An enthusiastic team full of young players arrived at Long Road on a mild mid-September afternoon.  As usual, the young ones were supported by small group of people who can still remember a position called inside-forward and the 2-3-5 formation.

The team welcomed 2 new "academy graduates", Joseph and Julian, from playing age-group hockey to playing adult hockey, both equipped themselves incredibly well.  We even had a player who has never represented a team at this dizzy level called Ed Doust, more about him later...

Although the team started well winning approx 60% of possession, we were unable to convert this into goals and went behind when the team was caught out by a quickly taken free hit by the Pelicans in the middle of the centre circle.

The team rallied with the introduction of Rob who calmed the front-line and was ably assisted by Ryan who troubled the Pelican defence with his runs and was unlucky not to have scored at least 1 goal in the 1^st half. The goal scoring was indeed left to Rob and Nev.  The half was finished 2:1. Yes, Ryan's normal position is between the posts

It was good to see how Fraser and Cameron dominated the wingback plays, constantly turning defence into attack with adroitness, speed and composure.

The 3^rd goal came from a direct run from Fraser down the right, which resulted in the team-goal-of-the-game. 

If the 3^rd was all about Fraser, then the fourth was all about Julian who drove down the right wing and passed it back to that rookie Ed Doust to place the ball into the corner. For this, Ed earned himself the lemon vote. Yes, that's the thanks you get for scoring at this level !!!

The fifth was another Barton goal with the aid of a wicked deflection from a defender.