Round 5 - VS Lower Hutt, Newtown Park 2

Write-up by Stu

Elite 6 – 1 Mooseknuckles

Elite faced up against the struggling Mooseknuckles on Saturday at Newtown Park 2 hoping to continue our strong start to the season.

Fielding a full team continues to be a struggle for us this season but we managed to pull together a strong starting line up with Damo taking another one for the team and helping us out in goal and Chris jumping in on the right side of defense.

The game started slowly with the Elite controlling most of the possession and the mooseknuckles content on sitting back and catching us on the fast break. We continued to move the ball around nicely and out from the back showing more composure on the smaller pitch. 

Possession and pressure finally paid off when Tim broke the deadlock midway through the first half. The Mooseknuckles pulled one back with a scrappy goal and we went in to the break 1-1 feeling as though we should have done better. The second half started slowly for us as the Mooseknuckles pressed us. Decs then pulled out one of his signature sprays to fire the boys up, we then began to move the ball around a lot better and run the other team around forcing a couple of great saves out of their keeper with a couple of great strikes from Shane up top.
Pressure continued to mount, and we forced a couple of corners. Then came the decisive moment a left foot screamer by Stu- he expertly latched on to a downward header from Shane and managed to hold of the keeper whilst turning and emphatically dispatched into the bottom corner a real strikers finish, easily a contender for goal of the season. 

This goal then opened the floodgates and we proceeded to dominate as Turk, Shane and Isaac all chipped in. We could have had more goals with a couple of great strikes by Rolf & Shane both hitting the woodwork. 

The away team seemed to throw in the towel late in the second half which allowed for some free-flowing football and a few more chances. 


Overall a great performance by the Elite but we should not get complacent going into next week’s away fixture. Positives to take away from Saturday was the great ball movement and positioning of the team we managed to keep our shape right up until 90 mins which showed we were focused and not content for the game to become a free for all. Negatives, we were caught on the break a couple of times with some route one football and there was some slack marking during the first half but luckily, they were not clinical enough to make us pay.
Special mention has to be made to Damo and Chris for filling in and Dave stepping up to ref again. 


 
MVP Points

Tough this week with the big win 

3 – Tim – Stuck to his defensive duties all game whilst still managing to get forward and be a threat in front of goal.

2 – Isaac – Composed on the ball, distribution was clinical and a great finish for the goal.

1 – Shane – Was a great outlet up top, came deep to get the ball and always challenged well in the air.