second half determined not to roll over.  We adopted a conventional 4-4-2 and played with our heads held up high.  In the end, it finished 0-9, but we had some promising forays into the opposition half – Sourdin was let down by an unlucky bounce, Angley came on and had a half-opportunity straight away, and our Omani Sheikh, Zaid Al-Hinai came off the bench and was unafraid to run at their defence.

Having played the best two teams in the league in the first two weeks, we know what we need to do – get disciplined!!  Teams should NOT be able to pass the ball around us into the goals.  It is notable that only one goal out of those 17 was scored from OUTSIDE the box (the first by Comets!!),  Our goal difference is -16 after two rounds, and will definitely count when we push for stability in the midseason.  Defending should be the focus this week, especially when we take on the fleet-footed Adelaide Tigers.

DIV 3 RESERVES 1 v 3 SALISBURY VILLA


(Photo; Take Control)

Goalscorer: Inamoto

Lineup: Lissner, Trengove, Tallarida (Innamorati), A. Kitching, Nastasie, Fantasia, Walker, Callaghan, Green, Earls (Jiminez), Morgan (Bolognese)

After last weeks loss the boys were keen to get stuck in with no time wasted in getting the game started on time.  Innamorati was missing for the first five minutes in what is becoming an alarming regularity - it could be time for Coach Woodhouse to give that one a knuckle upside the head!!!

Unfortunately, the boys had all the eagerness of 40 year old virgins outside a brothel but the physical drive of a 70 year old inside the brothel. Villa came out attacking with clean and crisp passing using the space to their advantage. The Wolves were left to do a lot of chasing, something they clearly were in the mood to do. Villa used their creative middle man well and moved the ball from the back to the front with ease. Morgan and Earls were visibly getting frustrated up front and found themselves coming deeper into our half to win the ball.

The ever present Captain Walker was doing all he could in the middle to shut down the link man but no avail, some excellent talking from Tallarida and smart defending from Trengove and Andrew “Chief” Kitching had the side looking more respectable than it should have. Around the magical 25 minute mark Villa had their goal and the Wolves were left wondering what had happened to their “unit mentality”.

Coach Woodhouse made his disappointment known at half time; with visions of a Newcastle losing streak coming into fruition, the point was made clear, “Take Control!” (something the boys should have been doing from the start).

The only change at the half was to take off the frustrated Earls to add some South American flair (Jiminez – the name says it all!) into the middle, with Green being pushed up front and Callaghan wide left.

The change was positive with OISC taking on board the team motto and really attempting to take control. We started to get some creative movement happening with good moves coming from all areas of the pitch. After the first 5 more creativity was thrown on the pitch, with Tallarida sacrificed for Innamorati, who came into the middle with Jiminez alongside. The supply slightly improved.

Our first solid chance came soon after the substitution with a free kick outside of the box. Morgan and Innamorati stepped up to the plate, discussing the pros and cons of a right footer or left footer to handle the job. In the end the left was chosen. Morgan stepped up and hit the wall; taking a deflection the ball fell favorably for an inward moving Innamorati, who seized the golden opportunity and hit the ball sweetly into the bottom right corner.

With renewed vigor the boys pounced on Villa creating several more opportunities but were unable to capitalize. Bolognese was brought on for Morgan to assist the creative side of the game. OISC fought well with Walker again leading by example as well as Trengove pushing through obvious pain to step up to the plate. Unfortunately the ref didn’t agree with the extra effort being put in the back and awarded Villa a dodgy penalty. Their best man stepped up and finished it the way he had been playing all day, with precision.

It was at this stage that the boys started to tire again, with huge open space being the enemy of the day. The boys couldn’t cover it all and continue attacking the way they had at the start of the half.

The boys from Villa had obviously used video footage from the Asian Cup in their tactical sessions as one of their players thought it would be a good idea to drop to the ground and fake injury. The ref to his credit attempted to keep the game playing but the continual stopping and confusion halted the game.  OISC showed their sportsmanship by giving the ball the straight back to the opposition after they cleared the ground of their carcass, however, Villa took advantage of the Wolves’ loss of concentration over the matter and linked a few passes to snatch the sealer.

Overall we again showed that we can play football, just not for the full 90 minutes. Hopefully, as the weeks come so will the match fitness!