Reserves:
The Yarra Valley reserves headed to Endeavour Hills to take on St Paul’s in an effort to get their season back on track.
Regular goalkeeper Paddy Gray was missing from the line up with Paul Healey replacing him in goals for the week, and with the boost of Isi Lyons and Thomas Mills returning to hold the midfield the Valley had a strong line up, cemented with the return of centre back Aaron Wiltshire.
The starting whistle blew and St Paul’s held possession straight away and from then we knew it would be an arm wrestle.
Five minutes in and a quick through ball set their striker on his way and got the scoring underway, 1-0 to St Paul’s.
The Valley created plenty of chances through strikers Jack and Fergus, however, couldn’t quite convert those chances.
A mix up in the Valley back line gave St Paul’s the chance to double their lead just before the stroke of halftime.
The second half kicked off and again it was an arm wrestle with both teams struggling to keep possession, but still managing to create chances regardless.
Lots of balls crossed in from fullbacks Josh Allender and Hugo Concalves towards the strikers, however, no one could get a head on it.
A golden ball from Liam Spicer deep into the St Paul’s defensive box allowed Jack Rinke to get the ball over the goal line, but the score was denied due to being offside.
Soon after St Paul’s had a quick break down the left side and after beating his man, the striker finished well to take the score to 3-0 to St Paul’s.
A tough loss to the Valley at the end of the day, and with the public holiday weekend next week a good chance to recover and to set up and prepare for the games following the holiday to bounce back and get on the winners’ list.
Thirds Match Report:
After their first win of the season last weekend against Berwick, the Thunderthirds looked to make it back to back wins with a trip to Camberwell to face Donvale.
As the grey skies lifted, the thirds started on the front foot, playing good football but finding it tough against a solid Donvale defence.
Chances were few and far between, but a mixture of defiant defence and lack of composure up front meant the score was 0-0 at the break.
Second half began much the same as the first, with some decent play from both sides not really amounting to anything.
Donvale broke the deadlock in the 69th minute, with the thirds getting stuck flat footed after clearing a corner, keeping opposition attackers onside which lead to a shot deflecting off thirds captain Stu Ryder into the back of the net.
Not long after that, the thirds gave away a penalty for a somewhat harsh handball, which was put away by Donvale.
While they never gave up, the thirds couldn’t find a goal and the game ended 2-0.
