Wintry conditions for GSL

The first round of the mid-season Gippsland Soccer League Cup saw Drouin Dragons play away at Wonthaggi in cold wintry conditions.

The GSL Cup is played over four weeks, followed by the second half of the season.

Women

The women had a great start to the first half, with the Dragons having a few shots on within the first 10 minutes. However, the balls just couldn't find the back of the net.

Strong defence by Bec and Caera meant that Wonthaggi had to work hard to get the ball past half way.

Towards the end of the half though, Wonthaggi found a gap and scored.

The second half saw a brief change in keeper, with much else the same.

Jenni moved up forward and applied pressure, Erin in particular benefited, putting plenty of shots towards goal.

Sadly for the girls, Wonthaggi's defence was too strong, and they remained scoreless for the day.

Nicole, Jess and Steph applied pressure all day. They worked hard to chase down lose balls and never stopped in a great team effort.

Final score: 2-0 to Wonthaggi

Under 15s

The girls got off to a cracking start with Sasha scoring in the first few moments off the game.

Lilly and Sylvia ran hard up front, with Lilly scoring her first for the day.

The defence worked hard to keep the ball up forward, and although no one else scored in the half, the ball was shared around between all the girls. Raine and Olivia played well on the wings, kicking in to the forwards who continued to pressure the keeper.

Imogen "cool hands" Cooper played a fantastic first half in goals, clearly a more confident player, coming out and attacking the ball.

The second half was a little more balanced, with the defence having more of the ball.

Hayley did a great job in goals, and made sure that the Wonthaggi girls were kept scoreless.

Sasha scored her second for the game and tried to add a third, but was unable.

Overall it was a great team game with the defence of Erin and Sophia staying strong, with well timed passes through to Zoe and Thalia in the centre.

Zoe was a stand out, playing in the centre, on the wing and in defence to show her wares as a multi-skilled player.

Final score: 3-0 Dragons.

Under 14s

Fulltime score: Drouin 7 – Wonthaggi 7

Drouin started very lack lustre for the first half and the score reflected this being down 5 -1 at half time.

The silence was deafening from the Drouin players with a severe lack of talk.

Wonthaggi was solid in defence and Drouin played at about 50 per cent of their capacity.

The second half was a lot better with Drouin playing with more attack and were keen to get the ball which saw the scores tied at 7 – 7 all at the end of the match. Player awards: Best on ground: Kieran Hawkins; Coaches award: Lachlan Beer; Most disciplined player: Lasaro Tuimateo

Goal scorers: Lachlan Beer 5, Flynn Cordell 2.

Under 12s

Fulltime score: Drouin 4 - Wonthaggi 5

It was a very disappointing result for Drouin, losing by one goal.

Despite being up against a much younger opposition Drouin failed to play as a team.

After a bit of friendly critique and rev up at half time, the team showed immediate improvement and scored after only a few minutes.

The second half saw much better team effort with far more passing in the forward half and much better talking.

Trailing 0-3 at half time, Drouin were nearly able to pull off a draw but fell just short losing 4-5.

The defence was superbly led by Thomas who played a very good captains game, thwarting many opposition forays by leaving his line and cutting off the oncoming attacker.

Special mention to Tyan who put his hand up at half time to go back into defence where Drouin were getting cut up in the first half.

Longest goal for the season goes to Jordan who managed to bounce a shot in from near half way from a free kick.

If Drouin can play the way they did in the second half more consistently, they will fare much better.

The team learnt a lot about not under estimating an opposition and playing as a team.

Player awards: Thomas Agudo

Goal scorers: Jordan Dorling 2, Ali Rahmani 1 Cain Layland 1

Under 7s

Coaches award:

Drouin showed vast improvement since their round one match against Wonthaggi.

Drouin dominated the same opponent and had the ball down in their attacking end for the majority of the game.

The team, consisting of Harlan, Max, Remi and Logan played a fantastic team game and used their passing and defending skills to keep the upper hand.