WA Over 50's - 2008 Match Reports

WA vs SA - Tuesday, July 8, 2008

With the first game under the belt, and a win to boot, the Over 50’s WA team breathed a sigh of relief – the 2008 campaign was on track as planned! 

With a less than ideal preparation (thanks to some players International commitments), the team was a little on edge leading up to the important first game of the tournament. The weather was warm and sunny but a good breeze made playing conditions a little cooler than expected. 

The game opened with both teams a little nervous, but it was really encouraging to see WA settling into a pattern of control. Some very good plays were put together after this settling in period and the first goal resulted from a short corner forced by some excellent play down the right side. 

As the first half progressed, the rotations off the bench and the growing confidence of the WA players lead to Jos D’Silva scoring our second goal, and first field goal. 2-0 to the good guys! The bench was made as comfortable as possible with iced towels, water sprays and lots of cold water for the players taking a rest. Rob Lawson moved the chess pieces around the board according to the plan laid down by Cam and all seemed to be working well. 

The first half concluded with us 2-0 ahead. Words of encouragement mixed with confirmation of tactics and we were ready to add to our tally in the second half. 

South Australia mounted a spirited assault after the break, but the WA team held them with good defence and launched quick counter-attacks. The South Australians had some good players in midfield but lacked the depth of players across the park. WA fell back into cover when needed and SA started to show they had run out of ideas. The sting had gone out of their game by about half way through the second half and WA started to really gain the upper hand. As a result of a nice attacking move down the left, Jos added a second field goal to his tally. Cool, calm and collected as always! This seemed to end much of SA’s hope and after this they made some individual runs but these were slowed and stopped effectively by the defence. 

The last goal of the game came from another short corner with SA running both runners out to a menacing Steve Farrar on the striker’s left, only to see the ball not go that way at all and a direct shot past the goal keeper’s left leg to find home. 

SA capitulated at this stage, WA went into semi-defensive mode to conserve energy and the game finished soon thereafter. I thought that for some of the game we were rusty, but as the game progressed we gained confidence and the skills and awareness started to flow. A very encouraging start to the tournament as we played to instructions mostly and were able to change our game when it needed to be changed or when instructed to do so. 

Honourable mentions to Jeff Kovaks and Steve Noble for their excellent work off the bench and the rest of the team for their workmanlike first effort. No injuries to speak of and a rest day following before we take on WA Country. 

Report writen by David Lockett.

Result: WA 4 - SA 0

WA vs WAC - Thursday, July 10, 2008

WA went into this game knowing it was going to be hard and tough. 
A couple of missed opportunities by Chris North and Joslyn D'Silva early in the game and some harsh words from Coach Cam and Captain Dave to "step up" got us going. 
Good work down the right side by Pete Fogels set up Steve Farrar for an excellent deflection goal. 
Unfortunately a lack of concentration for a few minutes saw Country equalise. 

At the break a new game plan set up by Assistant Coach Rob Lawson to control the middle of the pitch saw Dave Lockett set up Wayne Cutler to score a deflection goal. 
Our third goal came from a penalty corner variation and scored by Stephen Pestana. 

Best player as voted by our opposition was David lockett. Best player as voted by his peers was Shane Williams. 

Match report written by Chris North and Ralph Untersteiner.

Result: WA 3 - WAC 1

WA vs QLD - Saturday, July 12, 2008

This game would decide which side finished top in Pool B. 

The game was played with a lot of intensity by both sides. 
WA struggled again with scoring from penalty corners and also failed to open up the Queensland defence by not using both sides of the field. 

Western Australia's first goal came from a nice low flick from Pesty into the "D" to Midnight (Chris North) who one-timed it past the keeper. 

At the half-time break WA were in front 1-0. 

After half-time, WA had a few chances but could not get the ball past the Queensland goalkeeper. 
About 15 minutes into the half Queensland were awarded a penalty corner which resulted in a penalty stroke being awarded due to the ball being stopped from going in to the goal by Pedro's foot on the line. 
Queensland converted the stroke. Game on 1-1. 

The next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle with both sides pushing harder. WA still squandered their penalty corner chances. 

With a couple of minutes to go WA was awarded a penalty corner. The ball was pushed out to Dave Lockett who controlled the ball under pressure, hitting it to the keeper's right. The keeper managed to make contact with the ball only to see it trickle over the line. 

Goal scorers: Chris North 1, David Lockett 1. 

Best player for WA as voted by Queensland was Steve Pestana. Best player from his peers votes for WA was George (Pedro) Naylor.

