Wolves Futsal For Futskills

This week’s highlights come from our seasons second battle with Sorrento.👏
In the blustery conditions💨, audio quality is annoying at times, however plenty of decent football by both teams was seen as they adjusted to the hard conditions👊.
In our first clash, 💃our girls ran out comfortable 7 nil winners after Sorrento, who were void of substitutions, played out half the game with only ten men after an injury forced a player to the sidelines.
Plagued with fluctuating numbers from absences throughout the season, Sorrento was excited to have 14 on the card for this one🥳. Given some recent exciting results of late by Sorrento✅, including a draw with Ellenbrook 🥳and a win against North Beach💪, a strong contest was expected.
Still without Chelsea and Gabs😢, plus Sally was wagging this one🙄, we had 14 players ourselves to contest with.👊
Captained by Briar, we offered Linda, Maddie Lisa, Kid Kinkaid, The Roach, Red, G, Di, Renee, Little Jess, Clydesdale Jess, Cheyenne and Shelberry.
We kicked with the strong breeze first half and spent some good periods in our attacking half💪, however solid defensive work by Sorrento halted much of our forward assaults😢. Likewise, midfield competency by Sorrento saw the ball pushed into their final third often, but our defence left little for keeper Linda to do, except one excellent save which denied Sorrento their best opportunity of the half.👊
We had several clear attempts and after fair efforts by both G and Shelby, when they combined about 15 minutes in, 🔥 Shelby neatly lifted over the keeper for the perfect finish. Another 15 minutes passed, during which both Alyssa and Shelbs were denied by solid keeping👏, when Maddie’s small run, which included 11 touches💪 ended when Shelby faked her opposing player and curled the ball sweetly into the corner of the net🔥.
The final ten minutes of the half saw Sorrento with copious amounts of forward play, but sadly no joy on the score board. For us, Shelbs came close and within moments after her taking a corner kick, Big Jess was on target with the head however the reaching keeper plucked the ball to safety.👏👏
In the second period, the girls were asked for a concerted effort for an early 3 goal buffer💪, and Alyssa came close🤏 in the opening minute. A minute later and after having the ball tapped from her attempted header by the keeper, Big Jess knocked home the goal after Di had put it to her foot.🔥
Sorrento settled quicker into the now opposing wind conditions and had a number of positive forward plays before our girls settle back into some nice rhythm.
At the 65 minute mark and after being denied by keeper Linda shortly before, Sorrento were awarded what seemed to be the softest of penalties, 🤔with no one sure why the ref had blown his whistle? Regardless, 👊Sorrento’s keeper was asked to step up for the challenge, which presented to be the simplest of tasks as she coolly, yet emphatically slotted it well out of our keeper’s reach🔥.
For the remainder of the game, both teams created some pleasing opportunities, however neither keeper was troubled. 👏There was some brief excitement when a player or two thought their team mate had scored from a corner, 😬however it had floated just on the wrong side of happiness.🤏
3/1 the final score at the whistle of a worthy spectacle. 👏👏👏And well done both teams for their efforts of a ground game is very trying conditions.💪

