Under 16 Youth Plate Semi Final

Had you been at Woodbridge Oval on Saturday afternoon, glancing occasionally at proceedings on the pitch, you might well have thought that Woodbridge was winning their Youth Plate semi final encounter with Huon Valley.

No doubt you would have admired Woodbridge's blistering attacks on the Huon goal. You would have seen the ball sailing repeatedly towards the net only to be thwarted at the last moment by the Huon Keeper. You would have seen spectators rising from their seats in anticipation then sinking back, disappointed, seconds later. It was a roller-coaster ride of emotion.

If the game had been all about possession, Woodbridge would have scraped 4 – 3 win, had it been all about shots on target, it would have been somewhere in the vicinity of a 10 – 4 win for the 'bridge.

Unfortunately the game was decided on goals scored.

None of ours went in.

Alio

WSC U16s Vs Kingborough

The Woodbridge Under 16s played at home against a ten man Kingborough team on Saturday. You would imagine that would suggest a large win for the home team, however Kingo had a couple of really, really fast players, youngsters on loan from their mixed under 16 - 19 team; plus, even more worrying they had ex-patriot, and master of the midfield, Jack A.

So winning took some doing.

Fortunately for the home team Phineas was on fire, so we doused the flames and sat back and watched in awe as he proceeded to chalk up a marvelous hat-trick, two goals in the first and another in the second. Bolan, manning the fire extinguisher, managed to pop in a couple for the home team too and Deans cleverly converted a fantastic pass from Jy on the wing, to bring the Woodbridge tally to six.

It was a great team effort yet again, precious few mistakes were made, and those that were, were swiftly punished, giving the Kingborough lads 2 goals to our 6. Don't despair though Woodbridge, one of those goals was scored by a very talented, very fast Kingborough lad who is so good that he usually plays – and scores (8 times and counting) – against 17 to 19 year olds.

So well done Woodbridge, once again some fantastic team work and great, skilled play.

Alio

U16 match report - of sorts

Woodbridge 5 - Clarence United 2

The under 16's game on Saturday could be likened to a sandwich; Clarence provided the fresh full-grain bread with a goal at each extremity of the game, and Woodbridge supplied a flavoursome filling of five goals. The game began shortly after 11:15 am, by which time eleven Woodbridge players had arrived at Cambridge, which was ample cause for celebration in itself. Aiden, Deans, Jack, Rainen, Sindri, Kye, Nadirah, Jordan, Jy, Phineas and Bolan – a full squad! Forget sandwiches, break out the cake!

Perhaps we should therefore say that the game was a bit like a delicious sponge cake; Clarence provided the light and tasty sponge (ie goal) at each end of the game, and Woodbridge provided the ever-so-sweet, five-goal, jam and cream filling. Whichever way you slice it, this was an exciting game; a game which Clarence began early and emphatically with an awesome goal and a dusting of icing sugar. Woodbridge were a bit rattled; but spectators know from past experience that when the chips are down, this team gets frying - which kind of messes with the whole cake metaphor; but cake is never in the vicinity of teenagers for very long in any case.

So, in the first half of a game that was much more like a piping-hot, fresh from the fryer fisherman's basket than a sponge cake, Bolan and Phineas provided three sizzling goals between them (Bolan 2, Phin 1). Jordan had served up a beauty too, garnished with a sprig of parsley and a squeeze of lemon, unfortunately he was offside so the goal was dipped in tartare sauce and disallowed; never-the-less it still served to rattle the Clarence defence and worry their keeper. At half-time, when the teams retired briefly to the sidelines to find absolutely NO oranges (or squid rings for that matter) the score-line stood at 3 – 1 in the visitor's favour.

The second half was a different kettle of fish; crumbed and deep-fried (or perhaps not but this metaphor has a mind of its own) With several Clarence players committed to marking Bolan, Phin and Jordan were able to run riot in the midfield and Jy was freed up to remind us that the jinx has well and truly lifted. He peppered the Clarence goal with shots and ultimately provided Woodbridge with another two goals. The first was a borderline affair, only just crossing the line, but the second is etched firmly into spectators minds; a beautiful long pass from Sindri to Bolan who, with four opposition players converging, lobbed it across the field to Jy who salted it away into the back of the Clarence net. Clarence managed to plate up one more goal before the whistle sounded, to bring the full-time score to Woodbridge 5 – Clarence 2.

