Mens Premier League Thriller at Deakin Stadium - Woden Valley FC v Canberra FC

Last night (Wednesday3 August 2011) at Deakin Stadium, in perfect conditions for Football, on a fantastic grass playing surface, the lucky Football supporters and Club supporters, were treated to a first class game of Football. As a Woden Valley FC supporter myself and full of praise for CFC over the years (my second preferred team to watch), this for me was as near perfect as Premier League Football gets.

Four things intruded into my thoughts as I drove to the game:

• I was still cranky about the fact that the PL draw had been changed without effective consultation with my Club. It was a poor piece of football administration. PL draws should not be changed to fit Club tours (no matter how good they are). If the Clubs concerned are in agreement (after all, they are the ones that must accommodate the change) and it can be done, then amend the draw.  (Woden Valley and Canberra Olympic have done this during the last two seasons in order to accommodate each other due to unavailability of players on rep duties.) In the case of this postponed game last night, CFC did all that was required of them by Capital Football, however, Capital Football did not feel it was necessary to consult Woden Valley FC in advance of a decision. Easy out for Capital Football. Woden Valley FC do as you are told. So that was still in my mind and in the minds of other Club supporters. Its not easily forgotten.
• CFC were a Club that had, prior to their trip to the Croatian Cup, looked absolutely unbeatable this season. Marvellous roster, well coached and supported. They were imperious on the field. Upon their return, this impressive football machine started to splutter, they lost two games in a row (not an uncommon experience for the rest of us) and the doubts about their superiority in the PL began to gather momentum. What would the club do if this trend continued and put in jeopardy something CFC values (quite correctly) - the PL championship (not the Grand final though that too is important)? Last season they sacked the coach after about three draws, now we have two losses. Surely they will not do that again, after all, the coach is very good and the roster is superb. Just a hiccup I thought. But Football produces the strangest outcomes. For myself, I thought that having had their tyres kicked by Cooma on Sunday, we (WVFC) were likely to meet a ferocious Football beast last night. A proper thumping for us was a real possibility. This was not a pleasant thought, and only discussed briefly by the staunch group of supporters.
• Woden Valley FC has made very steady and positive progress in the last two seasons under the Head Coach Pat McCann, together this season with the PPL Coach Phil Booth. Its no secret that WVFC play the FFA's preferred 1-4-3-3 system of play. They are a good team. The PL and PPL train as one squad and like good racehorses they have been fed the same rich training diet. The result is that preparation of players and their portability between teams is enhanced (important over a season and long pre-season). Its taken a lot of time and effort to get to this game tonight I thought to myself. This cohesiveness has extended to the PL18 Coach and PL16 Coaching staff. Things get talked about a little more at the coaching level, more than in the past - "training" is as good or better than anything I have watched in other Clubs over the two years and its really paying dividends this season. It has made a phenomenal difference to the players and the Club's underpinning Football ethos. It takes time to build a competitive premiership team. The coaches will probably say its a work in progress and it is, but WVFC is a lot further down the track than can be imagined by those that have not been to training and games over this period of time. All this in spite of some severe "raiding" by other Clubs. And oh how the loss of some players hurt, tipping the Clubs plans on its head. Saviour came in the form of a cohort of players who stayed loyal to the club. You can't buy loyalty I thought to myslef for about the millionth time this year. The casual mobility and selfishness of some players, young or older, gives me a roaring case of the shits! But for those that are with the Club the best of it is this - there is a lot of room for improvement, with a young roster that is able to improve and players from the PL18 / 16 coming forward (that's the advantage of a big strong Junior Club WVSC). The outcome - WVFC is now a serious contender in the Premier League - every game we play. As I drove to the ground I knew one thing for sure - we were a third place team on playing ability and fifth placed on the results ladder. And that's how it was likely to end in 2011 for the WVFC PL team. A good performance tonight against CFC would declare our intentions for 2012 and capability loudly to the canny football coaches and staff in the other PL clubs.
• This game against CFC was the one we wanted to play when it was scheduled for earlier in the season. We needed that game. You always want to play the best and test yourself. Tonight's game was nothing short of a season defining moment in WVFC's progression to contest the Premier League in 2012. Hope for a finals place in 2011 was slim. From a Club perspective, the vision, must of necessity, be more far sighted. The significance of this game in that longer term context, like no other game this season (and we have had some good ones this year - Belco / Olympic / Canberra City), was that it would establish our starting position for 2012. For the players, the situation is more immediate and personal as the Coach pointed out at training - this is the sort of game  you play the game for! Absolutely correct. If you can't meet this challenge, you don' t get the best the game has to offer, at any level of Football and you are not Premier League standard. Simple as that. In the ordinary way of things, there is no perfect preparation for an important game. But midweek games can be a real pain in the arse, they stretch volunteerism to the limit, worry coaches, make it difficult for players with study and work committments and introduce a degree of difficulty we could do without - all of us. That's why the  integrity of the PL draw is so important. I have no doubt that this week, CFC had its problems. WVFC came off a frustrating draw (one of four this season - don't think about the four points we got, think about the eight we lost!), three players with niggling injuries that really needed rest till next Sunday and two who were at work (yes this is one important reason we prefer not to play midweek competition PL games Captial Football!), a couple injured and unable to play, a more restricted game specific build up and, in truth, its hard to know what you are likely to get after the ref blows the whistle for the start of the game. As ever, its in the hands of the players. I must say that among the WVFC supporters, we simply hoped that we would get a Ref that had an accurate timepiece, together with sufficient basic maths to calculate a realistic measure of extra time. Strange, the things you worry about before the start of an important game!
• There was one more thought that made an unwelcome return, had been off and on for several weeks -  2-3 Clubs had scouting parties in attendance at our games (all grades, but particularly the PL) on a regular basis. We know our players are being scouted. How do we hold what has been developed? If they played well as we knew they could and hopefully would, these hunting parties would make their move sooner rather than later, as we were probably not going to make the finals in the PL. These are thoughts that fester and are no help at all before a big game like this one. (Sure enough they were there.) Well I thought, as I walked to the stadium, if your club can deliver the quality training environment that WVFC delivers every week, then do your best, because you will need more than money this time around. I hope players see it that way. Give your Club a chance I said to myself, because the grass is very green at WVFC (and CFC for that matter I guess).

