Korumburra puts up fight
Another cold but sunny day at home greeted the Drouin Dragons on Sunday after a few days of rain that made the pitch pretty slippery under foot.
Korumburra put up a pretty good fight across all games considering they were short on numbers with quite a few of the same players playing across age groups. Under 7s The under 7s showed excellent promise during their early Sunday morning game.
The boys are discovering what their individual strengths are, continuing to work on what they need to improve on whilst still learning to play as a team.
Best on ground: James for his excellent pressure on his opponents and quick pace Under 9s The club thanked Tom, Oliver, Hugo and Josh for volunteering to play for Korumburra for a half each - this shows great sportsmanship and it's good to see these young players putting the enjoyment of the game first.
Drouin started strongly, but the attackers Lucia and Jordan could not take advantage of excellent midfield service from Harvey.
The second half saw strong attacking by Korumburra, and good defence by Stella, Darcy and Oliver couldn't keep the attackers out.
Strong attacking by Zane, Will, Harvey and Rowan could not penetrate the Korumburra goal, mainly due to the impressive defending of Hugo.
Although the balance of play was evenly shared, superior finishing by Korumburra meant they were more successful in the end.
Best on ground: Tom, for keeping going as goalkeeper, never giving up and making some good saves as his confidence grew.
Coaches award: Will for some excellent play in goal and in attack. Under 12s Fulltime Score: Drouin 3 - Korumburra City 1 Despite Drouin dominating posession in its forward half the score was nil all at the break.
Some fantastic goalkeeping from the Korumburra keeper managed to frustrate some very promising attacks although Drouin did not help themselves with a couple of chances that should have been converted.
Drouin found themselves down 1-0 in the second half and things were looking tough.
The team fought back very well with some really good running and pressure. Cain, Tyan and Ethan in particular ran themselves into the ground.
Ali having sorted out his radar, despite being offside, scored the first goal.
Soon after Ethan did a great job of converting a penalty for a handball in the penalty area.
Cain having earlier had a goal disallowed, for kicking the ball out of the goalies hands, then scored the final goal.
There is still plenty to work on in transitions but some good overall development.
Thanks to Gordon for refereeing the game and Freya again for being linesperson.
If anyone is available to be linesperson next week the help would be greatly appreciated.
Coaches award: Ethan Bongiorno; Goal scorers: Ali Rahmani, Ethan Bongiorno (pen), Cain Layland Under 14s Fulltime Score: Drouin 7 – Korumburra 1 There was a definite improvement again in Drouin’s play this week.
There was more talking and all the key players ran hard and played hard.
There is still a fair amount of flat and listless stretches of play so this need to be worked on.
The goals are still being scored by a wide range of people.
Korumburra were strong defensively and while they had the ball in the forward line a reasonable amount they were only able to convert once.
Best on ground: Tom Planck; Coaches award: Flynn Cordell; Most disciplined player: Kieran Hawkins; Goal scorers: Chevy Isles 1, Tom Planck 3, Lachlan Beer 1, Flynn Cordell 1 and one home goal by Korumburra. Under 15 girl’s Fulltime Score: 6-2 The young Dragon women played extremely well. Korumburra only had nine players, so the Drouin girls also played with nine on the pitch.
While it took some getting used to, especially when running the ball through the middle, the goals were still quick to come.
Sasha Geerlings netted the first for the game and was quick to support team mate Lilly Carisson to do the same.
Erin, Thalia and Hayley worked hard in defence to keep the ball away from first time keeper Tyanna.
The second half was Dragons all the way, with another four goals scored.
Hayley Berry made her first appearance in the forward line and scored herself a goal.
Sylvia Cooper also made the most of her time up forward, scoring a superb goal after a few attempts.
Goals: Sasha Geerlings 2, Lilly Carisson 2, Hayley Berry 1, Sylvia Cooper 1; Awards: Best on ground: Hayley Berry, Coaches award: Lilly Carisson Under 16s Full-time Score: Drouin 5 - Korumburra 0 The Drouin U16s started their against Korumburra well by putting the first goal into the back of the net after only 1 1/2 minutes of play but then struggled to settle into any sort of a rhythm.
Korumburra did not help by playing a spoiling game that disrupted Drouin's style of play. The half finished 2-0 in Drouin's favour. After a pep talk at half time, the Drouin players came out more determined to take back control of the game, and to apply their attacking style of play.
Three more goals were scored by Drouin throughout the half with Korumburra providing some stiff opposition.
Player awards: Best on ground: d'Artagnan Belcher; Coaches award: Steve Bearchell; Goal scorers: Steve Bearchell 3, Gustavo Galdamez 1, Jessica Nalty 1. Senior Reserves Full-time Score: Drouin 9 - Korumburra 0 The Drouin senior reserves were kept waiting at the start of the match while a Korumburra team struggled to make the numbers to field a side.
However, they fielded a team and play commenced some time after the scheduled kick-off.
This did not dampen the Drouin team's enthusiasm to get involved in a rugged encounter and they started with some zeal taking the play straight to the Korumburra defence.
The scoring was opened after the 11th minute and then averaged a goal every seven minutes until the half closed out 4-0 in Drouin's favour.
The second half started with the same enthusiasm and the first goal for the half was in the back of the net after only three minutes of play.
Drouin's attack was relentless with Korumburra being tied down in their own half without any significant opportunities being given for them to construct a counter attacking move.
The second half finished with the score of 9-0 to Drouin.
Best on ground: Aaron Patchett; Coaches award: Aaron Kittelty; Goal scorers: Aaron Kittelty 2, Riley Kittelty 2, Arjay Trillanes 2, Vanya Geerlings 1, Aaron Patchett 1, Own Goal 1 Women’s Full-time Score: 0-2 All players gave it their all, sadly though, Korumburra were able to put the ball in the back of the net twice, with Drouin failing to score.
The first half was led by the Dragons, the ball was kept in their attacking half for most of the time, with plenty of shots made.
However, in the second half Korumburra were running the ball faster down the line and crossing in past the Dragon defence.
They scored two quick goals, but were unable to add to their tally as the defence tightened.
Best on ground: Kerry Brown; Coaches award: Nicole Lewis Seniors Full-time Score: Drouin 5 - Korumburra 0 The Drouin seniors welcomed the Korumburra team on a mild autumn day on a ground that has seen a great deal of play over the past five weeks.
Drouin started strongly maintaining possession well by playing the short passing game moving the ball nicely from the defense through to the attacking players.
Korumburra defended well but eventually folded to the barrage of strong pressing attacks which culminated in three unanswered goals being scored to close out the half.
The second half started as strongly as the first with the Drouin players continuing to explore ways of moving the ball quickly from the back and mid-field to the ever hungry attacking players.
Once again, the relentless pressure brought to bare two further unanswered goals to see Drouin take out the match 5-0.
This was a well deserved score that did not reflect how well the Korumburra goalkeeper kept for the game.
Best on ground: Frankie Pitisano; Coaches award: Simon Henry; Most disciplined player: Tyler Ryan and Caleb Hotchkin; Goal scorers: Chris Davies 1, Trey Dekker 2, Andy Bowmar 1, Mark Rossi 1.