Chelsea Away 2010..Seagulls Drop A Dollop On The Stonecats.

Saturday 12 June Stonecats v The Seagulls at The Rookery.Weather Cloudy but Sunshine on The Horizon !!

Jie Coghlan sends the ball goalwards with perfect poise !!

My ThursdayWAKE UP CALL post said it all.. to wit;   `1001 Ways To Loose A Game` or Chelsea Away !!

……remember last years trip to the Seagull nest when…………..the Juniors and the Reserve games against Chelsea went according to plan with Mather`s Maulers winning convincingly 15.10.100 to 7.5.47 and Schneider`s Super Seconds putting away the Cellar Dweller Chelsea Magoo`s 11.11.77 to 8.8.56 after a bit of a tussle…. then the proverbial hit the fan !!…

Chelsea on = 8th place with an % of 90 shouldn`t have proved much of a match for a 3rd placed team sitting on 140 % but that`s not the way it panned out. The Seagulls after an even first Q went beresk, kicking 5,4 and 6 goals to go to the easiest of easy,easy wins 17.21.123 to a lowly, lamentable 8.6.54

Well we can now change that headline to `1002 Ways To Loose A Game` or Chelsea Away !!

Chelsea in 2010, now even lower down the rung, in sole 9th place on 80 % with only 1 win, this time pits itself against YCW in top place, and unbeaten with a 200+ %.  What contest would purport to be more of a fait accompli.. With Dougy having a rest and Macca suffering a bruised calf the positions were adequately filled, as I suggested by David Bodley and Under 18 Lachlan Wallace, you would have to say ( even a Chelsea fan)  it was a lay down misere for the Cats

Benny Poole, another top game, as this mudlark reveled in the mud morass in the centre !!

The stonecats had a particularly long and vigorous match warm up which continued beyond our normal off park ball work, in rooms buildup with a 15 min onfield drill session before the Umpires arrived on the scene. In fact the boys were more  focused and match ready than they had shown for some time and the prematch boded well for the game

In near perfect conditions the Stonecats kicked to the Melbourne end favoured by a strong wind, however, it was the Gulls, who took the initiative from the very first bounce, nullifying the benefit of the breeze, and posting the first 2 goals, while the Stonecats seemed strangely lethargic, before Lewis Robert posted our first major.

Tellis, Poole, Roberts and Lachlan on the wing, were providing ball in to the forward line but the Gull backs were playing it hard and making it tough for our forward in Ulms Chaplin, Lewis and Kyle to get amongst the goals. With some great positional play and crisp movement of the ball to their forwards, another 2 goals where added in the last 10mins by Chelsea, while a last goal was added by Kyle to restore some semblance of respectability. The Q ended 2.3.15 to 4.5.29

The 2nd Q continued in the same hard fought fashion, but it seemed that the speed and quick hands of the Chelsea smalls was beginning to overwhelm the stone cats, who seemed to have no answer to the overwhelming commitment of the Gulls. Their backs continued the pressure on our forwards and together with some poor kicking by our boys accounted for a match loosing Q, in which we missed the goals 10 times to go to the long break ahead by 1 pt 5.6.36 to 4.13.37.

 Tellis with( 8 touches), Smurf with another of his  big Q bursts (10 possessions) and Locky continued the push forward, but only Kyle was taking advantage of the feed, with Ulmer , Chaplin and Rhys making heavy weather of it. Ulmer and Bods were the sole scorers for the Q. The Barry boys and Kiely saw to it that the Gull forwards had to work hard for their single goal with 20 touches between them.

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Smrdel on the move ..played very well in his 3rd game !!

The 2nd Q was all Chelsea as they drove home another 5 goals to our 2, with some impressive team football, based on quick flow of the ball around the ground at the hands of some very talented ball handlers. Against which we seemed to have no answer. In a very ordinary display in our worst Q for the year,  we could only manage another 2 goals for the Q, courtesy Pooly and Roberts with only Lachlan, Pooly forward and Byron up back bothering the statistician to any degree..  The Oranges saw the scoreline 10.10.70 to 6 .16 (yes 16!).52.

The last Q saw a minny fightback as we jumped out after the bell and attacked continuously for 20 mins to hold Chelsea scoreless and put on 3 goals. With Byron holding up the backline (9 Touches) , Lachlan winning hands down on the wing and Pooly in control in the centre, Patty Heiden had his best Q kicking 1 (should have been 3) and Zannon on a lone foray up forward goaled whilst Tellis with the ball on a string also goaled to take  us 3 points in front and all to play for. 

This should have locked the gate, on past records, but Chelsea where far too motivated to give up that easily and pushed downfield again with that great hand, foot passing, to sink another 2 goals in the last 4-5 mins and take home a very deserved win, showing us on the way, how to use home ground advantages, on postage stamp Ovals.  Final Score 12.11.83 to 9.19.73 , our lowest score for the year !!

My best, Byron Barry on the half back line with 29 touches, Lachlan Wallace,  a winner all day on the wing ( and 30 touches), Benny Tellis, now fully out of ,Tony Lester’s shadow.. and I also thought Blake and Bods did some nice if unspectacular things during the match…

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Dave Bodley was in it and at it through out the game and also goaled in the 2nd .

Schneider’s Seconds had a fight on their hand for the whole match. with the lead flowing back and forth for the 1st half against 8th placed Chelsea. The game was finally decided in the 3rd, when 7 point up at the Long break, they were able to cut away in the 3rd putting on 4 goals to 1 to finish  8.8.54  to 5.6.36 ..

McNamara B on G, and Wintle still firing…. another vacancy possibly open in the ones.. who`s the next promotion ?..Grover never did get to finish his match ??  Also face from the past in Gavin Artico ( 1992-2004, 120 games ) shows hes still got it !!

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Reidys Rapacious Raiders, continued on their winning ways to lead by 1 point at the Oranges, but burnt home in the last, kicking 4 goals to 2 to finish 10.12.72 to 9.3.57, despite some poor accuracy at goals, courtesy Mr Longham with 5 points to add to his 6 goals for the day..but who`s complaining ??

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