Mens 4 vs Pelicans 4

A good all round effort from a team still finding its feet who were up against an experienced (vets) Pelicans team. Ives took some time to settle down but managed to weather pressure from the home team in the first 10 minutes, with Alex making some good saves to a number of snap shots by Pelicans. Gradually Ives began to increase possession, moving the ball through midfield and pressuring the Pelicans back line. Ives first goal came on 18'' when Tom took the ball into the D and laid a nice pass off to Riley to score. The remainder of the half was evenly matched, with Ives at times taking the ball too close to Pelicans players and losing possession.

Ives started the 2nd half confident that the home team would start tiring and present us with more possession and scoring opportunities, but instead Pelicans immediately scored two quick goals - catching Ives out with some simple and effective route 1 play. Alex made a number of great saves to keep Ives in the game. It could have got worse a few minutes later when Ives were penalised for a foot on the line but Alex moved the right way and saved the penalty flick which would have put Pelicans 3-1 up. That save galvanised Ives and settled the team, allowing us to start getting more possession and pressuring the home team. On 53'' some good pressure and interplay led to a nice scrambled goal by Josh B. Ives continued to pressure and after a shot which hit the post, more good interplay between Josh B, Josh C, Leo and Riley led to another goal by Riley on 58''. From then on the game opened up as the heat started to tell on everyone and the home team tired. Josh C scored a well-deserved goal in the last few minutes, again after good interplay between the front line, to secure the win.