THIRROUL THUNDERBIRDS

Master Builders Competition

Round 18
Thirroul 0 lost to Woonona 2

Excited coach. Done. Unseasonally warm weather. Done Motivational text to players. Done. Motivational pre-game speech. Done. 15 fired up Thunderbirds ready to play for their season. Done. No matter how well you prepare things don't always go to plan.....
Like Rnd 3 the first half was all Woonona in terms of field position, possession and clear chances. With Amy and Brooke being man marked we struggled to get any control and build pressure. With most of the play in our half  the inevitable 2 goals were conceded from soft finishes inside our 18yrd box. This combined with some tentative clearances from the back and an inability to get the ball wide made it happy days for the opposition.
The half time talk was about getting back to the full field game we had played so well for the past 5 games and start talking to each other. Look for overlaps and make the opposition earn the ball. The basics. Make sure of our clearances and above all lift our intensity. LIke the Round 3 game the coaches were confident that with an even share of possession we would come home strong in the last 20 minutes. And they were right.
The second half went pretty much to script with the opposition sitting back on their lead and only looking dangerous from set pieces. Full credit to everyone for making this happen. The big test was a pen for a dubious foul after a player found the ground just outside the 18 yard box. The strike was on target but saved by a reflex left knee by Emily. The unusually warm weather was beginning to effect all players and frequent stoppages for subs was breaking up any momentum.
With the season slipping away the last 20 minutes saw us lift the intensity and some  full field football was now being played and the opposition were feeling the effects of being moved around the park. Some positional changes were also working with Leila doing a great containing job in the midfield that largely shut down the ball supply to their forwards. With this control we gained confidence and pushed 3 forward looking to pull back some goals. We had three very good chances late in the game with a great cross from Grace that shot straight across the keeper in 6 yrd box but not able to find the feet of Amy. Helen then got on the end of a great ball from Brooke but picked out the keeper in her shot. Not long after Grace hit a sweet left foot drive which just missed the top right corner. In the end we could not make up the shortfall but in the coaches eyes were the clear winners of the second half.
Players player and coaches player - Amy - who played on wounded after a heavy tackle early in the game but competed to the point of exhaustion - and then some more. Leila had an outstanding second half with Brooke, Kath and Lorin doing some good work on and off the ball. A big thanks to Lorin and Nellie for helping out today.
Well Thunderbirds 1 - that is it for season 09. You should be proud of the fact that you made the semi finals in both the Bonnie Lassie and Association Cups .Some blow out wins early in the season led to a mid season series of close losses that took our finals chances out of our hands and made us rely on the results of other teams. After some soul searching you regrouped and came home with a wet sail winning winning 4 of our last 5 games scoring 17 goals and conceding 3 to miss the finals by 1 point.  An overall goal difference of +22 was a good return.
Thanks to the following Thunderbirds 2 & 3 for helping us out this season - Gloria, Lorin, Nellie, Porter, Laura, Mikeala, Caitlyn, Amanda and our "super sub" Jenny Shelton.
And finally, it gives me great pleasure to say....... that it all starts again in January 2010. See you then.

