Cooma Tigers v Goulburn Strikers
The second clash in the Federation Cup at Hawker on Saturday saw two of the new additions to the Capital Football Premier League go head to head. It must have been just like old times in State League One!
In fact it was a terrific match to watch and a marvelous contrast in styles.
Cooma Tigers are a confident and comfortable team on the ball, they seem to play at one pace and don't get too anxious if they go behind, prepared as the seem to be, to play the ball out of the back and keep possession. It works a treat and they create more than their fair share of chances to score. They are very adept at controlling the pace of the game. It takes a lot of work to break free of them and get control of the game. Its a style that would bring rounds of applause form the FFA's Technical Director.
The Goulburn Strikers might well prove to be the "greyhounds" of the PL competition. They are fit, real fit and quick with it. Not quite as proficient as Cooma when it comes to retaining possession, but very fast on the counter attack and if they get behind your defence, your Goalkeeper is going to be tested because they get most of their shots on target. They might not represent the technical summit of new national curriculum, but they are going to be awfully hard to beat. This is one team that is not going to die wondering! Don't have a off day against this team.
So here we have it. Strikers scored first, then the Tigers got one back, the game was locked up tighter than the Club Treasurer's purse, when the Strikers got the winning goal. It was a hard fought game, a few too many fouls due to poor tackling, but terrific to watch. Better than most A League games that get time on television. They are two competitive additions to the Premier League mix. No wonder their respective Club Presidents are confident.
Monaro Panthers v Canberra Olympic
Alas, it was not the hoped for start to the Monaro Panthers Premier League aspirations in 2010. They were soundly beaten - no other way to say it. I stopped counting at 9:1 against.
Olympic have a splendid playing roster and must be regarded at this early stage as one of the final four contenders. They were close last season and will get closer in 2010. The game for them seemed little more than an opposed training game. In spite of scoring many goals, they seemed to make it hard for themselves, this often happens when you play weaker teams and no doubt their coach will know only too well that this game does little for the games ahead against Belconnen United and Canberra FC.
There is not a lot to say about this game, except that it demonstrated just how much work the Panthers have to do in a few short weeks before the PL Competition begins in earnest. The question that comes immediately to mind is - what do they have in their playing roster across the PL and PPL players that might make a significant difference? Probably not a lot.
This was always going to be hard for the Monaro Panthers, creating two Senior teams where none existed before. Today demonstrated just how hard that assignment is going to be in 2010. The lack of recent experience in campaigning senior teams in State League may have left the Panthers adrift in terms of playing strength and competitive expectations. This has added significance (and pressure) as the Panthers have a one year PL Licence and it was this issue that made Capital Football cautious.
The Monaro Panthers coaching staff and officials seemed in pretty sombre mood, looking out at the game that followed with what could only be described as the "thousand yard stare". Welcome to the Premier League lads! We can only hope that the Monaro Panthers find some competitive form as the Federation Cup continues. Planning has stopped and execution has begun for 2010. We all now how that feels.
Its important for all of us to remember that a strong Premier League Club across all grades is not built in a season and most of the established clubs are still struggling to demonstrate a strong presence across all grades. For Monaro Panthers, creating competitive senior grades (PL and PPL) from absolutely nothing is a daunting task. It will be important for the Panthers PL18 and PL16, built as it will be on a very strong Junior Club base, to lead the way in 2010. This was only one game and that's not a season, so let's call it the way it is and always wish them the best. They'll make it.
No comments:
Post a Comment