The local clash between Footscray and Altona, dubbed the “West End Riot”, came to Grant Reserve on Saturday. Both clashes had a clear favourite, but both underdogs pushed the favourite to the limit.
The Womens clash was first, with Footscray towards the top end of the ladder, having recorded two comfortable wins. Altona, had yet to win, and were missing Hockeyroo Danielle Schubach, who was in Perth with Australian duties. Despite the obvious favouritism, the A’s came out firing, and pushed the more experienced Footscray side to the limit in the first half. Both sides had several chances, but goal keeper Taylah Brennan kept the A’s in the contest, and the A’s had a number of close chances which went wide. A large crowd present for the clash were impressed with the plucky A’s and the 0-0 half time score line.
Early in the second half, defender Caity Campbell made a big tackle in the middle of the ground, passed the ball to young striker Jessica Brennan, who smashed the ball into the circle, where veteran striker Steph Sarantis calmly slotted the ball with a cracker into the bottom corner of the net. The crowd erupted. The underdogs had hit the front 1-0!
The lead didn’t last long, and Footscray hammered a shot at Brennan from a short corner. She saved it easily, but Altona’s defenders were too slow to clean up the rebound, and the Footscray strikers easily scored the equaliser.
Altona held their own for the majority of the second half, with centre half Bronte Kerley dominating in the middle, and young midfielder duo, and sisters, Taniciah and Ahried Isorena, providing drive out right, they created a number of scoring opportunities.
Unfortunately, with less than one minute to go, a turnover in Altona’s attack was pounced on by the Footscray defence, who smashed the ball to the other end of the ground, where unmarked Footscray strikers managed to get around Brennan to score a heart breaking winner. There wasn’t enough time left, and Footscray won the West End Riot 2-1.
Coach Marc Richardson took a positive out of the loss “Heartbreaking to be only one minute away from a draw, and be right in the match for 69 minutes. We look straight away to Camberwell tomorrow, and the great thing is its only 24 hours to make amends.”
The Mens clash was the opposite in terms of favourtism. Footscray were yet to win, and the A’s were expected to record an easy victory. No one told the Bulldogs apparently, and the match turned into a low scoring, arm wrestle.
Altona got off to a flyer. Chris Coleman, who returned from an injury and participation in the National U/21 Championships, threw a massive 75 yard 
overhead, which eventually found its way to young striker, John Camilleri, who slotted only his second Premier League goal, and in as many weeks!
The arm wrestle continued, with both sides creating chances, but both defences standing strong. Goal keeper Oborne was brilliant for Altona, supported by Coleman, veteran defender Tyson Priddle and crowd favourite Jake “The Cobra” MacVean. Unsurprisingly, given how well they were defending, it was a scrappy, mistake riddled, passage of play in the Altona defensive circle, that resulted in Footscray’s first goal. Star import Justin Ellis slotted a back stick goal under the diving Ben Oborne for Footscray’s equaliser.
The second half was played mainly between the two 25 yard lines. It was all about the two team’s respective midfields. Both sides struggled to get meaningful circle entries, and there was a huge number of penalty corners at either end. Oborne was brilliant, veteran defender Mathew Higgins was putting on a clinic through the centre of the ground. In the midfield, Josh Horton was magnificent, working tirelessly, and creating countless turnovers of the Footscray midfield. MacVean, who had been the defence’s best player all match, had a last minute run down the right hand side of the pitch, and looked like he could have been the man to break the dead lock. But he passed the ball to Jesse Gatt, who’s effort went just wide and the score finished 1-1.
“That result, and last week’s draw with Doncaster are going to bite us” commented injured midfielder Steve Campbell. “These are the kinds of games that we need to get three points from, and we didn’t. Our focus immediately turns to Camberwell on Sunday, and our preparation for that will be nothing short of professional. We will give ourselves every chance against a very impressive unit.” said coach Ben Guy.
With the move to a 12 team competition in Premier League in 2013, there are an extra four matches played throughout the normal 18 round HV season. Thus, this week, both the men and women will take on Camberwell on Sunday in the first double header of the season.