Cinema-Blend-southperthunitedfc

The first team welcomed Mike back from 3 weeks of eating and drinking his way round Asia, and he took his place in the starting line up as Souths experimented with a 3-5-2 formation in the absence of regular centre half (and training ground centre forward) Dave. Chris “the horse whisperer” Howarth also reappeared and took his place on the bench alongside Shannon.

It was obvious from the start that Souths had lifted considerably from the previous weeks performance against Curtin, and the movement and neat passing caused Floreat problems from the off. With some neat link up play form Craig and Scott up front and Willy and Shawn providing a threat out wide, Souths always looked dangerous but couldn’t find a way through the Floreat defence. Craig came close, forcing a good save from the keeper after a neat through ball from Neil while Shannon hit the post from the edge of the box after another good lay off from Neil.

Despite Souths controlling the game it was Floreat who took the lead against the run of play, capitalising on their first real chance of the match after Neil was caught in possession in the middle of the park. An early through ball found the Floreat striker in space and he finished calmly leaving Steve with no chance.

Souths response was immediate. Colin collected the ball from centre, burst through the midfield and slipped the ball through to Scott, whose first time effort was well saved by the keeper, low to his right. From the resulting corner, Matty bulged the old onion bag with a towering header. This prompted smug looks from Tom on the sidelines after he organised set piece training during the week. Training which Matt missed.

Despite continuing to press, Souths couldn’t make their dominance count and the first half ended 1-1.

The second half saw Souths continue to pile the pressure onto the Floreat defence, but they couldn’t increase their lead, despite some excellent attacking moves. Colin came closest hitting the post with a free kick from the edge of the area while Willy shot straight at the keeper when he found himself in space 6 yards out.

Willy’s aim was a bit more accurate when it came to assaulting the opposition and his guest appearance in the back 3 saw him become public enemy number one to Floreat’s large travelling support after a number of forwards “tackles”.

With about ten minutes remaining, Craig notched his first goal for South Perth tucking away an excellent ball across the box from Shawn to finish off a superb counter attacking move started off by Matt at the back.

Souths held on comfortably for the remainder of the match and finished their pre-season with a well deserved win.

Highlight:
A return to playing the sort of football that served the team so well last year. The team always looked dangerous going forward and on another day the scoreline could have been far more convincing.

First Team Kick off at 7:00pm be (there for 6:30)
White socks

JJ
Tim
Lee
Leo
Michael
Darryl
Dave L
Brendan
Mark Mc
Stu
Alvin
Romain
Nathan

Reserve Game

Early exchanges in the first minute saw Chris Chen being set through with a one on one, his left foot shot although lacked power it still caused problems for the Curtin keeper. However Curtin took the lead with a long ball over the top. It was petty much all Curtin for the first half until Player - coach Leo Peter came on at left back and his pass found Richard Armstrong whose left foot cross found an unmarked Simon Baptista whose header went into the top right corner.

Another long ball from curtin caught the back line out to make it 1-2 until Mitch got the equalizer to finish the half 2-2. And that was all Curtin had. The second half stated with a dubious penalty, Peter's throw found Armstrong who was pushed in the box. Armstrong then calmly sent the keeper the wrong way. This was the turning point in the game as South Perth pressed to get a fourth, until Armstrong got his second. Chris Chen wrapped up the game with a double in the last 20 mins.

Highlight: Second Half Comeback

Final Score: South Perth Reserves (Div 5) 6 - Curtin Uni Reserves 2


First Team

The first team game followed a similar pattern to the reserves South Perth Started the brighter of the two but Curtin took the lead through some sloppy defending. Good running from Nathan saw him grab an equaliser on the stroke of half time. 1-1

A few tactical changes saw South Perth almost take the lead from the restart when Mark McCormick's cross just needed a touch. Curtin took the lead when South Perth thought the ball went out but the ref played on and Curtin scored to make it 1-2. In similar fashion to the reserve game that's all Curtin had and when Nathan was fouled in the box he converted the penalty to get his 2nd and South Perth's.

It was a one sided story from there on Stu and Mark linked up well the defence dealt with all attacks and Stu then put Romain through on goal who scored to make it 3-2. Nathan then completed his 3rd hat-trick in 3 games, 4-2. More great work from the midfield saw Mark get the fifth of the game. Nathan then went one better and got his fouth goal of the game his 10th in 3 games to make it 6-2. Not to be out done by the reserves Brendan Farr deflected shot beat the keeper to finish 7-2 at full time.

