Sat June 2nd- The reddness from my face has finally dissipated and life is returning to normal, all be it with disbelief that the Montmorency Football Club has been defeated by Eltham. Kudos to Eltham for the victory, but it was a game that once again showed that no matter how well or how bad you play, if you fail to put scoreboard pressure on your opponents then inevitably the game can be taken away, and that is precisely what Eltham did to us.
You only needed to look to the scoreboard at half time to see the scorecard showed Eltham made the most of their opportunities and therefore kept the pressure on the Mont boys. The scorecard read Eltham 8 1 49 to Mont 9 4 58. While compared to previous weeks' efforts this was straight kicking by the Mont team, the fact we allowed Eltham to kick with relatively no pressure when shooting for goal makes all the hard work unravel and gave Eltham the superman feeling that they would win the game, and they did.
The first half was domianted by the Mont players, and at one stage Mont had a four or five goal lead and it looked as though it was going to be a cruise. Then for some reason, and I hope that the coaches can't explain why, the players seemed to lose accountability and allowed the Eltham players to own the centre corridor and allowed them to run at the Mont defenders with little or no pressure. Eltham seemed to always have an overlap of a free player that was not being chased either by his direct opponent or by someone taking accountability for the field position. Worst problem was that the Eltham players were predictable in the way they attacked and the field position they kicked too, everyone in the crowd could see what was happening, yet our players didn't manage to read the play.
Despite all that the final margin was only 3 points and if the consistency of the citrus fruit that control the game was there then the final result could have been different. And when I say the result could have been different, I am not saying we would have won, though in the final minutes Gutterson was twice felled inside 50 with no resultant free kick. What I am saying is that if the oranges had been consistent Eltham could have perhaps won by a greater margin, but I prefer that hard done by version of events.
In better news Hoffy's reserve team had a magnificent day out. The side he had would have been a dream to coach with Darren Cuthbertson up at full forward in his return from injury game kicking 14 goals. Not only was the kicking of the 14 goals a highlight, but the delivery given to Cutho was unbelievable, and if the senior players can deliver to Cutho the same way then there is no reason he won't do the same when back in the senior side. Players not known for precise kicking were hitting the forward space perfectly giving Cutho lace out passes to the leads, and through the midfield the ball was moving smoothly giving Hoffy a smile. Best thing I liked was when nearly 20 goals infront of Eltham, the players still showed desperation to keep Eltham completely out of the game, typified by Pat Cusack's smother late in the game to prevent a certain Eltham goal.
The 19's had a chance to win, or so it seemed at three quarter time with only five points in it. Unfortunately the boys didnt take the chance and they were defeated by four goals in a tight game. After the early games of the season it was refreshing to be competitive to the final siren against a team that has lost only one game for the year so far. Heads up boys it will get better.
So overall not a great day in the history of the Montmorency Football Club, but one we need to learn from and bounce back from quickly as we meet the "oldest" rival in Greensborough next sunday. This is not only a must win in terms of ladder position, it is a must win just because it is against the Boro.
This Thursday night at the club rooms after training a special event, a classic game from the 80's on the big screen!
Last Modified on 04/06/2007 14:20