Match Report
Round 14
30 July 2022
AJAX v University Blacks
Our season sat at 6-6 and we looked forward to the challenge of playing against 1st placed University Blacks on home turf. After our poor showing against Beaumaris we emphasised the importance of effort and competiveness. Nothing less than 100% would be acceptable. A strong wind assisted the team kicking to the Fitzroy St end. We won the toss of the coin and elected to kick with the aid of the breeze.
The game began with fierce determination and commitment from both sides. We attacked the ball with ferocity and our tackling pressure was elite. Reece Israel kicked a clever goal from the forward pocket to get us rolling and Brandon Efron kicked truly from a set shot midway through the quarter. Unfortunately we were unable to capitalise on our scoring opportunities and didn’t use the wind to our advantage. University Blacks kicked a late goal bring back their deficit to 8 points at ¼ time.
The second quarter a great contest. University Blacks pressed hard and looked to assert their ascendency on the game. To our credit we fought hard and were able to gain our fair share of the ball. We defended well and matched this with some good attacking play in to the wind. Charles Hamilton, Toby Lipton and Richie Simon were defending strongly and our midfield players led by Jordan Cohen, Kane Nissenbaum and Nick Lewis were providing plenty of run. Brandon Efron kicked an important goal in to the breeze to bring us closer on the scoreboard just before half time. University Blacks led by 9 points at the main break.
The 3rd quarter needed to be our big quarter. We played well however weren’t able to gain an advantage big enough to threaten University Blacks in the last quarter. Dan Cohen kicked an opportunistic goal off the ground and Kane Nissenbaum kicked a goal from a set shot. We needed to be further in front. Hutch Davis and Adam Caplan were creating plenty of run and trying to create opportunities for our forwards. University Blacks defended along the pavilion side of the ground very effectively which made it difficult for us to score. A late goal to University Blacks really hurt as we defended very well throughout the quarter. We trailed by one point at ¾ time.
With the wind being so strong there was an element of inevitability about the result in the last quarter. We gave it our all however University Blacks were able to kick four goals to one to record a well-deserved win. We didn’t give up at any stage during the game and it was a much better team effort than the week before against Beaumaris. We have a BYE next weekend and then we approach another “mini-season” of three games. Our aim is to win all three games and see how close we can get to the top 4.
Goals: Efron 3, D Cohen, Israel, Nissenbaum
Bests: J Cohen, Lewis, Hamilton, Efron, Lipton, Nissenbaum
Teams |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
AJAX |
2.4.16 |
3.4.22 |
5.7.37 |
6.7.43 |
Uni Blacks |
1.2.8 |
4.7.31 |
5.8.38 |
9.12.66 |