Fitzroy Junior Football Club

 

MATCH REPORT

After 4 good starts in the 1st qtr this year we began against Ivanhoe expecting to continue that way. Ladder-leader Ivanhoe, recently bolstered with several Bulleen-Temp. recruits, soon showed us why they are undefeated and kick over 5 goals in 20 minutes. Despite the efforts of Mike at FB and then Luke and Hods leading the HB line, their execution of centre clearances was precise as was their delivery into their tall and talented fwd line and they repeated the dose in the 2nd qtr.

The boys gradually began to back themselves more in the 2nd half and despite injuries to Nat. F. and JJ who both soldiered on we began to show glimpses of improvement. Pat produced a couple of his arcing runs across the HF line and Ligga and Mike continued to chip the ball to each other to avoid their big in-form backmen. J.C. played the way he usually does and Joey showed more evidence of cunning and courage. Batey had a couple of great moments on the run and Deano almost snapped one over his shoulder. Although it could not be said of everyone, Omar worked hard in the last qtr and put his body on the line, particularly at one stage on the coach's wing - so much so that one of Ivanhoe's bigger, stronger players took "a few short steps". Lewie ran hard all day and Inds was inspirational. Surprise packets of the day were John McB and Nick McM who sacrificed games with our Green team to play gutsy, skilful footy against often bigger opposition. Thanks must go to Sean McMahon for ensuring they played for Gold.

A couple of scoring shots went astray in the last qtr and even JJ's thumping kick after a strong mark, when on one leg, hit the post. Sometimes a team has a day like Sunday and it's best to learn from it and quickly look ahead. This week's game is at home against Warrandyte who are only just ahead of us. They lost last Sunday and have a couple of injuries so it's a very winnable game.

Congratulations to all boys who have trained with the League squad although they seem to have made some interesting final selections. training is tonight for an hour at Ramsden St. from 5pm and for 75 minutes on Friday at the Brunswick St. Oval