Benalla players travelled through severe thunderstorms to play in Shepparton at GVHA last Saturday.
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The juniors and the men were drenched during their games while the women luckily escaped the deluge for theirs.
Seniors
B-grade women
With an injured Heidi Perry coaching from the sidelines, 11 determined players dominated game play against SYC, pressing forward in attack with effective short passing.
Centre-half Sally Young fed the ball forward with Georgie and Alex White controlling play in the midfield by running hard and tackling back.
There was no score for either team at half-time.
Full-backs Cindy Daws and Rhonda Carpenter were ready for the counter attack and cleared the ball forward, often finding Sharon Watkins in space on the right wing. Against the run of play, SYC scored twice.
Excitingly rapid passages of play had the women combining together superbly and showed that their rebuild was on the right track.
Final score: SYC 2 def Benalla 0
B&F votes: 3. Rhonda Carpenter, 2. Sharon Watkins, 1. Cindy Daws.
B-grade men
Struggling for numbers once again because of injuries the Benalla men had to call on retired player John Chittick to lend a hand to take on a strong SYC team.
The rain and wind was strong all game, but that didn’t stop the men from giving it their all.
Scores were one a piece at half-time with a beautiful work of play from Alan, Alex, Tom and Daniel to seal the goal.
From the sidelines it was like watching a training drill.
Early into the second half Benalla was awarded a penalty corner, which gave Evan the opportunity to score the team’s second goal.
Perry was under pressure the whole game and saved many shots on goal, fullbacks John and Marty shut down many plays, too, while Charlie Grimwade was thrown in the deep end again in only his third game of seniors.
He held himself really well and did lots of running.
Sean Trevasksis had a solid game stepping up strongly to fill the role of missing players.
The men’s team have all put in a great few weeks of effort by never giving up.
Coaches hope that after a few weeks’ break some injured players may return.
Final score: SYC 7 def Benalla 2
B&F votes: 3. Perry Plex, 2. Evan Dowe, 1. Alan Sutherland.
Juniors
Under-12
Benalla took on top-of-the-table Strikers Red on Saturday.
The conditions were very cold but fortunately the rain held off.
With Benalla missing two key players, Angus Woodward stepped up to help out.
He did a fantastic job marking players with non-stop running and got some great passes through to his teammates.
Madeline and Amber had the pressure on in defence, and saved a number of would be goals.
Benalla had a few chances at goals with some penalty corners, but was not able to convert.
Final score: Strikers 2 def Benalla 0
B&F votes: 3. Noah Gillies, 2. Seth Hately, 1. Madeline Watson.
A cash award donated by Gail and Jason went to Jacinta Woodward.
Under-10
The Under-10s were undefeated before the round and took to the field to play the Strikers.
For the first week it was all up to the first year players with no bench.
They had a great game with lots of passing and running.
Jai Nolen and Angus Woodward were both able to score a goal.
The downpour of rain came in the second half making it very difficult to play.
Coaches said that was a great experience for the team to lose their first game.
Final score: Strikers 4 def Benalla 2
Hollywood’s spectator award: Angus Woodward.