Highlights: second half performance!

Final Score: South Perth (Div 5) 7 - Curtin Uni 2

See comments

Match review - Division 5 home to Wembley Downs
First Team

There was a sense of Deja Vu in the air at Challenger Reserve, another hot Sunday, another win for the Div 5 lads, another 5 goals put passed the opposition and another hat-trick for Nathan.
The match started of brightly for South Perth until an error at the back allowed Wembley to take the lead early in the first half. South Perth were hanging on as Wembley pressed for a second. South Perth thought they got an eqaualiser when Davey Lake picked up the ball on the right and drove towards goal and unselfishly placed the ball square to Mitch who placed the ball in the back of the net only to be ruled out for offside. A wardrobe malfunction saw the withdrawal of Alvin soon after on came Stu who from Davey Lakes lay off scuffed his shot wide. Mitch then turned his man and rifled his shot just over the bar. Davey had another chance but in trying to wrong foot the keeper put the shot wide of the near post. Wembley came back with a few dangerous attacks but it wasn't until substitutes Nathan and Romain came on business picked up for South Perth. Great link up play saw Romain run down the right flank and put a cross into the box for Nathan to volley home from close range. Hannes and Nathan both tried to test the opposition keeper but it was still still all square at the end of the first half.

The second half saw some changes to the lineup, young Ash replaced Dayle in goal and Alvin came on for Dave Lake. The defence played well dealing with the attacks from Wembley with calmness and composure. Some long range shots from Alvin and Hannes and good link up play from Darryl and Stu saw the start of dominance from South Perth. Hannes great box to box running paid off when Stu found Hannes in the box who sublimely chipped the keeper to make it 2 - 1, soon after Hannes found himself in the box but was unluckly not to have scored a second. Move after move saw South Perth gain confidence with the defence dealing with every attack and the midfield playing some great football which in turn rewarded South Perth with a third when Nathan scored his second to make it 3 - 1. One of the Mauritian magicans Romain scored from close range to make it 4 -1 and grab his second goal in as many games. Complacency set in to the team and a long ball caught the defence and keeper napping conceding a sloppy goal for Wembleys second of the game. The game was wrapped up with 15 mins to go when another poachers finish saw Nathan complete his hat-trick to give him an outstanding 6 goals in 2 games.

Early doors yet but a bright start to pre-season from the Div 5 1st squad, Well done lads!

Highlights: Hannes - working hard up and down the pitch and his goal. Nathan another hat-trick for the new lad, pure class.

Final Score South Perth - 5 Wembley Downs - 2

Match Report: South Perth Div 5 vs. Leeming Strikers Div 4

Reserve Team
With so many nutmegs given to the opposition on Sunday we may have to start calling the division 5 guys the spice boys think I counted 6 over both games.

On a hot Sunday afternoon Division 5 team started well with a new look 4–3-3 formation but it was the division four visitors that took the lead. A few spells of dominance saw Richard Armstrong flash a shot wide and Wes Makins having a shot roll just past the post. It was pretty much back and forth at a high pace, Mitch Wormworld entered the frame midway through the second half and almost got an equaliser. A few top draw saves from Dayle, and some outstanding defending from young Nick, Johnny, Josh and Corke meant that the score was 0 – 1 at half time.

With four lads out of contention for one reason or another for the second half it was makeshift time. The ressies came out for the second half with a reserved 4-5-1 formation and started similar fashion, makeshift right back Simon produced a fantastic run from back which almost saw him gat an equaliser. Fifteen minutes into the game saw the visitors get their second, the reserves held on but were on the back foot for large periods of the game with a few notable attacking runs from Richard and Simon.

Soon after Leeming got their third then their confidence picked up and were pressing for a forth. Only great work from the Dayle and backline especially Simon denied them until it was too much and Leeming got their forth goal. Our consolation goal was provided by an unlikely source Dayle! Who dropped the ball in his box took a few steps out of the penalty area then went on a little run through a gap down the middle and just before the halfway line played a ball through to Mitch who beat his two markers and from the right scored a neat goal in the bottom left corner.

Highlight of the game: Dayles’s sneaky run & Simons’s box to box runs.

