ACT Football Masters - ACTMasters

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Share tips for who are the key players, what structure they play, where are they strong, where's their weaknesses.

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Canberra Olympic forfeited todays match against the Legends

26 Posts

One participant's account of Woden Valley Blues v Olympic @ Garran 14th June 2009.

The game kicked off just after 9 without a referee, once again. Olympic provided the referee as home team. The pace of the game was quick from the start and within the first 25 minutes Olympic had scored one goal and just missed two others hitting the post and the other being saved by Paul. Olympic certainly controlled the first 30 minutes of the game. They passed the ball skillfully to feet, used the width of the pitch and effectively played the through ball which our defensive line found very difficult to stop.

The Blues lifted in the final 15 of the first half with a few cracks at the opposite end but nothing which really threatened their keeper.

Frequent disputed calls by Olympic and at times from some of the Blues (my hand is up) during the first half.

The Blues were pleased to hear the half time whistle so we could gather our thoughts and set a new plan for the downhill run for the second term.

At the ten minute point of the second half, a fowl against Woden ten metres inside the Olympic half, invited Alan to thump a long ball from left to right. Olympic set their defensive line on the edge of the box. Alan’s beautifully weighted free kick sailed high above Olympic’s defenders on to Steey’s balding melon which popped over the keeper’s outstretched arms and in to the net. Cries of offside by Olympic started then and carried on for the remainder of the match.

From this point on the game took on a different mood. Tensions ran high and tempers were pushed on many occasions with verbal abuse liberally distributed in both directions. The game turned into a very unpleasant spectacle with frequent late challenges. The referee was unable to maintain control of the match.

A cleared ball out of our box was very well struck by an Olympic midfielder which was a certain goal had it not been for an outstanding dive to the left by keeper Paul.

With less than ten minutes to play, a bump in the box saw an Olympic forward go to ground resulting in a penalty. A heated verbal exchange ensued followed by a successful penalty which saw the final result of 2-1 to the home team. Olympic players expressed their joy through single digit salutes toward the Woden team.

All in all a very unpleasant Sunday morning and an example of how you can be drawn to play to the level of your opposition. Having said all this, there were moments when we played solid, ball to feet football, we controlled the midfield, spread the ball wide and had several attempts on goal. We did have more of the ball throughout the second half. We were more fit than the opposition however we allowed ourselves to be taunted by Olympic and as a result we did not play our game.

I for one look forward to playing them again with an official referee supplied by Capital Football.

Man of the match - Keeper Paul M.