Awesome team play yet again from the Woodbridge guys and gal, a veritable feast of fantastic football.

Alio

WSC U16s 3 - South Hobart 1

A great performance again this week from our Under 16 team, many of whom had competed in a school indoor soccer tournament at Huonville on Friday; a tournament in which they remained undefeated throughout and in which they had conceded no goals. It is testament to their skill, fitness and determination that Aiden, Bolan, Jordan, Kye, Phineas and Rainen had kept something in reserve for Saturday's game against South Hobart. Deans, had also played for the school team – scoring 2 great goals against Dover – but was unavailable for Saturday's match up.

The eventual score-line of 3 – 1 in Woodbridge's favour, belies the fairly even distribution of possession throughout the game. Woodbridge's defending though, was on fire; Rainen and Kye still pumped from the previous day's performances, plus Sindri and Jack who were calm and sure-footed, stymied the majority of South's attacks, letting precious little through to Aiden and forcing the visitors to mostly take ineffective shots from distance.

Woodbridge on the other hand displayed superior finishing in this game; Bolan grabbed the lead for the team about halfway through the first half and Phineas, who, about 5 seconds into the second half, demonstrated how shots from distance should go. But best of all a beautiful goal from an acute angle off Jy's new boots convinced us all that he is not jinxed after all, Hooray! Many thanks go to Jayden who agreed to play up with the older lads to give Woodbridge a full eleven players, he joined Riko and Jordan in a very effective, even if youngish midfield line-up. Excellent work.

Another great team performance, well done boys!

Not football, not quite futsal

An indoor soccer tournament between 5 southern high schools was held at the Huonville PCYC on Friday (2nd July). Teams from Dover, Geeveston, Glenora, Huonville and Woodbridge took part, each playing a series of fifteen minute games, one game against each of other teams. Since these Woodbridge grade 8, 9 & 10 boys make up half of the WSC Under 16 team, we shall tell you all about it below...

Woodbridge began the tournament playing impressive 5-a-side futsal against the Huonville team until, 5 minutes into the first game, they were alerted to the fact that everyone else was playing 6-a-side indoor soccer; the big, bouncy, fluffy ball (or a head-count of the opposition) probably should have given it away. Luckily Huonville had not managed to seriously threaten the Woodbridge's defence in the first 5 minutes, what with Rainen intercepting the ball and Aiden guarding the goal-mouth. The only goal for the game was scored late into the second half by Bolan, giving Woodbridge a 1 – 0 win.

In the second game Woodbridge took on an impressive Glenora team, whose passing play had been a joy to watch from the balcony, but failed to net them a result against the Woodbridge lads. A goal from Phineas had ensured that Woodbridge was ahead 1 – 0 by half time. The resulting pressure caused the young Glenora team to make some grave errors in and around the penalty box, conceding first a penalty and then a free-kick, both of which Bolan duly converted. The final result was 3 – 0 to Woodbridge.

Woodbridge took on Dover in their third game and two great goals from Deans in the first half were unmatched in the second. Jordan's sublime attacking play held oodles of promise but Dover was determined not to concede any more goals. Defensively, Kye and Rainen played so well that Dover hardly got to venture into the Woodbridge half, and the game concluded as a 2 – 0 win to Woodbridge.

The final match up was against a young well-kitted out Geeveston team, who despite having lost 4 – 0 to Huonville and 2 – 0 to Dover, managed to keep the score to respectable 0-0 at half-time. Woodbridge returned to the pitch in the second half with renewed intent, Phin and then Bolan both netting the ball to ultimately win the game 2 – 0.

Various combinations of Phineas, Jordan, Deans and Bolan in attack, Rainen and/or Kye defending and Aiden's goal-stopping, saw the Woodbridge team head home undefeated and having conceded no goals.

Results:
Woodbridge 1 – Huonville 0 (Bolan 1);
Glenora 0 – Geeveston 0;

Dover 2 – Geeveston 0;
Glenora 0 Woodbridge 3 (Phineas 1, Bolan 2);

Huonville 4 – Geeveston 0;
Glenora 4 – Dover 2;

Dover 0 – Woodbridge 2 (Deans 2);
Glenora 1 – Huon Valley 2;

Geeveston 0 – Woodbridge 2 (Phin 1, Bolan 1);
Dover – Huonville; (result unknown)