Result: WA 2 - QLD 1

WA vs ACT - Monday, July 14, 2008

The match started as we hoped it wouldn't - we were one down after 3 minutes following an untidy turnover in deep attack. 
The team then snapped out of it and settled into the type of rythm we had talked about and planned for. 
The forwards were now aware and moving well up-front with Locks starting to assert himself in the middle and the flank halves moving and covering well. 
The plan was coming together. 
Our first goal came from some good base line work by Ferral getting a nice ball back to Jos who finished it well. 
Then Northy opened his account with a sweet deflection at the post from a lovely ball put in by Jos. 
The next came from a well constructed corner crossed to Cam who slid it home. 
At the break we were 3-1 up and the feeling in the team was positive. 

After the break we stepped up the tempo and started to construct our game as we were being coached to do. 
The next goal was a screamer with Ferral getting low (as only Ferral can do with those stubby little legs...) for a deflection from a lovely cross by Midnight (Northy). 
We then had a lapse of discipline and allowed an ACT solo run to the top of our circle which ended in a well struck ball going to our keeper's right and rattling the boards. 
Once again we woke up and got back into it. 
The next goal for WA came from Jos off the keeper's pads during a short corner. 
The next one was one out of the box from Northy who opened it up on the top of the circle into the top right of the net. 
Then Willow slotted another sweet shot from the right hand side of the short corner battery. 


Best player as voted by his peers was Chris North. Best from our opponents point of view was Willow.

Result: WA 7 - ACT 2

WA vs NSW - Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The game against NSW started with a very dominant session on WA's part but although we controlled most of the play we were unable to convert our chances. 
We went into the half-time break at nil all but had sustained a few minor injuries which needed to be attended to. 

The second half was a step up in tempo by both sides. 
Steve Farrar managed to clean up some scrappy work on the pads and slotted the first goal. 
NSW then worked a short corner and converted to equalise. 
The next 10 minutes was played at a hectic pace with some very physical tagging from both sides. 
NSW then broke through and managed to slide a shot past the keeper to go one up. 

Once again the heat was on and a few desperate tackles saw Pete Fogels getting a 5 minute rest with 10 minutes to go quickly followed by Dave Lockett also being awarded a 5 minute rest following another heavy tackle.
We played the next 3 minutes with 9 players until Pete returned. 

The game was closed out by NSW with a 2-1 win. 

The fairest and best as voted by his peers was Jos and Cam was awarded the votes by NSW.

Result: WA 1 - NSW 2

WA vs VIC - Thursday, July 17, 2008

We seemed to go into this game with a good attitude and a will to hit them hard but unfortunately, as the half unfolded it was obvious that the mental damage done by the loss to NSW had put doubts into the minds of most of our players. We played strongly but without confidence, letting in some very soft goals, with our passing and finishing letting us down we were performing exactly the opposite to our game plan and by half time we were 3 -1 down, with our heads hung low, particularly after an umpire mistake which awarded us a penalty corner right on the half-time buzzer instead of the goal it would have been had the whistle been held off for a microsecond longer. Needless to say we didn’t score from the short. 

The half time huddle was one out of the box, we were told to dig deep and extract the digit because we were playing Victorians and we were embarrassing ourselves. 

Wow what a difference a chat and 5 minutes of soul searching can do!!! 

The following 35 minutes of hockey can only be described as magnificent, from the first second it was a new team playing and everyone was playing with confidence. We totally dominated the half with a 7-1 reversal in form that the spectators would talk about for a long time to come. The forwards found the rest of the gears in their box and went into overdrive with some fantastic team goals that had the crowd on their feet. 
It would be unfair to start naming the scorers because the quality of support by every player on the pitch was superb. 

The final result was 8-4 but even this was a little flattering to the Vic’s in what will be one of the most exciting games of hockey you will see anywhere. 

The best player as nominated by us was Jos, and the Vic’s gave their votes to David Lockett.

Result: WA 8 - VIC 4

SemiFinal WA vs QLD - Friday, July 18, 2008

Result: WA 3 – QLD 2

Final - WA vs NSW - Saturday, July 19, 2008

With plenty of positive feedback and encouragement from many other state sides, this was a final WA felt they could win. 

The WA side stuck to the game plan for the first half and had goal scoring opportunities with Chris and Jos but didn't convert. 
The NSW forwards had only a couple of dangerous penetrations but were repelled by a strong backline and good communication from Cam, Mala and George. 

Sticking to the game plan in the second half, the WA side again had scoring opportunities. Pete earned a penalty corner and Cam had a power shot but was wide. 

Luck seemed to be with NSW when controversially they were awarded a penalty corner at around the 15 minute mark and converted with a high flick. 
Only minutes later WA again penetrated the circle in attack and were awarded a penalty corner which was nicely converted by Jos with a powerful shot. However, to the jeers of the crowd and WA players, the umpire disallowed the goal when one of the most influential NSW players claimed the shot was too high (after it deflected off the goalie). 

NSW went into defensive possession mode and despite valiant efforts by the WA team ended with the winning score. 

See you all in Melbourne next year.

Result: WA 0 - NSW 1