Northern Storm Football Club

Showing posts with label MatchReports. Show all posts

Showing posts with label MatchReports. Show all posts

2017 u12 Div1 Grand Final - Northern Storm Hurricanes vs Woolgoolga Dolphins

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	10th September - BCU International Stadium, Coffs Harbour
Opposition	Woolgoolga Dolphins
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	2 - 1
Match Report: After a long season with not much to separate the top two teams, it all came down to the GF. The Storm were not going to be caught asleep at the start of the game like the Major Semi Final two weeks earlier when the Dolphins kicked away to a 2 goal lead after only 3 minutes. Everyone was switched on and ready. The game plan was set by master coach Murphy, and it was simple. Play to the strengths of passing and moving like they had done all season, and keep it tight at the back. Concentration was the key and the boys provided. Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

Round 8 - Under 12 Northern Storm Hurricanes vs Sawtell Scorpions

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	16th July - Toormmina (game was preivously washed out)
Opposition	Sawtell Scorpions
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	5 - 0
Match Report: Small scale tradgedy unfolded today at Toormina as the u12 Hurricanes put in one of the best team efforts of the season, but nobody had a camera to capture any photos! Instructions from the coach were clear - to play the way train and take control in the first half. The boys listened and came out focussed. The Storm created a number of early chances, but couldn't put the ball into the net, but the pressure was too much for the Scorpions and the goals came eventually in the latter stages of the first half. The Scorpions were not without skill and pace, but a great effort across the park handled the threats that came. Special mention to Kieran Austin in a MOM performance at centre back, who kept turning up when he was needed. Great work guys.

Round 11 - Under 12 Northern Storm Hurricanes vs Corindi Breakers

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	2nd July - Korora
Opposition	Corindi Breakers
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	5 - 1
Match Report: The school holidays arrived, and numbers in various teams accross the club were depleted, so coaches and managers begged, borrowed and stole any eligible players to get a team on the park. Luckily the u11 Hurricanes had a bye and were able to supply some players for under 12s. Charlie McCarthy and Jake Kilo filled the vacant spots nicely. Stand in keeper Jack Leman had a great game with a number of outstanding saves. Haraj showed that you only have to beat the keepers hands by the finest of margins... expert placement. Zane was solid at the back again. Looks like Jyden copped a solid blow to the middle in this one... I'm sure he dusted himself off and got going again. Great work guys. Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

Round 10 - Under 12 Hurricanes vs Woolgoolga Dolphins

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	25th June - Woolgoolga
Opposition	Woolgoolga Dolphins
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	5 - 2
Match Report: The sun was out at Woolgoolga this morning, but it was a cruel trick being played by mother nature... as the wind cut through to the bones of the fools who left their jackets at home. On the pitch, the Hurricanes might have been able to use that as an excuse for the poor form, but it was just as cold for the Dolphins, so the boys would have to look elsewhere to lay the blame for the early jitters. By half time, the Hurricanes were down by 1, and lucky not to be more as they we unable to mount any real pressure on the Woopi goal, and the composed and confident play witnessed the week before was nowhere to be seen. Coach felt the need for speed up front, and brought the keeper out of goals to fill the role. And did he what! Early in the second half, Dylan connected with the ball from well outside the box and sent it straight into the back of the net. Not long after, a free kick was given on the far side of the field and Dylan stepped up again to send it over the wall and into the bottom corner, with a slight helping big toe from Sam Murphy, And then again Dylan found himself in space with an open goal and slotted it with class well beyond his experience level. The team had risen as a whole and controlled the posession and the match from the beginning of the second half. A slight lapse let the Dolphins grab another, but the match was not in any danger of slipping away. Dylan took a spot kick to bring his total to 4 and Jyden was rewarded for his tireless efforts on the right flank with a goal. An inspiring effort today from Dylan, but remember boys, nobody does it all on their own, and the finishing opportunities are a result of defending and winning the ball from the opposition anywhere on the park. Keep it up. Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