All this spinning around in my head and the game yet  to begin. When I got to the ground I found I was not alone with these thoughts. I spoke to a couple of friends in Football from CFC and quickly realised that they were worried because they thought we would come to play them and beat them if they gave us a small chance. They did and we very nearly did!

And what a wonderful game it was - both teams gave everything they had. They played in good style, matching each other for goals across the length of the game, contesting the game till the final whistle. The game ended in favour of CFC on the scoreboard (5:4) and in poetic fashion, underscoring the thrill of the game - a WVFC shot rebounded of the CFC crossbar seconds before the final whistle - but what the hell - we didn't need another damn draw. For me, WVFC won the most of it on the park and CFC made it very clear, why they are the premiership contenders, the team to beat - these are  games you live to play to for -players and Club supporters.

My congratulations to WVFC and CFC for a fantastic game of Football under lights at Deakin Stadium. Both Coaches have every reason to be proud of their efforts with their players. They both looked like "shot ducks" after the game. When the game ended, neither side had anything left to give.

This how the WVFC Mens Premier League Co-ordinator reported the game to the players and supporters by email last night (no person at the ground did it harder than Mike Swan last night):

All,
A simply extraordinary performance tonight by Woden Valley FC against Canberra FC, despite going down in a nail-biter, 5-4. Probably the game of the season so far as far as the league is concerned, and certainly for the very vocal crowd of supporters on both sides who were treated to a fantastic football spectacle that was quite simply dominated by Woden Valley FC for large passages of the game.

Although we were without the playing services of two starting defenders in Jeremy Butler (on FFA business in Alice Springs) and Micah Johnson (knee injury), their places were very ably taken by Kai Chaivannacoopt and Andrew Kiley. We went into the game in a very positive frame of mind believing we could cause an upset and the first goal of the match after two minutes to Alex Oloriegbe signaled that something special might in fact be afoot. However, the next two goals were to Canberra FC; trade mark strikes from arguably the best in the league in Paul Ivanic and Adam Spaletta. However, Woden Valley was back on the score sheet before the break with the first of two goals to Irish import, Sean Murphy, score 2-2.

