Under 12 Boys:
One week after beating Western Pride 11-0 at Stockland Stadium, The Fire Under 12s looked in confident mood against the same opponent. Within three minutes, Jack Beardsley had scored a well-deserved double to leave his mark on the game early. Four minutes in, Luke Varga netted Fire’s third from a penalty which was the result of some fine build up play with Rory and Harry down the right side.
Joel Tuite’s awareness, Brodie Boyce’s pace, Rory Stenhouse’s strength and Eekiel Hawkins’ intelligent play gave goalkeeper Matt Garma a solid looking line of protection. After eight minutes, the alert Matt was called upon to deal with two long, searching balls and he did so by coming off his line twice in quick succession to clear the threats.
Jack seemed to be everywhere for the Fire in the first-half and after his fierce shot struck the goal frame, Sam Aitken followed up to score a fine goal making it 4-0 under ten minutes. Jack struck the post again before Harry made it 5-0 with a crisp strike then Sam Aitken met a Luke Varga cross to make it 6-0 as The Fire seemed capable of scoring from every attack. Kye looked lively and scored confidently just before the half-time whistle to make the score 7-0 at the break.
The second half started much like the first with the Fire dominating, building from the back and then pushing forward with accurate passes and clever play down both wings and through the middle.
Within no time Harry Arnison split the Pride’s defence with a killer pass to Sam Aitken who’s shot was saved but the ever alert Kye Stopka followed up to make it 8-0.
The Fire kept creating opportunities; Josh Croft was busy at the front left and took a low shot on the 35 minute mark which the Pride keeper parried. Colby, Brodie and Sam Fleming were then involved in much of Fire’s play and linking up well with their team mates in search of more goals.
Stopka was also getting forward time and time again and he scored the Fire’s ninth goal after some great work from Fleming and Varga down the right. Varga then scored to make it 10-0 as the game entered its closing stages and as the minutes ticked away, Croft benefited from Beardsley’s unselfish wing-play as he side-footed high into the net from close range to make the score 11-0. Midfielder Arnison had the final say with a cracking right-foot shot from the edge of the box to end the scoring at 12-0.
The Fire boys put on a great team display all the way from goalkeeper Garma and his defence through the midfielders and forwards as the team played some free-flowing football and showed some clinical finishing.
Under 13 Girls:
The Fire Under 13 Girls matched up against Western Pride again this week, after defeating the team 18-0 the previous Sunday.
This time the game started fairly slow; the Fire did manage to score early, however Western Pride quickly equalised to level the score. The Fire began to settle in to the game and took control, allowing Jazlyn Salih to fire in a first-half hat trick and Hannah Taylor to score. The Fire went in to half-time with a 4-1 lead.
Coach Tom White’s half-time team-talk focused on releasing the ball more quickly as the midfielders had been holding the ball for long periods without creating much.
After the restart the girls focused on the points raised at half-time and took complete control of the game, hammering in 11 goals in the half. The girls were clinical in front of goal, missing very few shots. Great ball retention meant the Fire was able to play lots of killer passes through which the forwards finished.
Salih was superb with 8 goals, and Taylor also secured a hat-trick. The Fire defence was solid, holding Western Pride to just one goal. Annie Dennis won every 1v1 possible and put in a great performance, earning her Player of the Match.
Player of the Match: Annie Dennis
Under 15 Boys:
The Fire Under 15 Boys were confident going into their match against Western Pride, after defeating them 9-2 in the previous Round.
The Fire started the first half with good shape and controlled pressure, making it difficult for Western Pride to break through. Some good runs from Kobe Fuller, Jack Bowen, fullback Abe Reeves and Callum Jones caused trouble for Pride and the Fire was able to capitalise with goals from Fuller and Dawson in the first 15 minutes.
In the 30th minute a Fire miss-communication allowed the Pride striker to place the ball past diving keeper Tom Anderson. However, the Fire was able to bounce back and add another two goals to the score sheet before the end of the half after some nice midfield play allowed Fuller and Dawson to find the back of the net.
The Fire pressed from the kick-off in the second-half, searching for further goals. A good contest started forming between Captain Mason Bell and the Pride striker who went head-to-head numerous times. In the 50th minute Jack Bowen made a good run and composed finish to bring the score to 5-1 in Fire’s favour.
