Round 4 – 19/5/13 at Cromer Park – Boys 18’s
Manly United 4 – Sutherland Sharks -0
Following last week’s solid win our team was looking forward to continuing the form in perfect weather conditions.
For the first 8 min period both teams engaged in passing manoeuvres and were somewhat tentative. After this however Manly stepped up a gear and we saw longer balls being played along both wings for both Sam and Sipan to run separately onto which created perfect cutbacks ,however on several occasions our forwards were not in a position to capitalise for a clear shot on goal. At one point the Sharks then created a counter which caused our keeper Nick to make a good save .From this Manly dominated both possession and territory and on several occasions via Sipan, Ollie and Lachlan created much pressure on the defence. Both Joel and Sam again had chances to score however their shots lifted over the goal bar. To the sharks credit they did compress their defence and although we had greater possession they succeeded with various desperate lunges to block a shot or give away a corner. At the 44 minute mark Lachlan made a strong lead up run on the right side to then create space for Sipan to enter the penalty area for a shot, and yes he struck it powerfully into the roof of the goal beating the keeper’s reflexes.1 nil at half time.
The 2nd half started with Ollie hitting a powerful shot high at the keeper who partially dropped it over his head and it nearly spun back over his goal line. Manly continued from the 1st half by constantly switching the ball from left to right .This created more opportunities for Lachlan to do some long runs and his speed was troubling the Sharks defence and the keeper. From this we saw a poor clearance pounced on by Lachlan to drive a hard low ball into the net from the edge of the box-2 nil after 57 mins. Three minutes later we then saw a long run by Ollie, then pass to Sam up the left flank who cut the ball back 1 metre out from the keeper for Lachlan to easily tap in- 3 nil .The whole Manly team continued to create space via structured passing and when our coach brought on Luke and Jaylan with fresh legs, greater pressure followed. At the 77 min mark we then saw Sam run up the left flank, cross the ball high for Max to head also high at the goalie .The ball was spinning and although the keeper jumped to reach it he lost control for Max who correctly followed it through with a short head into the net. 4 nil! After this the Sharks tried in vain to restore some pride however our team stayed strong for the rest of the match.
Today was a good display of teamwork with structure and the score could have easily been higher. Well done and watch out Blacktown City next week.