Saturday, 14 August 2010
Woden Valley 0
Narrabundah FC 1
Scoring
0 – 1 Romero 35′
It was a windy and cold Saturday as Narrabundah traveled to Woden for a game that meant little to either team. However, despite the low stakes, it was a hard fought encounter with both teams seemingly having the same idea of trying to play themselves into form for the approaching finals series.
The match kicked off with the Reds coming out on fire. The pace of Dziubinski and Padrotta up front consistently hassling a usually calm Woden backline into numerous mistakes and turnovers. In midfield, McConkey, Poblete, Chato and Romero were snapping into challenges leaving Woden with no doubts they were in a match.
However, worryingly for Narrabundah, good chances were going begging and this early match domination was not being converted on the scoreboard. First Romero, chasing a defender in possession all the way back to his own 6 yard box, managed to force the turnover but in the scramble could only manage to fire straight at the keeper from the angle.
Padrotta was the next to see a chance go begging as he was played through with a neat chip. With the keeper in no mans land and practically begging to be chipped, Padrotta opted instead to do what he does best and go for the spectacular, only to see his bullet volley drift wide of the far post.
Eventually though, Narrabundah did get on the scoreboard through goal machine Romero, with his 4th goal…. of his entire career. From a corner, Exposito, judging the howling gale perfectly, whipped in a viscous cross which was heading inside the near top corner only for a sprawling Woden keeper to just get a hand to it. The ball fell kindly for Romero who wound up and toe poked home from all of 1.5 meters out. Narrabundah had their lead. With Woden still on the ropes, Narrabundah continued to push on looking for a second, but the referees whistle came to the Wodenites rescue.
The second half began with Woden looking to regain some composure. With Narrabundah beginning to tire after the intense efforts of the first half, Woden began to dominate possession but were being comfortably held at bay by a Narrabundah defense that was being well marshaled by Hellas and the Collector (the players, not the band).
In the meantime, Narrabundah were also still creating chances on the break. The best of these fell to Dziubinski 15 minutes from time where after some great link up play through the middle, Dziubinski found himself one on one. Taking the time to steady himself, he waited for the keeper to commit himself before placing his shot the other way, only to see a trailing leg deflect his effort just past the post. In the end it didn’t cost the Reds as they held on reasonably comfortably to secure another 3 points and continue to improve on their run in to the finals.
With form and confidence beginning to return to the Reds line-up, it seems the recent improvement in numbers at training is paying dividends. With only two games to go, some more solid sessions and continuing improvement on the weekends should see the Reds as a force to reckon with come the finals.