Hockey WA - Over 45's Div 2 Hockey Team

WA Over 45's Div 2 - 2006 Match Reports

WA vs QLD - Tuesday, October 3, 2006

A good start with a 3-0 win over Queensland.
Game was played in good spirit. Black Ducks started with a fully fit squad and were able to rotate effectively.
The Black Ducks gained early control with tight passing and good possession style of hockey.
In the first half numerous opportunities to score came as a result of this dominance.
Not all opportunities were converted and we can put this down to nerves and definitely room for improvement.
Darryl Dedmans face lit up when he scored a good deflection goal just right of goal.

Second half saw a great goal off the pads by Mike Sputore and an absolute gem by Joe Mastrangelo at right half with a blistering solo run under great pressure to beat the keeper from the top of the circle.
Joe scored man of the match. Good games by all the blokes.

Cards. BIRD got a green card which was the 1 second green card.
The umpire explained after the game to BIRD that it was a very unlucky green card.
If Bird had been 1 second earlier with a tackle then it would have been good play.
So it's like Bird got a late penalty.
Please be on time Bird.

Result: WA 3 - QLD 0

WA vs NSW - Thursday, October 5, 2006

WA started well with short passing and strong possession. Found it tough to score until Mike Sputore put one away. NSW were a tough team and weathered the onslaught, regrouped and came back at us. They scored a goal and our keeper Robert Baker saved a stroke. Our short fast game dropped away a bit, something we need to focus on.

Robert Knyn deflected our second goal in from a cross from John Charlick. NSW came back at us by working it out of their defence better and holding the ball. WA tended to change from a short controlled game to longer passing game and found it a lot tougher.

A short corner variation sealed the game.

Goalscorers: Robert Knyn, Mike Sputore, John Charlick

NSW selected Ray Embry Razor as our best player.

WA Best Player award went to Paul Nicholson which represents a 100% correlation with the PERT PULSE he used on his leg injury, r=1 for the statisticians reading this.

Result: WA 3 - NSW 1

WA vs ACT - Friday, October 6, 2006

The game was played with a great spirit, great weather and on the new Melville Duracraft Stadium starting 3.30 pm on a Friday afternoon. Just about as close to heaven as you can get without actually taking off and becoming extra terrestrial.

ACT played a very tight marking game of hockey and we really had to work for the score line.

A fantastic early goal from Stumpy, where he came from wide on the left of the circle, dragged past a player and the keeper and slotted it, well done Chunky.

Nicho and Spike scored later to make the scoreline 3-0.

Our defence played very well and kept a clean score line - well done guys.

The guys played the 2nd of two games in two days and a few injuries were sustained - Chunky stopped a blinder of a would have been goal from Paul Nicholson with Chunky's foot just in front of the goal, wrong place at the wrong time and the wrong treatment, see me today Chunky.

A great celebration at Little Creatures was enjoyed by all.

Best player: Great game from Carlo.

Result: WA 3 - ACT 0

WA vs VIC - Sunday, October 8, 2006

Today we came up against a very competitive team and the match could have gone either way. A tough fair game fought to the end.

In the first 10 minutes Spike and Bird created some good chances but failed to convert. The game got very tight and scrappy. A good save by keeper Robert Baker kept us in the game.

Our position play and hard leading was not quite there and at 31 minutes Victoria scored a short corner goal off a deflection.

Darryl Dedman completes 2 hours of mental rehearsal each day on goal scoring and for those 2 hours he is a total goal scoring machine. He trapped a great pass at the 38 minute mark just off the goal line. He was about to convert his dreams to reality. Imagine his disappointment when the heavily spinning ball went up over his stationery horizontal stick. Too much mental rehearsal Darryl. But right place at the right time.

At the 55 minute Chunky converted off a short to score the equaliser.

The rest of the game was hard fought and WA played better and gained the ascendancy but could not score.

Robert Baker had a great game with many saves from short corners and field shots.

Best player: Robert Baker.

Result: WA 1 - VIC 1

WA vs SA - Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The game was played tough, tight and was very even. The umps did not do us any favours but to our credit we largely ignored the decisions.
We tended to stop once we thought we had the free and need to keep going as they do not always come. Early in the game Parksy got a dubious green card.

We fought hard to keep SA out but they scored off a break away field situation at the 20 minute mark. SA marked tightly and caused us some problems in attack and midfield.

At the 30 minute mark, Darryl Dedman ran over a SA foot and twisted his ankle badly and left the field. Hope you're right for tomorrow Darryl.

In the second half our first short came at the 13 minute mark and we forced several more in the second half. WA lifted the work rate and we gained the better of the game. Several close chances followed but we were unable to convert. A lot better second half by WA.