Round 17
Thirroul 6 defeated Fernhill 0

An important win today which keeps our finals chances alive and kicking. The game as a contest was over  well before 1/2 time after Amy opened the scoring with a clinical finish from the midfield. Erika then put her name up in lights with 3 well struck goals from well outside of the 18yrd box and Brooke finished off the half with what could be the goal of the season. This one was a sensational strike which was awarded as an indirect pen after the keeper picked up a back-pass. The shot was taken from the 6 yrd line and easily cleared the wall, which consisted of every Fernhill player ( plus Lou) The shot was so well struck that no one moved - always the sign off a class finish. The talk at 1/2 time was to go on with the scoring but don't change anything else. The second half saw Fernhill tighten up their backline, get everyone behind the ball and work the offside trap on us very well. We ( well Helen mainly) were not timing our runs onto the ball which was being struck into gaps continuously by Amy and Brooke. This led to some interesting exchanges between the ref and Helen which resulted in Helen being give a spell on the bench to cool down. Amy finished off the scoring midway through the 2nd 1/2 with after a one on one with the keeper that came about after the offside trap finally failed and many of the Fernhill players stopped and looked at the officials when the whistle didn't blow - but as the saying goes you always play the whistle. Coaches player today was Grace - who absorbed a lot of punishment up front but in doing that allowed our mids to run riot for the whole game. She was a constant menace on the ball and played a good positional game today. Others to stand out were Amy who was as usual in everything but finally succumbed to jet lag for a brief spell ( must have been all of 30 seconds) on the bench. Brooke and Asha combined well down our right side and Aleisha was the pick of our defenders. Thanks also to Caitlyn and Mikeala from the 2's who backed up today and both played well in their spells on the field.
Round 18 sees us take on Woonona 1 at home in a game which will decide if we make the finals or not. The 2-3 result in Round 3 showed that the gap has closed considerably between these two teams. We cannot afford to get off to a slow start like we did in Round 3 - we need to keep close and stay in the the arm wrestle. To get anything out of this game each one of you will have to compete for everything - from minute 1 to minute 90 with no nanny naps. You all have the ability and desire  - just keep believing in yourselves ( like the coaches believe in you)  and play for each other.

Round 15
Thirroul  3 defeated Dapto (1)  0

After another week off due to wet weather the coach and manager were wondering which Thirroul team would arrive at Dapto. Would Aleisha arrive in time after the long trip from Newcastle? Would Kath and Lou's viruses allow them to play? Would Ollie arrive at all? How many people would get lost and end up at the Dapto markets? We needn't have been concerned as the team that arrived had 13 switched on players ready to play and keep our finals hopes alive. The end result today should have been 6 goals plus which would have been a better indication of our dominance for the full 90 minutes.  Full credit to Dapto who had a simple game plan of getting everyone behind the ball and with some effective man marking kept Grace and Leila reasonably quite. Not a problem today as our midfielders Brooke, Erika, Helen, Asha and Amy all stepped up with Amy scoring first midway through the first half after a killer ball from the left wing by Asha and two further goals to Amy and Helen killing the game off midway through the second half. Helens effort, which won't be appearing the in soon to be released Thunderbirds coaching DVD, was an overhead kick that was struck just in front of Dapto's goal line with the ball hitting under the cross bar, bouncing down and in. Doesn't matter how ugly they look - as long as they cross that line. Again some great football today, reasonable ball control and plenty of movement on and off the ball except for a 10 minute period in the first half which slowed down to walking pace. The officials kept the coaches entertained with one linesman in particular making some bizarre decisions and (what he thought were) witty comments. Coaches Player - Erika who did all of the little things well and consistently. Strong games from Kath, Helen, Amy and Ash, who will always remember how hot a canteen pie can be after wearing some after the game. Ouch!!

Round 13
Thirroul 5 defeated Woonona (2) 1 

Round

Thirroul 0 def by Figtree 2

The result today was very disappointing and some would say unexpected - but take nothing away from Figtree who thoroughly deserved it. Our recent run of outs continued with making the finals this season - after such a promising start - now looking like being determined by the results of the teams around us.  Our side today looked like a combined Thunderbirds 1 and 2 with Lorin, Nellie and Gloria filling in for the absent and injured Thunderbirds 1. In summary we were beaten all over the park by a team that came ready to play and did everything with urgency. Nothing we spoke about before the game was carried out on the field but in saying that we still created enough clear chances to easily win the game - only problem was that we couldn't get the ball across the line. In a moment that sums up our  luck ( or form) in the past 2 weeks a great cross from Grace to Helen whose strike inside Figtree's 18yrd box  looked certain to find the back of the net was stopped on the line by the Figtree defence who showed remarkable commitment and attitude to get back and defend with their goal keeper.  Two soft goals today, which were created after players were not tracked in defence, with the final a tap in from a cross. Not much more to say ladies except to welcome the return of Helen who put in a good effort and was aggressive in her spells on the field. Lorin - who was coaches player today -  again was good on the left and put through some killer balls. If she keeps playing this way she wont be allowed to return to Thunderbirds 2. Special mention to Ashely Orvad, our U17 Girls goal keeper, who had her first run in seniors today - out of position at left fullback - but still showed promise and always had time on the ball. We hope this is the start of a long career with the Thunderbirds Ashley.