Round 9 - Under 12 Northern Storm Hurricanes vs Northern Storm Tornadoes

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	18th June - York St
Opposition	Under 12 Tornadoes (Northern Storm)
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy (Hurricanes) Johnny Welch (Tornadoes)
Score	Hurricanes 0 - Tornadoes 1
Match Report: Busy week = short (& late) report... A fantastic game to watch, both Storm teams trying their very best to gain ascendency. Hurricanes had to rely on great passing and moving to combat the size and pace advantage of the Tornadoes, and both teams played their games well. Great work at the back, and an absolute standout performance from Fletcher Simpson cleaning up at the back and distributing the ball back into the midfield with great composure. Well done Fletch! In the end, there was not much to split the teams, the difference came down to a penalty for tough tackle that had to be made in the box. A great effort played in good spirit with both teams giving their all. Good signs for the club here. Go Storm! Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

Round 7 - Under 12 Hurricanes vs Boambee Bombers

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	28th May - York St
Opposition	Boambee Bombers
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	2-1
Match Report: The Boambee team turned up to York St today ready to play. It appeared that the Hurricanes may have turned up expecting a win. Before the kickoff, coach Murphy warned the team that the attitude might require some adjusting. Boambee settled in well and began a well structured game, and prevented the Hurricanes from mounting pressure. Loose passing, holding the ball too long and a lack of options was the story of the first quarter for the home team. The Bombers threatened on several occasions to break through with some balls in behind the Storm backs... and eventually their efforts paid off with a great strike sending the ball into the back of the net. The storm were shocked back into action, and started to find their own way in behind the Boambee defenders, but still had trouble getting within range. Late in the half Will Vaughan Schultz struck the ball outside the box, floating it up into the top corner of the goal, finding a narrow gap between the keeper and the near post - a beautiful goal to watch, bringing the score to 1-1 at halftime. The instructions at halftime were to get some more positive talk out on the field and to pull the trigger without hesitation when in range. Regular keeper Dylan Vandermaat was given the striking duty up front and was able to use his speed to great effect, creating half chances, but eventually it was Sam Murphy putting the final goal in with a header off a corner. 2-1 was the final result, in a tight game played against a spirited opposition. Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

Round 7 - Womens Premier League Cyclones vs Maclean Bobcats

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Womens Premier League Cyclones
Date & Venue	21/5 Korora
Opposition	Maclean Bobcats
Coach / Manager	Mike Lloyd
Player of the Match	Amy Gibbins
Score	2-3
Match Report: We started this game sitting equal with 2 other sides at the bottom of the ladder, although we still have 1 game in hand. Despite our position on the ladder, we have been playing very well but just not quite getting to 90 minutes of good football. This week we had 10 relatively fresh players which was an improvement in our situation, and we had high hopes of a good performance We began well and our new 4-4-2 formation was working, causing plenty of problems for Maclean. Some excellent passing moves, particularly through Aimee & Tilly in midfield, saw us create 5 or 6 good chances in the first 20 minutes and Kodie finished one of these off to get us to 1-0. Maclean have 2 very fit & fast strikers, and they are capable of taking advantage of any momentary lapse in defence. They came back strongly at us and 10 minutes before half time got an equalizer. The 2nd half went much the same way early on, and a great long range shot from Tilly gave us the lead again at 2-1. Unfortunately from there we began to have some problems with our defence. Jeannette and Carrie were forced to come off with ongoing injuries, and that left us with subs in the backs who had already played a full game in Reserve grade. The last 20 minutes saw us under heavy pressure, and we lost our composure a little which affected our passing game. Too many balls were going straight back to the opposition. Maclean evened things up at 2-2 with a good goal. Then 10 minutes from full time we had a bizzare situation where the ref played on while we were subbing an injured player, and Maclean broke away for another goal. We fought back hard over the last 10, but despite several chances couldn't quite get the goal we were after. All in all this was a good performance for 75 minutes, but yet again the injuries and our fitness told the story. We have matched it with every team now for 65-75 minutes, and we can beat anyone if we can extend that to 90 minutes. Excellent work from Amy Gibbins at centre back with a tireless effort. Tamika was great in goals as well and Finchy & Holly both worked the new formation well on the wings.

