Tezzas Tiger News Round 11. G’Day Footy Fans, Well, following a week of gale force winds which were well supplemented by plenty of rain we headed up to Warburton for Saturday’s matches. Although the wind had mercifully eased, there were still some on-again, off-again rainy spells and the temperature struggled to make it into double figures so that it was hardly ideal weather for our day of sporting activities – whether playing or just watching. To add to the winter atmosphere the Warburton ground was – not to put too fine a point on it – mainly covered in glutinous, foot-sucking black mud that certainly did nothing to encourage any sort of footballing skills. Indeed, I would even suggest that the prevailing ground conditions were such that not too many of our players would have ever encountered . . . and it showed as the matches got underway. The Seniors’ match got of to a gluggy start and although Warburton managed to snare an early behind there was not much scoreboard activity for some time as the teams battled to make any sort of headway until Warburton, adjusting to the conditions better and more quickly than Upwey, scored the opening goal of the match and followed that up with a second almost immediately. After twelve minutes of struggle Upwey finally managed to cause a bit of scoreboard activity on their side of the board when they registered a behind. They would have no further cause for excitement for the rest of the quarter. At the other end of the ground Warburton was having no such trouble as they really peppered the goals and had they managed to kick a little straighter the matchwould have been virtually decided by quarter time. As it was they notched up nine behinds to buttress their three goals as they were handling the muddy conditions far better that Upwey and established a twenty-six point lead by quarter’s end. That opening quarter really set the pattern for the match with Upwey never looking like coming to grips with the very heavy conditions while their opponents were taking it all in their stride, perhaos they have had more practice at it. But it was more than the conditions as Warburton played with much more intelligence than Upwey and seemed to always have a couple of unmanned players available to take well delivered passes and had no trouble with marking the ball while Upwey dropped many of theirs. Warburton increased their lead in each quarter except the third when Upwey managed to gain two more behinds that Warburton – this in a quarter when only two goals were scored, one to each. Finally, and to the great relief of all Upwey folk, the match came to its muddy end with Warburton deserved winners by fifty-four points, a margin that gave a true indication of the difference between the two teams. No doubt all mums, wives and girl friends were not looking forward to washing-day. This was Upwey’s lowest ever score against Warburton, beating the previous low score of 7.3.45 scored in the 1983 first semi-final, not a record to boast about. Hopefully we wont strike these sort of ground conditions again this season . . . but you never know. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma –0.1.1 1.2.8 2.4.16 3.5.23 Warburton – 3.9.27 5.13.43 6.13.49 10.17.77 Best: Sam Gooley, Seamus Parkinson, Ben Hinton, David van Hoorn, Nathan Wale-Buxton. Goals: Kyle Grenda 1, Paul Broeker 1, Jaydn Orger 1. The Reserves match started out with Upweydoing plenty of attacking early on but not gaining too much from it as Warburton had little trouble in blocking up play in the heavy conditions and although the home team had fewer scoring chances than Upwey they made much better use of them to score three goals, each of them the result of some loose checking by Upwey. The Tigers seemed to be trying too much to play their usual style of football which was proving to be of little value in these muddy conditions. Upwey eventually managed to score their opening goal but trailed by nine points at the end of this first quarter. And so the match continued in a similar fashion to that of the Seniors match with Upwey always struggling to make any useful headway while seemingly Warburton could always manage to grab the occasional goal with a bit of effective football, suited to the conditions, while Upwey, although battling hard all the time, could make no great inroads on their opponents lead. Finally the match ended with Warburton a soggy twenty-seven points in front. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 1.4.10 1.7.13 2.9.21 2.13.25 Warburton – 3.1.19 5.1.31 6.4.40 8.14.52 Best: Kris O’Brien, Jonno Havern, Josh McMillan, James Gray, Liam van der Laak. Goals: Tim Hansen 1, Robbie Huxtable 1. At the end of the day some Footy Fans were wondering if this was the lowest combined Senior and Reserves scores and we are happy to report that this was one record that did not fall. The lowest such combined score was achieved in 1997 at a very wet and muddy Monbulk ground when the combined score was a total of seventeen points – Seniors 1.2.8 and the Reserves 1.3.9. Phew! Just to keep our reasoning minds active, the Under Eighteens were playing Olinda at Woori Yallock, the interest coming from the fact that the other Olinda teams were all playing at Healesville. The combined Eighteens competition running this season does throw up some interesting fixture arrangements although one can have real sympathy for the fixture fixers as they do not have an easy task in organising things for the best. All that apart, the Woori ground was in excellent nick although the weather conditions were not quite as good with occasional showers and a gusting wind which is not at all unusual at Woori Yallock. Upwey was well into things, scoring a behind early and following that up with a goal not too long after but following that early success Olinda pretty much ruled things for the rest of this opening quarter of play, scoring a couple of goals and a fistful of behinds to hold a ten point lead at quarter time. As the second quarter began it became apparent that scoring was becoming quite difficult as the wind and the rain made it difficult for the participants. Olinda scored the opening goal and there then