Futsal for Futskills
Paul Carter
Head Coach

This weeks outdoor footage has come from our seasons second, and home game, against the high achieving Redbacks.🕷 In our first game, the Redbacks ran out winners with a 3 nil win 👏however, 🤔the score line didn’t reflect our involvement in the game and the competency level reached by all involved. 👊I had rated that game as a very successful achievement against a well drilled outfit.✅
In the previous 10 games played, Redbacks had only conceded four goals💪, including two that table toppers Hammersley put past them in their first meet. When our girls coveted themselves in glory and were the only team to date to take points from a Hammersley matchup, 💪that score had assisted the Redbacks with a chance of finishing top of the table should they win all remaining games, and topple Hammersley in the final game of the season.
No Chelsea or Gabs for this one and the formation set was the same as we played in the achieving Hammersley rivalry.
In the line up, 💃Linda, Maddie, Lisa, Briar, The Roach, Di, G, Sal the Favourite, Clydesdale Jess, Little Jess, Renee, Cheyenne, Red, Kid Kinkaid and Shelberry.💃
For over twenty minutes our girls kept the ball well away from troubling keeper Linda, 👊and we even created a few opportunistic moves up front, resulting with some shots on target, but none worrying the Redback’s keeper. Plenty of pleasing football was being seen, however frustratingly our play broke down often with loose first touch, poor disposals and well read interceptions by the Redback hoard.😢
The Redbacks finally undone our defence with a player splitting pass that was first denied by the keeper, then finished successfully on the second attempt.👏
The Redbacks continued to keep the lions’ share of possession, however they were unable to generate any other attacks of significance in the half.
During the break, the focus spoken about was the lack of hardness, some flimsy off the ball work rates, and positive disposals, or lack there of by too many of our girls. All were asked to dig deeper and focus predominantly in those three areas to markedly improve our performance.💪💪💪
The Redbacks seemingly had focus areas of their own emphasised, and from the restart, they pushed hard to try and achieve the valuable two goal buffer quickly. And boy they came close with a surging 15 minute push, however our defence held firm👊, Linda was well behind the strikes👊, and opportunities were missed. 👊Despite the hard passage by Redbacks, our girls were individually performing to a higher standard of their best, ✅and many entertaining passages of play pleased the coach and fanatics on the sideline.👏👏👏👏
When Alyssa broke through into the 18 yard box, a leveller looked certain. 🤔Sadly the Kid Kinkaid had caught a dose of Grafton, 🙄skying the ball high and wide.😬
Weathering the storm well, our girls slowly recaptured some good possession percentage, 💪working the ball well through the thirds. Big Jess held up play and earned herself a free a few yards left of our attacking 18 yard box, presenting a decent set piece opportunity.👊
Briar stepped up and was asked to have a crack, and why not when the outstretched arms of the keeper was unable to reach the inch perfect shot🥳. Scores were levelled and the Redbacks responded by putting more fire power up front with a three man forward line.
With the added strength, the Redbacks worked furiously to regain the lead and within 8 minutes, a set piece for them was presented from a tight angle from the right side of the box. After the cross, an attempted clearance dropped to the foot of an awaiting Redback, who emphatically belted it through traffic and into the net. 👏Settling again with the restored one goal lead, both teams continued to fight hard to gain yardage until the next possibility at goal. Surges were even and opportunities looked likely, particularly when with ten minutes to go, Alyssa was fouled on the edge of the D and directly in front. 🍿🍿🍿Briar took the reigns against a three man wall, 😲however her on target strike was too direct towards the keeper. A second however however, when desperate defenders tried to clear the ball but were unsuccessful, deflecting the ball from the keeper’s grasp and into the net.🥳👊💃😬
From the restart, our girls quickly regained possession and after halting our advance a couple times within moments, the ball fell nicely to G who thought she’d have a ping from near on the next suburb out from goal. A typical Grafton was expected, 🙄however, this particular hit was well kept down and as the advancing keeper looked set to collect, 🍿🍿🍿🍿😲😲😲😲😲the ball bounced unceremoniously over her head. 💃🥳💃All that was left was to pick the ball out of the net and the desperation was intense for the final nine minutes of the game.
The ball was hard fought for by all and leaving only a two man defence, the Redbacks assaulted their attacking half relentlessly. 😥😥Long shots were fired in, hectic goal mouth scrambles ensued🥵🥵. The Redbacks came agonisingly close🤏, then the final whistled sounded to the jubilation of many, and disappointment to others.🎇🎆🎉
3/2 to our girls and what a fantastic 3 points to add to our growing tally.👏👏👏
Outstanding ladies.😘👌

Futsal for Futskills
Paul Carter
Head Coach