Parkes Hotel Football Club v Forbes 2
PHFC took home another deserved win this weekend with some smart shooting by Hayley Chester who bagged a pair of goals. PHFC had the numbers – putting up a team of 12 versus Forbes’ 7. Having superior numbers was a benefit on such a hot sunny day – massive contrast to last weekend’s bitterly cold and sleety / rainy game. Interestingly, PHFC struggled to adapt to having four extra players on the pitch. The common theme was a see of blue jerseys, several unmarked white jerseys and tendency to play ping-pong. Credit to the Forbes 2 players for running hard all 80 minutes and winning a majority of the 50:50 challenges. Zarna saved quite a few goals and kept us on top of the game. Credit too to our back-line for running down many a through ball and intercepting many other plays near the half-way line.
The game started with a good stream of passes, and then a through ball to Haylz who put it hard into the back the of the next. PHFC spirit was high and we were ready for a big game. Alas, what followed was hard-fought possession which seemed to run from one end to the other, until Tash broke the stale mate. Instead of passing up, she chose to run it and started upfield. Then a burst of speed up the side-line and she was around the defenders and streaming to attacking corner. Having gotten in front, she had time to turn and set up a perfect cross to Haylz who was waiting at the top of the box. A quick trap, a deft turn, and a calculated shot hard and low just inside the right goal post and we had a 2-0 lead. Then Forbes seemed to step it up another notch and we had trouble figuring out who was marking whom as they were running so hard.
Notable moments were:
•Hayley doing a double header, popping it up, and trying to turn it with a second hit, then trapping and taking it on her feet
•An indirect free kick after a hand-ball which Tash touched so that Jacinta could take a big shot on goal, but a Forbes’ player had other plans and put her body in the firing line deflecting the shot
•Haylz having several more shots, some to the goalie and others which the Forbes’ goalie did well to bat away
•Skye showing her battle rage again. Actually, Skye earned the Coach’s Player award because she didn’t give up, kept putting in second efforts and wasn’t afraid to get right into the play! Go Skye!
•Both Deano’s and Stacey in the mid-field calling for the pass-backs and starting to get structured play happening
•Haylz doing an awesome looping high corner kick which Kath only just missed getting her head to! It bounced through to the back post where Stacey was waiting, but couldn’t quite get a strong touch on it. She did make contact though! Keep up the practise girls – that was beautiful to watch!
•Zarna did a few slides to slap shots away just at the last moment and used her extra players with a few roll outs instead of kick outs
•The backline worked like a tight unit again with Ainsley taking out Players’ Player by 1 vote – well done Ains – some good turns, runs and passes!
At 32 minutes the tide turned and Forbes 2 opened their scoring account. It came after 2 Forbes’ players got in front of all our defenders and Zarna had to race out facing 2:1. Amazingly, she got just enough contact on the ball to stop the shot (go Z!). The ball went spinning away and it was a mad scramble by Z to get back to the goal mouth and our defenders to get back to help, but Forbes had a third attacker unmarked top left of the box and the ball was sent to her, and then floated over the scrambling Z into the back of the net.
The half-time speech asked the girls to stop thinking about the 11-7 players and to get back to basics: calling, passing, carrying the ball, triangles, accountability. It worked! The second half was scoreless, but contained more passing and calculated play. The goalies played a major part in this game, keeping the scores low.
Well done girls. It’s another PHFC win!