Donald Gray Ease Past Winton
Scott Donaldson
Old Boys DG took on lowly ranked Winton in the round 8 clash at the ILT turf. Following a Charity Cup game on Thursday and without key players Jono Ross, Hamish Low and David Fosbender the team was under pressure to claim the three points.
Coming back into the team was Ben Clixby who started up front who along with Michael Bardwell, Finlay McNaughton and Jacob Leeden came directly from playing the majority of a Div 1 game prior. Alex Wright also came across to tend goal in his second game for the day.
The game started off at a fast pace and both teams showed good intent. Winton played with confidence and at times stretched the Old Boys defence through the first period of play. Once the game settled down a bit Old Boys started to play the game that coach Reuben Lindsay has been trying to foster this season. Our attacks were varied and we played a lot of balls to feet with Ben Clixby holding the ball up well and finding support.
The first two goals came in quick succession about 20 minutes in. Ben Clixby got onto a lovely through ball and calmly beat the the keeper. The second goal also came from a superb through ball from Michael Preddy to Joel Fletcher who found Jared Cuff on the far post for a simple finish.
The third came from a corner where Ethan Stout put in a lovely ball to to the back post which Danny Rosel calmly placed in the goal.
At the half-time break coach Grant Yorkstone told the boys to play a wider game. Those instructions were put into effect straight away and we started to open up the Winton defence.
Against the run of play Winton found themselves with a red-hot chance after a fast break. Their striker showed good pace and got into a great position to score. He stuck the ball well but was undone by a brilliant save by young Alex Wright on his near post. Alex put in another strong performance in goal this week.
The next two goal came from excellent strikes outside the box from Michael Preddy. The second was particularly clever with delicately placed shot in the bottom left corner. Mike’s two goals were well deserved on the back of a man of the match performance. His option taking was superb all game and he was a menace on defence. He was also a menace later on at Joel Fletcher’s 21st.
The sixth goal came from another excellent corner kick from Ethan Stout who a few minutes earlier fired in shot from distance that would have impressed Roberto Carlos. Unfortunately that shot hit the post along with an earlier header from Scott Donaldson which also hit the woodwork at pace. Donaldson finally found the net with his second header from a corner and hopefully has recovered his header scoring mojo.
All in all it was a solid performance around the park. The defence of Hayden Edwards, Daniel Rosel, Ethan Stout and Elliot (“the fridge”) Dawson was robust and there was some good contributions from young players Ben Clixby, Finlay McNaughton, Michael Bardwell as well as Jacob Leeden who made his DG debut from the bench. Reuben Lindsay unfortunately wasn’t on hand to watch the game but he will be pleased with the win and deserves a lot a credit for the style of game that was played by an understrength team.
