Under 18s Match Report – Round 4

In what was an exciting opportunity for the squad, being our final game with all players available and a chance to go a game clear in second – instead, we saw an embarrassing and butchered performance.

After a solid week on the track and some form built up from previous rounds, we were able to establish some ascendency in the first term kicking clear with fastball movement and simple execution. This however did not last long after the first change. The arrogance we displayed in the quarters that followed showed we were not up to this standard of competition and completely trailed from then onwards (through lack of intent and accountability).

As the head coach I take the blame for the performance as when things were tough, our decisions as a playing group were just egregious and clearly not trained well enough – this will be rectified as we move forward.

Regardless of winning every single major statistic for the day, we lost the ones that matter the most – purely from our decisions and effort being unacceptable. I know full well the character of this group (especially their abilities to reflect and push themselves) – and no matter who plays next week, we will be demanding more from ourselves holistically.

We hope this is just another important lesson on our road to growing as footballers and young men. The time for words has now passed however and our actions will decide this season from here on out – for better or worse.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD FC: 5.2 8.4 12.7 13.10 (88)

WEST ADELAIDE: 2.3 8.3 12.6 16.6 (102)

GOALS: Jones-Bobridge 4, Pitt 2, Baldwin, Boxer, Bradford, Capurso, Gale, Hyde, Kemp