Match Report - 10 April 2021

Round 1

10 April 2021 Away

AJAX v Old Carey 

AJAX opened its 2021 premier B men's season with a 16-point win over Old Carey. 

It was an arm wrestle in the first quarter as both sides shook off their round 1 rust, against the run of play Old Carey opened the scoring first. After being wasteful in front of goal, a classy centering ball from Nicholas Cohen helped set up Brandon Joel to kick AJAX's first goal and settle their nerves. The teams were tied heading into the first break. 

After a rev-up from coach Adam Andrews, the Jackas started the second quarter brightly with Brandon Joel popping up again, to kick the opening goal and his second of the game.

The pressure AJAX applied towards Old Carey was fantastic. They were able to take maximum advantage and punish Old Carey on the scoreboard.

With AJAX beginning to pull away from Old Carey, midfielder Charlie Hamilton showed his class with a long-range bomb from outside 50 showing he had mastered the tricky conditions on the day. 

AJAX's backline was rock solid. Any forward entry Old Carey had was handled beautifully by star full-back Richie Simon who was dependable all day, also helping build attacks from his long kick-outs.

It was a fantastic team effort with everyone getting involved and playing their role and debutant Noah Webb was growing into the game. It was a terrific quarter by the Jackas who led by 23 points at half time. The only negative aspect was Jordan Cohen going down with an injured ankle.

Unfortunately, the Jackas struggled to build on their first-half momentum as Old Carey opened the scoring with another wonderful goal from outside 50. At times throughout the third, Toby Sheezel showed his class but the Jackas weren't able to capitalise on the chances they created. Brandon Joel, who starred on the day popped up to kick his third in hopes to wrestle back momentum back to Ajax, but to no avail. 

Old Carey was able to use the ball better in the conditions and kick 4 goals unanswered to give them a slim 1-point lead at three-quarter time. 

At three-quarter time, coach Adam Andrews gave a fierce and motivating message to the team. After Old Carey kicked the first AJAX quickly responded with captain Nick Lewis setting the tone with aggressive tackling. Match winning forward Nicholas Cohen was a livewire upfront and kicked three goals in the last quarter to help AJAX pull away. 

The Jackas lead with 14 minutes to go and never looked back. With rain pouring down towards the end of the game, it was a tough, gritty and determined win which showed a lot of character. 

Goals: N. Cohen 3, Joel 3, B. Caplan, Hamilton

Best: N. Cohen, Webb, Simon, Nissenbaum, Jo. Ludski, Sheezel

AJAX takes on Beaumaris in round two at the Gary Smorgon Oval at 2:00 pm on Saturday the 17th of April.