Altona Hockey Club had a nightmare Saturday against local rival, Footscray, losing both Premier League matches convincingly. A cold, wet and windy day saw the Men lose 3-0 in a spiteful encounter, while the Women were smashed early, to lose 9-2 to a much more experienced side.
The opening minutes of the Mens Premier League match was played at a frenetic pace. Footscray were attacking hard, keeping the Altona defenders busy. Altona looked to be struggling to penetrate Footscray’s “fall away” defence, where all ten field players are in their own defensive half.
Footscray’s paid imports were also troubling the A’s at both ends of the ground, with Andrew Monte like a wall in defence, while Justin Ellis was earning his keep up forward, creating scoring opportunities and converting his own.
Half way through the first half, Footscray found a striker on the goal post, for a deflection goal two times in one minute. Altona’s chances were few and far between, with Chris Porter and Jesse Gatt looking the most dangerous of the Altona forwards.
After half time, Altona continued to play much of the game in their own defensive half, looking for a gap through the Footscray flood. Veteran defender Mathew Higgins was hitting some pin-point accurate passes through the zone, and was finding Steve Campbell, Harry Dolenc and Josh Horton streaming forward. Veteran Tyson Priddle was also finding a fair bit of ball, and was attracting a bit of rough attention from the Footscray defence.
Footscray’s defence held strong, and they even managed to find a counter attack, and then a messy base line scramble ended with the ball at the penalty spot where an unmarked striker slotted the ball in the back of the net to put the game beyond doubt.
“Today was a disappointing performance in a very important game. They took advantage of their opportunities, whereas we did not look dangerous up front. We need to work on this for the remaining matches of the season.” said Coach Ben Guy.
Altona 0 lost to Footscray 3
While the ladder positions would indicate a one sided encounter (Footscray 6th, Altona 11th), the young Altona girls and their supporters went into the game believing an upset was a real possibility.
Unfortunately, Footscray came out firing from the opening whistle and blasted Altona off the park with three goals in the opening ten minutes.
Footscray’s experienced imports dominated, and while Altona’s experienced players were leading from the front, some of the less experienced players appeared shell shocked by the onslaught.
Footscray dominated the first 25 minutes of the half, getting to a 6-0 lead, with a series of classy goals. It wasn’t until strikers Phoebe Rothfield and Steph Sarantis combined for a deflection goal after a desperate Rothfield cross, that the match stopped being one-way traffic.
Bronte Kerley worked tirelessly at Centre Half, and if it wasn’t for several tackles from her and defender Caity Campbell, the score couldn’t been even worse. A Kerley tackle, and drive forward saw the ball in the hands of Hockeyroo Danielle Schubach. She beat two defenders, combined with Sarantis in a two on one with the Footscray goal keeper to make it 6-2 at half time.
The second half started well, with Campbell combining with fellow backs, Carla Ruhe and Liv Rog, to repel several Footscray attacks. Altona looked like they may score, with Sarantis posting up and combining with the pacey Jess Brennan for a number of promising circle penetrations, but Footscray’s defence was too good.
The game looked like petering out with no further additions to the scoreboard, until Footscray eventually wore down the Altona defence. They scored two field goals in a minute, and then converted a penalty corner late in the match, to run out convincing winners 9-2.
Coach Marc Richardson looked for positives “The scoreline was extremely disappointing, but I was encouraged by the fight shown by the women late in the first half. I was also impressed with our ability to slow the game and shut them down on the scoreboard for the majority of the second half.”
Altona take on twelfth placed Powerhouse next Sunday night in a clash that could decide which side is relegated from Premier League for the 2014 season.
Altona 2 lost to Footscray 9
Goals: Steph Sarantis 1, Danielle Schubach 1