followed a bit of a stalemate, scoringwise, before Upwey equalled that Olinda success with a goal of their own ten minutes in, a score that had been preceded by a brace of behinds. Although Upwey did seem to have the better of the quarter, they could only reduce the margin by one point by the time that the half-time break was reached. The wind continued unabated but the sun made a not unwelcome appearance as the third quarter began with Upwey quickly into attack but their reward was just a behind. Olinda now got a bit of the ball and went forward with the eventual reward of a by now elusive goal to extend their lead. There was not a great deal of science shown in the play of either team but the tension and pressure being applied on both sides was contributing to this as it was a desperate battle to get hold of the ball and send it forward to advantage. A scoreless period was ended when Upwey managed to gain a behind but then some opportunistic play between team members resulted in an Upwey goal. As the quarter neared its conclusion Olinda mounted a number of attacks that gave them long shots on goal but the wind was making accurate kicking difficult and they had to be content with three behinds so that, as the third term came to an end Olinda still led by ten points. Upwey made a strong forward movement right from the start of the final quarter and some good play was rewarded with a goal that reduced the margin to just four points. An Upwey behind was followed by a second goal and suddenly Upwey was in front. Now it was Olinda that was desperate to advance and they did just that continually but the Upwey defenders, playing some excellent defensive football, kept turning them back. Eventually, eleven minutes in, Olinda managed to scrounge a behind, their first score for the quarter. But then a little bit of disaster for Upwey as a doubtful free kick awarded to Olinda at half-forward was then buttressed with a fifty metre penalty awarded against Upwey that resulted in a gimme goal to Olinda and the lead regained. This was the third such penalty awarded against Upwey and something that is causing the team unnecessary trouble so far this season and something that I am sure that they are addressing. With time now fast running out and the match in the balance, Upwey put in a further couple of forward movements for no result but then an Upwey mark at half-forward came just seconds before the final siren sounded but the resultant kick fell short and Olinda were home by four points. If there is such a thing as ahonourable loss then this was one of them. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 1.1.7 2.3.15 3.5.23 5.6.36 Olinda – 2.5.17 3.6.24 4.9.33 5.10.40 Best: Bailey Oates, Nathan Waterman, Caelan Bourke, Rory Burke, Mitchell Waterman. Goals: Bailey Oates 3, Caelan Bourke 1, Nathan Waterman 1. The netballers had to contend with similar weather conditions as did the footballers but fortunately without the mud underfoot. The wintery weather had little effect on the A Grade team as they sailed along their winning way by overcoming Warburton by a comfortable twenty-one goals. The first two quarters of the match were reasonably tight with Upwey leading by six goals at the half-way point – 24 goals to 17 – but then they gradually drew away over the remaining two quarters to win fairly well at the end. The final scores were Upwey-Tecoma 45 to Warburton 24. Best players for Upwey were Tamara Elshaar, Jordan Lingard and Nattali Montanari while the goals were scored by Megan Kennerley with 26 and Jordan Lingard 19. The A Reserve team found the going difficult against the opposing Warburton group after a rather slow start that saw them trailing by seven goals at the first change. The team rallied well in the second quarter to match Warburton almost goal for goal but then Warburton was able to get away a bit over the closing stages of the match. The final scores were Upwey-Tecoma 16 to Warburton 35. Best for Upwey were Penny Oliver, Bianca Bui and Jordi Elms while Upwey’s goals came from Jordi Elms 10 and Penny Oliver and Emily Dowling with three each. In the B Reserve Warburton got off to a quick early start that saw them holding an eight goal lead at the end of the first quarter and although Upwey manage to keep reasonably close to them over the next three quarters they just could not bridge that early gap and they eventually went down with the final scores Upwey-Tecoma 20 trailing Warburton 39. The best players for Upwey were Jacqui Cooke, Lisa Hannon and Michelle Tomlinson while the team’s goals were gained by Michelle Tomlinson with 16 and Emily Dowling who sank 4. The Vets played Mt. Evelyn on Sunday at that club’s home ground and had a pretty good win in at times rather unpleasant conditions but the guys stuck to the task in a tough match where Mt. Evelyn played as so many Mt. Evelyn teams have played in the past. The final scores were Upwey-Tecoma6.10.46 to Mt. Evelyn 3.5.23. Best players were B. McNamara, Scott Wisneske, Geordie Atkin, Ian Atkinson, David Grant, Mark Stansfield while the goal scorers were Mark Stansfield 4, Scott Wisneske 1, Matt Dale 1 A bit of a shift from normal for our next match as we will not be playing next Saturday although all the other clubs’ teams will be. Our next match will be at Upwey against Belgrave on July 12th and this will be the only match on that day as all the other clubs will have a bye. The Senior match will have the Frank Harris Trophy as the reward for the winner and as I mentioned this is the only match on that day, a big crowd will be hoped for. The published League draw has our Under Eighteens playing Yea at Yea on July 5th but perhaps this should be checked out before hand. Well, that just about wraps it up for this week when not all went as we would have desired but as a Club we are nothing if not resourceful and I know that we will bounce back strongly, particularly against old rivals Belgrave and so until next time remember, the lion may will lay down with the lamb . . . but the lamb wont get much sleep. See Ya, Tezza.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:48:32 +0000
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