ROUND 2
INGLE FARM vs ELIZABETH VALE
WALKLEY PARK, INGLE FARM
SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2009
NO REPORT WRITTEN
Final score: Ingle Farm 0 Elizabeth Vale 0. 

The Reserves match kicked off under overcast skies at Underdown Park this week with both teams on good form and looking to take three points from the match. Farm dominated most of the early play with several chances coming as soon as the five minute mark. Andy Lynn, Fernando Lara and Cameron Hawkins all watched as their efforts miss by narrow margins. It seemed that early on neither team had brought their feet so to speak with some dreadful passing and poor control from both sides.

It was however Florina who grabbed the first with their striker breaking through on goals and Farm's defenders stopping as the flag was raised however the flag was waved away and Florina strolled in with only Mickey Francken to beat netted the opener. Farm responded almost immediately going on the attack from the kick off and had it not been for some last line defending could have equalised through some great build up play from Marty Lara and a poor effort on goal by young Hawkins. Effort after effort on goals by Farm were frustratingly either put wide or just over for the next period of about 15 minutes with Boo and Fernando pressing down the wings they looked to have stretched Florina on several occasions but Farm seemed to lack that knockout punch.

With 15 minutes to go in the first half Farm hit back with their first through great holding pressure in the centre of midfield from Mark Faulkner, the ball bobbled to Marty Lara who played it through for Cameron to run onto and pinch the equaliser through a cool and calm finish. Unlike Farm, Florina couldn't bounce back from that equaliser and looked to be on the back foot almost waiting for halftime.

But Farm weren't finished yet and through a great tackle from the ever present Huey Tran and a quick one two between Boo and Lloyd the ball fell to Hawkins who sent Boo away with a high ball which was chased down with lightning pace and played to Andy Lynn on the head for Farm's second just before the whistle. Had it not been for two terrific Mike Francken saves in goals it could well have been level pegging at the break, the man between the sticks proving he is the best in the league.

The second half started in a very similar fashion to the first however had it not been for some tight defending from Paul Francken and Graham Elrich the game could have been on level terms. Farm lost Marty Lara to the A's soon into the second half being replaced by young Mark Bromley who was looking to impress and that he did showing quick feet and even quicker skills stepping several defenders and putting Fernando Lara through within minutes of coming on.

Farm continued to press and 20 minutes in were awarded with a corner as a result of another good period of passing play and a Mark Faulkner shot tipped wide. From the resulting corner Farm called on the Heavy artillery sending Graham and Lloyd up and with the ball cleared momentarily Lloyd drove home an edge of the box header with power, precision and a little bit of Wolverine aggression.

Florina continued to press pushing as much as they could forward and working hard to try to claw their way back but with little under 15 minutes to go Fernando was on the end of a poor Florina clearance to make it 4 – 1.

A special mention to young Jacob who came on in the dying stages of the game and never missed a beat helping starve off any Florina attacks with his pace and to Paul Francken and Huey Tran who managed to shut out Florina’s two attacking men. Good to see that the mastermind behind the games is finally getting the results deserved and getting reward from his teams! Congrats Billy.

This week saw the arrival of Fulham United Soccer Club at Fairfax Road,with our Reserves knowing that results pending we could go second on the table and close in on top spot shaping up our title defence from last year.

As with most reserves games we saw the return of Wade Dingle From Para Hills and Jarrad Rich from the first team which allowed Billy “Guus” Graves to give a couple of lads with knocks a chance to have a rest and impact the game later. Also missing starting midfielder Marty Lara, Cam Hawkins, Lloyd “Wolverine” Townsend and young Mark Bromley were left on the bench watching a still very strong Farm lineup.

The game kicked off with both sides having equal share of the play but Farm seemed to be on the front foot early with Rich and Dingle getting some good early touches up front.

Fulham seemed to be lacking a playmaker in the middle with most attacks coming from long balls by their defenders in the hope their strikers could hold it up and wait for support or create something special.

Farm’s defenders held very strong with solid performances from Duy Tran and Graham Elrick being supported by another First team player Evan Emmanuel and the ever present Paul Francken in what has to be one of the strongest back lines in the league.

As the first half progressed, Farm seemed to get stronger as a unit and started to show the same potency in front of goals that has seen their success in recent weeks with Wade seeing a long range effort hitting the crossbar and Fernando Lara also peppering the Fulham goal.

But it was Jarrad Rich who made the breakthrough with a well timed finish after a first touch that took him away from the goal and made the angle seemingly impossible.

The game didn’t have any fluidity to it whatsoever with patches of good passing and movement marred by terrible touches, misplaced passing and poor efforts on goal, in contrast defensively both teams tackling and man marking were fantastic and that was shown with a 1-0 score line at half time.

The second half began with the introduction of Cam Hawkins and Lloyd Townsend who had been pacing up and down the sidelines waiting for his opportunity to impact the game and that he did with a brilliant ball through to Andy Lynn who had snuck forward away from his central midfield role to win a corner. A role in which Andy had been performing to perfection under the guidance of Mark Faulkner who’s endless running and solid tackling work made it look like Fulham’s midfielders were up having a Jayros rather than on the park.

From the resulting corner Fulham’s defenders struggled to get the ball away and Andy finding himself in the right position got a shot away only to hit the arm of Fulham’s last man, and a penalty was awarded.

Hawkins stepped up to take the penalty and calmly placed the ball in the onion bag to make it 2-0.

Continued work from Sean “Boo” Robertson and Fernando Lara saw Farm go forward several times but couldn’t seem to deliver that third goal.

With end to end play continuing it was Rich who broke away from his marker and had a shot deflected by the keeper only for Hawkins to run in and instinctively knock the ball over the line for his second of the match even though the ball was looking goal bound anyway.

Fulham seemed to catch their second wind after the third goal and as a result of two consecutive corners were rightfully awarded a free kick on the edge of the box which was clinically finished past Michael Francken who hadn’t had much to do prior to that.

The closing stages saw Robertson make way for young Mark Bromley who has shown great maturity stepping up from the C’s and proving his ability with another solid display.

Had it not been for another poor finish from Farm’s front man Hawkins a perfectly timed Mark Faulkner through ball could have completed his hat-trick in less than 40 minutes of football but the marksman watched his effort sail well over the bar.

All in all it was another great win again for the lads on Sunday, we are playing consistently as a team now and we have shown great attitude and focus after a tricky start to the year to put us right back in contention.