U14 Girls
The under 14 girls have had a great season this year. We ended second on the ladder, 1 point behind Footscray and hit the most goals in the league. In the semi-final, we faced a strong Camberwell side, who had spent all season at the top of the ladder until the final round when they drew to Footscray. We had been beaten by them in the second round 4-1 but had managed a 2-2 draw against them in round 9. We opened the scoring through a Caelli Del Grosso field goal. She was having a great game and really troubling their defence and it was a massive blow to us when she went down with a knee injury and could take no further part in the game.
Camberwell equalized and we went into half time 1-1.
Camberwell missed a number of opportunities to take the lead including a penalty stroke which hit the post. The Altona girls remained calm and structured winning a few short corners. Ashleigh Brooker cleaned up from one to put us 2-1 ahead in the last quarter. The girls could taste victory and pushed hard in the last few minutes of the game dominating play. Some great teamwork down the right hand side culminated in a fine strike by Sophie Martin to seal the victory and take us through to meet Footscray in the final. A GREAT team effort girls!
U16 Mixed
Altona under 16s haven’t dropped a point since the middle of June, and they carried their rich vein of form into the first final of the series vs. Greensborough at Essendon on Friday night. The game started with Burra in the ascendency, and with Altona’s backline seemingly shell shocked from the opposition’s quick start, the blue and gold boys soon found themselves 1-0 down. Fortunately this seemed to spur the A boys on to create more chances and play with a dynamism that was severely lacking in the early exchanges. Being marshalled admirably by Riley Faulkner at the back, the As pushed forward, and it was Jyah Johnson who took his season’s tally to 18 with a smart finish that broke the deadlock for Altona. The pressure from the A boys was unrelenting; and it wasn’t long before they found themselves in front. A hopeful ball from Heath McDonald through a crowded circle was intentionally, and expertly, deflected into the bottom corner by Jarryd Otterbach.
At 2-1 up going into the second half Altona looked comfortable, until centre-half and co-captain Heath McDonald was given a harsh 11 minute yellow card for giving the umpire a piece of his mind. Jarrod Debney worked like a mule in Heath’s absence, which made up the player deficit, before a piece of magic, that will go down in AHC under 16s folklore, occurred. Tim Symons made a nuisance of himself in the forward line with some silky stick work before giving the ball to Cynan Baugh on the left wing, near the Greensborough 25 metre line. Surrounded by players, Baugh weaved his way through two using his elusive and unorthodox technique, before turning another defender inside out on his way into the circle – but he was not done yet – as the only defender left rushed in to tackle the Altona forward, he slid the ball through his legs, before slotting it underneath the onrushing keeper. The crowd were jubilant, the players were ecstatic, the defenders were dizzy, but most importantly; the game was sealed, and Altona booked their place in next week’s Grand Final.