The team was greeted with a sodden pitch, persistent rain and a dark gloom when they marched out on the Jackson to face Wesley College this weekend. With two players pulling out of the game less than 24 hours before kick-off, Anthony Ntais was called into the team on Friday and Oliver Tehan was called onto the bench late this morning. Anthony played the entire second half, whilst Oliver wasn’t used, but his generosity shown to the team at the last minute was greatly appreciated.
Today wasn’t to be our day. A scrappy goal by Wesley College in the 10th minute of the match from a Wesley free kick (second time around as it was re-taken and WC actually scored on both occasions) saw WC gain the ascendancy on the scoreboard early. Xavier College dominated both possession and territory throughout the first half of the match, but polish was simply lacking at the pointy end, with the team unable to find the back of the WC net. Time and again the team launched the ball forward and made a number of surging runs down the flanks and into the WC penalty area, but the ball either bobbled out tamely after a blocked shot, or the ball was blasted wide or high. Frustration was enormous, as the half time whistle blew with WC leading 1-0.
The second half began in the same fashion the first ended – XC hot on attack but simply unable to finish. The number of times the ball flashed across goal from left to right or vice versa without anyone preparing to shoot was very concerning. Add to that a number of searching and arching runs being made by midfielders that looked wonderful but yielded nothing productive was immensely disappointing. The game was essentially over in the 62nd minute of the match when silly defensive lapses and errors of judgement led to a simple 2nd WC goal. At that point heads dropped and no matter how hard the team tried to get back into the match, nothing seemed to work.
The team must get through this difficult period, and fast. We have 3 days to get our goal scoring yips addressed before GGS arrives for a 3.30pm fixture on Tuesday. The team has now gone 160 minutes without scoring and that must change if we are to get out Premiership charge back on track. We can still do this, but the team must find some belief, and confidence in front of goal. We are a fine team, but showed it rarely today. The only bright spot in the match was the performance of goalkeeper Luke Dais. He was outstanding in goals, saving a number of WC shots, particularly in the second half. The team needs to take solace from Luke’s determination and high standards. In short, we need to find our mojo again.