The game became a bit stale from this point with both teams struggling to to keep possession. A challenge from Reis Hanton re-set the Fire squad and saw Fuller and Dawson complete their hat-tricks to put the game beyond doubt.
Coach Daniel Carew said there were some brilliant individual efforts from his players.
“Kobe Fuller was excellent today and had support from Callum Jones, Reis Hanton, Josh Nisbet and Ty Dawson’s strong performances,” he said
“The challenge from Reis was something I wanted to see as it showed the squad the need to work hard and that if you do not shy away from a challenge, good things can happen which can set us up for a goal.
“I was also happy with how positive we were and keen to get forward with purpose, our first few games we lacked that urgency to get forward and finish our chances. I think we have built up confidence and now we are keen to get bodies forward and take risks.”
Man of the Match: Ty Dawson – clinical in front of goal, picked up a well-deserved hat-trick.
Under 16 Boys:
They say that a week is a long time in football. After winning 12-0 last week, the Fire team was probably expecting a comfortable game this week but in the end, were lucky to walk away with a 3-2 victory against a much improved Western Pride team.
From the start, it was clear that the Pride were hungrier and more determined to work hard. The Fire did not maintain possession and were too reliant on through-balls which were ineffective on the small Western Precinct field. It took until the 15th minute for the Fire to show much purpose. Adam Edgar collected the ball on the right-hand edge of the penalty area, drove in and beat the defender with pace to slot the ball past the advancing goal keeper.
Two minutes later, the Fire was able to increase the lead after the Pride defence lost possession near the halfway line. Thomas Swane collected the ball and dribbled inside his defender to unleashed a rocket of a shot from 30 metres which gave the keeper no chance.
The 2-0 lead did not last long as in the 19th minute the referee awarded Western Pride a penalty after the centre-forward was wedged between two Fire defenders. Fire goalkeeper Luke Marker was able to save the shot but the rebound was dispatched by the penalty taker.
Despite the shaky first-half performance, the second-half saw the same rushed passing and focus on through-balls. In the 45th minute, Jordon Irwin and Cameron Nairn had a series of good interchange passes on the left-hand side. Irwin burst through to the last line of defence and made an exquisite pass that threaded the defence and set up Edgar for a simple finish.
In the 50th minute the Fire had their lead cut to one goal again when the central defender was caught in possession about 30 metres directly in front of the Fire goal. The Pride centre forward slotted his 1v1 chance past Luke Marker to bring the score to Fire 3, Western Pride 2.
The Fire had further opportunities to score in the second-half with disallowed goals due to being ruled offside and hitting the post on several occasions. The Pride keeper also pulled off a series of excellent saves to see out the game at 3-2 to the Fire. Overall Coach Ben Cahn said there was much to work on ahead of the next game.
Man of the Match – Jordan Irwin
Under 18 Boys:
The Fire began the match against Western Pride with purpose and energy, putting in hard work which was rewarded with the majority of possession. The boys forced Pride into its own half for much of the game but Pride looked threatening on the counter-attack.
The Fire’s high work-rate on the 38th minute Lloyd played a ball through to the feet of Matt Kennedy who slotted in the first goal of the game and give the Fire the lead heading in to half-time.
The second-half was again a strong team performance and in the 57th minute Matt Kennedy won possession from a Western Pride player and passed to Ryan Garratt to slot a through ball to Jordy Lloyd to finish and increase the Fire’s lead. Just two minutes later a Brendan Martin goal-kick found Chris Tercou who put a ball over the top for Luke Devitt to calmy finish. Devitt was again on the scoresheet in the 62nd minute after Lloyd played a quick ball out to Matt Kennedy who released Devitt to finish. He wrapped up his hat-trick five minutes later after picking up a Chris Terpcou through-ball, beating a defender and dispatching a shot into the net to finish the Fire’s scoring.
Coach Paul Arnison said his team played well; keeping a clean sheet, creating a lot of opportunities and scoring some quality goals.
“The only disappointing things were that we sometimes took too long on the ball and we did not take advantage of the chances we created to kill the game off earlier. We will work on this in training, but overall it was a good team effort,” he said.
Man of the Match: Chris Terpcou and Matt Carrick
