Match Report – Under 11 – Round 2, 2018
U11 Boys – North Ringwood Red vs Bayswater.
Bright sunshine greeted us to our first away game, and we took the field with a grand total of 15 players. To their credit, our boys kept up their wonderful positive attitude. It was great to welcome Brodie and Ollie to the team for their first games this year.
Aware we’re short on numbers, our boys attacked the contest hard and continued their super effort from last week. Despite playing three short, we managed to get to the lead 2.1.13 to 1.1.7 at quarter time.
Our effort at the contest seemed to be worrying the North Ringwood boys and a few tempers began to flare in the second quarter. Leading by the same score at half time, we reminded the boys of why we are here – playing football and enjoying ourselves. Some deep breaths and calm conversations and we were back at it.
As we expected the second half saw North Ringwood come back hard, and the shortage of numbers began to tell on our boys who were clearly tiring in the warm conditions. At three quarter time, the scores were locked on 2 goals 3 apiece, and we looked to try and keep us in the contest while resting some of our hardworking midfield.
The last quarter brought an effort unlike any I have seen from an Under 11s team in many many years. After conceding the lead early, our boys never gave up as they chased, tackled, handballed and kicked their way to a thrilling draw against a very good, full-strength opposition. Such a fantastic effort.
The whole team again contributed, but special mentions should go to the great captain’s game of Owen, the tireless running of David and Blake, the last quarters of Jackson and Joel, and the super game from Malakai, who greatly deserved and received the ANZAC medal from the North Ringwood coach. Well done all of you. I couldn’t be more proud.
- North Ringwood Red 3.5.23
- Bayswater 3.5.23
Goals: Oscar Ludtke, Ollie Jones, Malakai Gordon
Best Players: Owen Prior, Malakai Gordon, Blake Manenti, Zyon Darmawan.
Andrew Peters
U11s Coach