A great field shot by John Charlick, Bird at the 60 minute mark was saved by the SA keeper. About 6 minutes later Bird was yellow carded for barging in the circle - practise your breathing exercises Bird.

South Australia played a possession game, especially in defence. If we can break this up in future games it will really upset their side as they will not be coming out with controlled possession. They rely on this.

Joe injured his back but should be OK with a bit of luck for tomorrows final.

Tomorrow is the first final. Strategies: start hard, start early and possess and pass the ball to our players. Keep possession and get a free if nothing is on. Players off the ball work hard to give leads and call strongly. Work it wide. There is no second prize tomorrow.

Best player was Ray Embry. Razor played a great game and was voted best by both sides.

Result: WA 0 - SA 1

2nd Semi-final - WA vs NSW - Wednesday, October 11, 2006

This game started in fine style with WA moving the ball well. WA guys ran off the ball and made good position. A great scoring attempt occurred in the first 2 minutes. The game continued with strong defensive work by Gracie.

At the 20 minute mark WA almost scored off a turnover after we successfully defended a short corner and moved the ball up the other end quickly.

NSW worked their way back into the game and scored at the 33 minute mark. Mike Sputore (Spike) responded for WA with a good shot just over the top of the goal minutes later. NSW lifted and played good hockey and the score stayed 1-0 for the next 20 minutes.

WA forced 3 more short corners but was unable to convert until John Charlick (Bird) scored off a hard shot to the keepers right at the 60 minute mark to even the game. Another good field shot by Bird minutes later from the top of the circle was saved by the keeper.

WA gained the ascendancy at this point. John Ruprecht (Rups), Michael Waters (Chunky) and Ian Parker (Parksey) all had good shots on goal.

Paul Nicholson ( Nicho) played an excellent game at right half and at the 62 minute mark scored a great goal. At the 67 minute mark Parksey got his second bonus in a week with a goal which sealed the game.

Well played and good work guys.

NSW worked their butts off and talking to them after the game they had 3 hours training before they came away and 9 changes to the team including some when they arrived in WA. The whole NSW contingent numbered some 360 players so congratulations to NSW for this effort.

Next game is the grand final against South Australia. Same things guys, work hard on the ball and off the ball, pass sharp, early and short. Guys off the ball need to lead early, short and loud to make this happen. Push up on SA when they have defensive frees so they can't work it out easy as they did the last time- that cost us, if they are allowed to distribute without pressure then SA distribute very well and they will put us under defensive pressure.

Best player: John Ruprecht
Goalscorers: John Charlick, Paul Nicholson, Ian Parker,

Result: WA 3 - NSW 1

Grand Final - WA vs SA - Friday, October 13, 2006

This game started at a hard pace and was very competitive from the start. Daryl Dedman (DD) lined up on SA No2 one of their playmakers and this became an exciting duel. Number 2 failed to dominate right through the game so well done DD.

At the 10 minute mark Mike Sputore was well positioned to receive a break away pass to the left of the goal a metre or two off the backline. His shot went wide of the goals. Bad luck Spike but right place at the right time. South Australia had several players who persisted in penetrating runs and at the 14 minute mark SA scored. They continued to press and at the 33 minute mark a great save off a short corner by Robert Baker (Chucky) kept us in the game.

Western Australia gained a slight ascendancy in the second half and Joe Mastrangelo shot strongly on goal at the 42 minute mark. At the 47 minute mark another scoring opportunity was created by WA in a short corner situation but SA executed a great save on the line.

WA efforts were rewarded at the 65 minute mark when Shane passed cleverly to Michael Waters (Chunky) who ran across the face of goal from the left of the circle and slotted home a goal. WA continued to hold more possession and gained the ascendancy.

Both sides had late opportunities but the game ended a draw at full time and went to strokes.

Stroke takers for WA were Tony Gracie, Paul Nicholson, Ray Embry, Daryl Dedman (DD) and John Ruprecht.

At the end of the first 5 strokes the score remained drawn at 6-6 with all converting except DD.
Now the game progressed to another round of strokes with sudden death ie first to miss loses the game. Extreme pressure. Paul Nicholson's stroke was saved by the SA keeper making a final scoreline of SA 7 WA 6.

Well played and well fought guys. Thanks to Graeme Malatesta (Mala) for assisting with note taking during the games for these reports, to John Ruprecht (Rups) for excellent coaching effort and to Spike for amazing and continual enthusiasm and hundreds of hours of organisational contribution. Thanks Angie for medical and physio support.

Thanks to SA for a tight game fought in good spirit. Congratulations to SA who have been bridesmaids for several years and really committed to this tournament.

Next year Gold Coast and for you rev heads or those of you who like red heads, the Indy races start 5 days after our tournament finishes. My story is that I am a rev head and thats what I'm going to watch.

Result: WA 6 - SA 7

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