Round 7 - Womens Reserves Cyclones vs Maclean Bobcats

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Womens Reserves Cyclones
Date & Venue	21/5 Korora
Opposition	Maclean Bobcats
Coach / Manager	Mike Lloyd
Player of the Match	Alison Jenkins / Bronte Wall
Score	1-0
Match Report: Maclean were in 2nd spot on the ladder just above us, so we knew this would be a tough game. Our side is getting stronger as we gain a few more players and get some back from injury, and we are starting to get close to playing flat out for 90 minutes. We began extremely well, with a strong passing game allowing us to create plenty of chances. Again we struggled a bit to finish these, but eventually the breakthrough came with Jaqui finishing off after a good lead up. 1-0 up and going well, until we had some drama after 25 minutes. A bit of an altercation with Maclean led to 2 players receiving yellow cards, then Paige got a 2nd yellow for dissent with the ref. So we were down to 10 players. Despite this we continued attacking and still looked the team more likely to score for the remainder of the 1st half. In the 2nd half the game changed and evened up. Maclean came out hard and put us under plenty of pressure at the back. However we held strong with several great saves from Alison in goals and some excellent work from Bronte Wall & Tamika in the backs. In the end we scraped through for the win, a good result against a strong team. The best features for us were the type of football we played, and our commitment in defence with only 10 players.

Round 6 - Under 12 Hurricanes vs Coffs Coast Tigers

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	21st May - Polwarth Dr
Opposition	Coffs Coast Tigers
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	0-5
Match Report: Today was time for a real tough test. The unbeaten Tigers are the clear leaders in this year's under 12 boys competition so far, but coach Murphy had clear instructions... "make them earn it". The Tigers midfield controlled the play well and had the Hurricanes defence scrambling from early on, but it wasn't long before the tigers broke through, with their striker allowed a little too much space and finding himself with the ball and in range. There was plenty of defending to be done, and the boys had a real dig. They certainly let the Tigers know that they were in a contest, competing well for every ball and making some great hard tackles. The boys from the Storm struggled to get within striking range as they were shut down time and again by the Tigers. With the two regular goal keepers unavailable for duty today, Haraj Atwal was a standout performer filling in, coming up with a number of great saves and showing courage under fire. The Hurricanes didn't get the win today, but they should certainly walk away with their heads held high, for putting in a fantastic performance across the park.

Round 6 - Womens Premier League Cyclones vs Urunga Raiders

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Womens Premier League Cyclones
Date & Venue	14/5 Korora
Opposition	Urunga Raiders
Coach / Manager	Mike Lloyd
Player of the Match (optional)	Avalon Donovan
Score	3-5
Match Report: With only 7 or 8 totally fresh players our fitness was again going to be tested against a Urunga side with a strong running midfield. The key for us was to shut down their stronger players in this area. We began like a house on fire, with some brilliant passing work leading to a good early goal for Jaqui. The next 15 minutes were even, with our girls having a slight advantage. However we started to lose our shape in midfield, with Urunga’s 4-3-3 causing problems due to our lack of fitness and injuries. Soon enough we let Urunga back in with some loose defending in midfield. Things were not helped when Brontie was forced to leave the field with an ankle problem, and soon enough we let them in again to go to 2-1 down. Then right on half time Urunga got another from a corner, when we were again a little flat in defence. At 3-1 down we were still well in the game, if we could get back to our game plan. A few positional changes started to give us some more control in midfield, as Tilly, Tash and Sarah worked really hard to stay on top of the more dangerous Urunga players. Unfortunately fatigue was again our enemy and it only needed a couple of split second errors to allow 2 more goals. Down 5-1 and we could easily have given up, but we instead pressed hard in attack and this started to pay dividends. We pegged one back after some nice footwork from Aimee Longley, Jaqui finished off. Then another from Jaqui to get us to 5-3, followed by a couple of near misses. Not a bad performance but we are really struggling to field 11 fit players to start a game and play for the whole 90 minutes. Some real positives: The improvement in our back 4 – although we let in 5 goals our defending was organized and our clearances improved. Avalon had an awesome game at right back. Also we will be looking at the option of playing a 2nd striker in future as Jaqui had a great game up front.