The start of the second half was always going to be crucial but it was Woden Valley that played all over Canberra FC in every phase of the game. A dominant mid-field performance by man of the match Daniel Sparrow along with mid-field partners Simon Hinde and Hector Alamos meant excellent service to Alex Oloriegbe and Lachlan Nichols out wide and Sean Murphy in the middle. The next two goals were Woden Valley’s scored by Sean Murphy and Paul Gagetti, score 4-2. A strong defensive effort from centre-backs Mat Kocic and Andrew Kiley and an another outstanding performance in goals by Jack Pettit should have secured the game for Woden Valley but three late goals meant a final, and very disappointing 5-4 result.

A disappointing result but an outstanding and very courageous performance notwithstanding. Congratulations to coaching staff and all senior players.

Regards

Mike Swan

Capital Football reported the game as follows and I find myself in complete agreement Russ!

05.08.11 – Canberra FC come from behind to win nine-goal thriller
Wednesday 3rd August 2011
Re-arranged fixture – Round 9

Canberra FC 5 (Paul Ivanic 12’, 76’, Adam Spaleta 16’, John Glass 67’, Victor Yanes 77’) Woden Valley 4 (Alex Oloriegbe 2’, Sean Murphy 32’, 66’, Paul Gagetti 58’)

Canberra FC kept alive their hopes of retaining the League Championship by arresting their recent slump in form winning one of the games of this, or any other, season 5-4 against Woden Valley under the floodlights at Deakin Stadium. In a game that had everything it was the visitors who went in front after only two minutes when Alex Oloriegbe found some space on the left flank before cutting inside two challenges and finishing with aplomb. Two goals inside four minutes had Canberra FC in front by the 16 minute mark when firstly Paul Ivanic slotted in from close range before Adam Spaleta tried his luck from distance, his shot ricocheting high into the night sky, before dropping over Jack Pettit who tried his best but couldn’t prevent the ball from crossing the line failing to claw it back in time. Incredibly Woden were level fifteen minutes later when Daniel Sparrow swung over a brilliant free-kick that was glanced past Ben Klug by Irishman Sean Murphy for his first goal at this level to send the teams in at the break at 2-2. It was Woden who appeared to have taken a march on proceedings when they netted twice after the resumption of play with Paul Gagetti poking home his sixth goal of the season from almost on the goal line and then Murphy bundling a rebound into the net after Oloriegbe had tested Klug from a free-kick. With their season apparently slipping away the champions suddenly found an extra gear. John Glass slid in a rebound after Ian Graham had seen his effort blocked by Pettit to bring the home team back into the match setting up a grandstand finale. In what could turn out to be a defining sixty seconds of the season Canberra FC not only drew level, but found the requisite strength to go in front. Ivanic levelled the scores at 4-4 stroking home his sixteenth of the season after wonderful approach play by Josip Jadric and Yanes glanced in an Adam Spaleta cross to send Deakin Stadium into bedlam. Woden still had time to fight back and almost snatched a point their performance warranted in stoppage time when Matt Kocic hit a shot from the angle that crashed back off the bar and to safety but it wasn’t to be for a gallant beaten side.

Canberra FC: 18. Ben Klug, 4. Izach Clements, 5. John Glass, 7. Paul Ivanic, 11. Ivan Pavlak, 12. Ian Graham, 14. Josip Jadric, 16. Matt Grbesa, 19. Adam Spaleta, 23. Marcin Zygmunt, 76. Aidan Brunskill

Substitutes used: 9.Michael Spaleta, 99. Victor Yanes

Woden Valley: 1. Jack Pettit, 2. Kai Chaivannacoopt, 3. Paul Gagetti, 4. Matthew Kocic, 5. Hector Alamos, 6. Andrew Kiley, 7. Alex Oloriegbe, 8. Simon Hinde, 12. Lachlan Nichols, 14. Sean Murphy, 15. Daniel Sparrow

Substitutes used: 9. Mouad Zwed, 10. Ben Pagett, 13. Samale Mohamed

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 12. Ian Graham, 19. Adam Spaleta (both Canberra FC), 5. Hector Alamos (Woden Valley)

Match Officials: Luke Withell (referee), Alex McConachie, William Lai


A Premier League game to be remembered. A landmark game for Woden Valley FC in it's quest for a PL title in 2012? Something to cherish about the 2011 season. Probably the best PL game I have seen in the last three years and without a doubt, the best WVFC has played in that time.