Round 1 and the boys first competitive game of football playing in the newly created U9 Team Strachan!
The conditions were far from perfect but I was so proud of the boys in this first game and the way they got straight into warm up before throwing themselves into play from the opening bounce.
School holidays hadn’t quite finished so our team was short of players. Thankfully Team Sill had a Bye so were able to help us with six of their boys.
The first quarter was played at an energetic pace! But not long after the first siren sounded, Josh passed the ball to Kit, both boys from Team Sill, who power kicked through the middle posts to get our team onto the scoreboard. Being the first game of the season nerves were tested and Thomas took a big hit but got straight back up again. This only made him more determined and proceeded to take marks and drive the ball forward all day.
The boys in the back line were tested throughout the first quarter by the strong team of East Malvern but Caelan and Kieran showed resilience by trying to stop the opposition from increasing their lead. Also in the first quarter Eddie set a great example in the midfield winning lots of contested ball and kept up the work rate all game.
The second quarter started with the boys as determined as the first. Strong tackles and relentless pressure from the Team Sill’s back line Will and Archie saw the Rovers tested in their defence. However, these boys along with Jackson (Sill) managed to bring the ball through the mid and into the forward. This gave Mannix and Jack P some touches resulting in the ball going through for a behind.
The third quarter started as the rain continued but game captains Louis and Eddie did a fine job ensuring everyone was raring to go. Earlier Louis had to come off due to a heavy knock but as soon as he got back to the bench was begging to get back onto the ground. The opposition created many scoring opportunities this quarter but that didn’t stop plenty of run from Parker all day and was able to move the ball into our forward many times where a quick thinking Baxter was awaiting his chance to score.
The last quarter was upon us and everyone was soaking wet. The heavier the rain fell, the harder Harry fought for the ball at the bottom of the pack. Anthony was a rock on the last line of defence repelling multiple shots on goal by East Malvern. Finn’s tackling pressure was solid which saw the ball pass through the middle and into the hands of Isaac who enabled Kai (Sill) to score a goal after the siren. This was great and left the team cheering for what had been a hard fought first game as a group. The game was a competitive encounter with both teams trying their hearts out.
We learned a lot from this first game and it was a thrill to see the kids enjoy it together. A great effort by Nick to turn up with his broken arm to support the boys. Thank you to all the helpers on the day, I hope you enjoyed yourselves too.
Each week we will provide a match report. However, if one of you is a budding sports journalist and would like a go you are more than welcome to do this, just let me know.
If anyone has any photos from the game please send them through, the Rovers Social Media team put up a great display each week of snippets from all of the games and it would be lovely to see our boys on there many times.
See you all Tuesday at training.
Rovers awards, in no order, for the day were as follows:
Edward Jennings
Nick Auditore
Thomas Cunningham
Congratulations to those boys.