Round 6 - Womens Reserves Cyclones vs Urunga Raiders

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Womens Reserves Cyclones
Date & Venue	14/5 Korora
Opposition	Urunga Raiders
Coach / Manager	Mike Lloyd
Player of the Match (optional)	Tara Famularo
Score	6-3
Match Report: We again had to use a few 1st grade players to fill a couple of places in the side. Rather than exhaust 1 or 2 we instead opted to fill the bench up so those having to play a 2nd game were used sparingly. The girls started very well, controlling possession and playing some excellent passing football. After many chances (7 shots on goal) we finally finished one off and then really began to get on top. Aside from an early error at the back, Urunga were not troubling our defence. Goals to Finchy, Jaqui & Charlotte saw us up 3-0 at half time. This could easily have been 5 or 6 with some better shooting. We continued strongly in the 2nd half, with really solid defence from Tara & Tamika allowing us to play the ball out from the back. Urunga were much stronger having used 1 of their top 1st grade players to bolster their midfield, but we maintained the pressure and soon enough an error saw Tamika put away a spot kick for a 4-0 lead. Urunga kept coming and pegged 1 back soon after, but we lifted again and a good finish from Amy Gibbins got us to 5-1. We began to tire a little and Urunga scored again for 5-2, before Jaqui scored a very simple goal after running around the keeper. A late goal for Urunga left us at 6-3. All in all another solid performance which was highlighted by our defensive work and passing game. Well done to Tara at centre back with a great game. Tamika was also very strong and Charlotte who ran like crazy up front.

Round 5 - Under 12 Hurricanes vs Nambucca Strikers

	Northern Storm Football Club Match Report
Northern Storm Team	Under 12 Hurricanes
Date & Venue	14th May York St
Opposition	Nambucca Strikers
Coach / Manager	Scott Murphy
Score	4-1
Match Report: It appeared that the Hurricanes started the match a little tired and disorganised... perhaps too many late nights, or too much running around in the pre-game warm-up! Luckily the disorganisation was temporary and the boys started to put Nambucca to the test... a number of through balls were being played for the Storm forwards to chase down, but there were consistently found wanting for speed as the Nambucca centre back shut down every opportunity with his blistering pace and confident clearing at the back. Midway through the 1st half, Jyden Pike found the back of the net to open the scoring. The opportunities were starting to come and the boys started getting a few crosses into the box, ready to be put away. The ball finally found it's way to Araken Plumb, open on the back post, and after mis-hitting it the first time, managed to put it away before the defence arrived. Even with some players in key positions affected injury and illness, the Storm backs defended well, though a minor lapse just before halftime allowed the Nambucca team a chance and they took it. 2-1. Into the second half and the Storm's passing and moving game as per coach Murphy's instruction at training was beginning to deliver results... though the boys were lacking a bit of concentration and the passes were not finding feet enough of the time. Another attacking raid saw Ziggy Brown fire the ball into the goal to take a 3-1 lead. This was followed shortly after by a second goal to Araken, after the ball had spilled from the keeper's hands. 4-1 was where the score stayed... Sam Murphy very nearly added to it in the dying minutes but was denied by a fantastic save from the Nambucca keeper. Another good result and a great effort from the whole team. Well done boys. Full set of photos from this weeks game are here

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