We arrived at the ground to find out that Ashwood only had 16 players, so we had to play with 16 also. The decision was made to play six in the midfield and only five up front and five down back.
It was a fresh start with the ground covered in a light fog before the first bounce. We had planned to only have one on the bench all day and had my rotations set and ready, but with the reduction to only play 16 threw us in the coaches box.
The match started with a bang with the ball being played from the middle to the forwards in quick succession through the hands of Harry Roberts, Charlie Tanner and Nate Jongen. Max Reeve and Zane Harper found good positions in the first to finish off the quarter with two and three goals respectively.
The second quarter was similar to the first with the midfield getting first use of the ball and using it well so that the forwards could maximise the entries. This allowed us kick 3.4. The backline held up well with the combination of Ethan Artico, Kai Currie, Mitchell Dally, Deacon Purton and Jacob Nichols all playing their roles well and being first to the footy and applying good pressure to the opposition.
The second half saw some great teamwork and use of handball. The pressure applied during the whole match was outstanding. We noticed on many occasions the likes of Ziggy Okalyi, Max Spooner, Baxter Bowen, Angus Hare and Monty Brougham all chasing and making the opposition dispose of the ball under pressure, which helped turn the ball over to us. Reid Ilczynski and Angus Aujard were involved in a good play out of defence which saw the ball kicked long into the midfield. Will Jones, Nate Jongen, Charlie Tanner, Taj Kuzman all found the middle of the goals in the second half.
We have been talking teamwork to the group from the start and today late in the third we saw a perfect example of this. It started with a free kick to Deacon Purton on the half back flank, he kicked it to a leading Zane Harper on the wing who played on straight away with a run and handball to Ziggy Okalyi, Ziggy then kicked long to Nate Jongen who turned and played on to find the chest of the leading Charlie Tanner. Charlie who was in space played on and ran in to slot it home! This passage of play is how Hampton Rovers Orange want to be known for = GREAT TEAMWORK.
The whole team played very well today and we could see improvement on previous weeks. Well done to each and every player. Job Well Done Boys
Goals: 4 M.Reeve , 3 Z.Harper , 1 W.Jones , 1 B.Bowen , 1 C.Tanner , 1 H.Roberts , 1 N.Jongen , 1 T.Kuzman
Best Players: M.Reeve, D.Purton, R.Ilczynski, Z.Harper