Final Score: South Perth Reserves 1 – Leeming Reserves - 4

First Team Game

With the ressies letting in four goals the first team thought that we may be in for a difficult game, this wasn’t to be the case. If you blinked you would have missed the first goal and missed it as I was telling Tim to mark someone. From what I was told Hannes, Darryl and Romain combined and Romain scored in near to 30 secs from kick off. We continued to out play the opposition and nearly went 2-0 up when Stu put Romain through but his shot was scuffed and went straight to the keeper. Leeming got their equaliser when JJ spilled a shot and their forward had a simple tap in. despite going in all square at half time we were on top of the game.

Second half saw new boys Mark and Nathan take to the field and they helped us continue our dominance with some promising efforts. We got our reward soon after with Brendan Farr get our second and Nathan shortly got his first of the game. Leeming pulled one back when the defence were a bit complacent and soon we went into panic mode but with nice movement down the right flank saw a cross from Oli find Nathan in the box again. Leeming got another goal back to make it 4 -3 but Nathan completed his debut hat-trick with a nice left foot finish.

Highlights of the game: Nathan’s debut hat-trick. Romains quickfire goal

Final score: South Perth – 5 Leeming Strikers 3

Reserve team
I managed the quick flight to Belmont to watch the Division 1 boys in action against Belmont Villa of the Premier League. The reserves kicked off at 1pm and looked lethargic from the off, but the defence copped well with the early pressure and South Perth counter attacked with surprising pace down the left, great work from Boxy and Marco resulted in a superb cross from the Box-shaped man for Shawn Cheong to convert efficiently.

The team played well in small spurts but conceded late on in the first 30 minute period to go in to the first break at 1-1. South's quickened the pace in the middle third and started playing some very good football in parts. But just as the team were getting in control, a couple of Belmont goals stunned the side and the period ended with the ressies 3-1 down. The boys showed character to take the game to Belmont from the start of the last third, Stevey Webster converted a penalty after his son Ashley had been fouled in the box. 3-2 down.


Some great build-up play between Tommy and Greg down the left created a great chance for Shawn Cheong to equalise, but with a lack of talk from his teammates to tell him he had space, Shawn rushed his shot and hooked narrowly wide of the far post. Shortly after Belmont grabbed a fourth to put the game beyond reach at 4-2.


All up it was a reasonable run-out for the ressies in hot conditions - plenty of positives but also lots of work to be done before the season starts.


Highlight: Nocci getting belted in the face with the ball by Greg Homer from 10 yards. What exactly was Greg trying to do?


Belmont Villa reserves 4 - South Perth reserves 2


First team
With coach Neil Delaney heading off to welcome his folks over from the UK, Tom Griffiths took control of the first team for what promised to be a tough encounter with an always physical and fit Belmont Villa team. South Perth started aggressively and Neil Morrison opened the scoring with a neat finish. South Perth matched Belmont's commitment and work rate and played some fantastic football. On 20 minutes, Scott Reinsma was through but his shot was well saved by the Belmont stopper.


Both sides had a handful of half-chances that were snuffed out by excellent goalkeeping and defending from both sides - it was a particularly hard fought match and South Perth did well to head in to the first break 1-0 up after 30 minutes.


The team welcomed Mat Vallet and his cousin Christophe for the second period and experimented with a 3-5-2 formation. It worked fairly well at times, but a period of Belmont pressure led to a well worked equaliser for the hosts: 1-1.


The players were beginning to tire with the heat and pace of the game taking its toll, so coach Tommy was making regular changes to keep his players fresh. After a brief rest, Scotty cut in well from the left and hit a swerving strike that the Belmont keeper did brilliantly to tip over the bar. Shortly after, the team almost re-took the lead but couldn't force the ball home after a scramble in the Belmont six yard box. The teams went in to the final third with the score still at 1-1.


The third period began on par with the rest of the match - at a fast pace and high quality football. Dan Robson was especially solid at left back and Kyle Henderson gave an equally assured showing at the other full back position. Matty and Dave renewed their association in the middle and snuffed out any Belmont attacks with comfort.


Despite Captain Colin inexplicably 'pushing for an equaliser' (misunderstanding the score to be 2-1 down) the team kept a good shape and adjusted well to player rotations throughout the last third. The team held out well after some late Belmont pressure to seal a deserved 1-1 draw against a Belmont team that should do well in the Premier League this season.


Overall an excellent display from all first team players with Scott and Dan Robbo the standout performers. The players will be sore for the next couple of days after 90 minutes of very hard work.


Highlight: Strong defensive performance from the back 4.


Belmont Villa 1 - South Perth 1