Tough Games Against Strong Opposition

As usual the squad split into two teams to take on Prestwood's two teams.

The two games against Prestwood's stronger side resulted in two defeats. There are occasions in football when you just have to concede that the opposition were better on the day and these two games were such occasions. Prestwood played superb passing attacking football and were impressive on the eye. This is not to say that we did not have our moments of both good team and individual play in both matches but you could tell Prestwood had benefitted from half a season playing at a higher level as whilst you may not pick up results as easily against stronger opposition you can certainly learn from playing against them which is what I hope our boys will do as a result of these matches.

Our only goal in these two matches was one of the more bizarre we will see this season as Josh C decided to counter the opposition wall at a free-kick by scooping (as a golfer would with a sand wedge in a bunker!) the ball over the wall which resulted in the ball hitting the bar and the opposition goalkeeper on the back before crossing the line!

The other two games against Prestwood's second team were much more productive for the young Ducks. The first game saw us go in with a 2-1 lead at half time thanks to two magnificent long range strikes from Elliott B as Ben P's presence up front caused the opposition defence a problem. The first half also saw strong defensive performance from Nathan B and Jack R. Prestwood did however manage to add two second half goals to secure the narrowest of victories as the numerous chances created by the Ducks went unrewarded. This was a really entertaining game to watch and a real credit to both teams.

The second game saw AUJFC secure their only victory of the day thanks to goals from goal machine Kaelin S, Charlie D and Harry G. Not for the first time this season this particular team went beyond expectations and secured a victory against quality opposition as the goalscorers were backed up by Oliver F in goal, Igor C, Malaky, Nelson N, George R and Jacob O.

Special mentions go to Iuen B who stepped up from the U9s to keep goal with great confidence, Andrew C and Josh H who were the heartbeat of the team as usual and George R who was awarded his team's man of the match.

The end of season Blue Division Cup begins next weekend with a group game against today's opposition Prestwood Colts. Hopefully the boys will take the positives from today's games and look to build on these so we can get some points on the board early on in our latest cup campaign.