Round

Shell City (1) 1 def Thirroul 0

The second game of the weekend saw us travel to Oak Flats. After being informed on arrival that there was no referee or linesmen available for the game Kenny Howes stepped up to take over the whistle. As the score line says, nothing in this one at all with a runaway goal early in the second half doing the damage. Both teams would have agreed a draw would have been a more fitting result. Probably the most organised and strong back 4 we have played against this season with Grace and Leila in particular the target of some questionable tackling which boiled over towards the end of the game. Still, we had half a dozen chances throughout the game and forced the Shell City keeper to pull off some great saves in comparison to Lou having very little work to do all game but being unable to save the only goal. The result ( or frustration being experienced by the coaches) today was best summed up by Grace chipping the keeper in the first half to only see the ball hit the post. Late in the second half, after having a mountain of possession and field position we thought we had split the points with the ball finally being slammed into the back of the net after a scramble in the 18 yrd box only to see the linesman's flag raised on the far side of the field. Coaches player  - Ash - who had her best all round game of the season so far today at RFB. Grace worked hard all game while Amy and B(r)ook were both very creative in the middle. Thanks to Porter and Lorin for helping out today with Lorin in particular very impressive on the left wing. Quotes of the day were from the Shell City Assist Ref who commented "I can't work out how you guys haven't scored" and  "who would be a coach".

Round 9

Thirroul 1 lost to University (1) 5

After a break of 1 month due to wet weather and ground closures we traveled to Kemblawarra for this catch-up game. A good start tonight with both teams trading goals ( a good finish from Amy) in the first 20 minutes. The next 25 minutes saw Uni put away  4 goals to kill off the game. From a spectators viewpoint some of these goals were class and would not look out of place in a coaching video - from a coaches viewpoint they were all disappointing, particularly the 2 long bombs which we allowed to be struck without competing for. At times we appeared overawed which always plays into the oppositions hands,  were punished for risks in our defensive end and looked for holes down the centre of the field which tonight didn’t exist. As the referee commented after the game a different Thirroul side took the field in the second half and whilst we struggled to sustain any pressure at Uni's end we did not concede another goal. In what was a hard and cold night at the office for our 12 players that saw injuries to Emily, Chloe and Erika we were impressed with how you all played for each other and wanted to be on the field to help out your team mates - injured or not. Tonight's result was no disgrace against a team which are the best by a country mile in this league and should win every Illawarra  title and most probably the NSW  State Cup. Coaches player Aleisha who was "on the ball" in attack and defence all game. Lou was outstanding in goals in the 2nd half, Ashley was solid at right fullback and Grace worked hard up front and on the left wing.

Round 7

Thirroul 1 lost to Kemblawarra (2) 2

As someone said after the game," the team is consistently inconsistent" which is a fair summary of our form so far this season. If only the first 70 minutes were played like the last 20 minutes today......... With many of the team backing up for a 9am kick-off after a big Saturday night / Sunday morning today was always going to be a challenge. We found ourselves a goal down very early in the match against an opposition who came ready to play. The remainder of the 1st half was an arm wrestle with Kemblawarra 2 on top but us doing enough to stay in the game. A disastrous start to the 2nd half saw a goal scored from the kick-off  after we allowed a shot to be taken from distance without any competition and things were beginning to look grim. However with the opposition sitting back on their lead we were invited back into the game and the final 20 minutes saw us finally get out of first gear and compete with urgency with Amy, Chloe and Brooke in particular outstanding. We finally pulled one back after some sustained pressure with what was thought 4 minutes to go after Grace pounced on a dropped ball from the Kemblawarra keeper. This goal also saw the ref blow fulltime due to a serious injury to the Kemblawarra keeper from the same play. Regardless of this dubious decision not to play the final 4 minutes we should not have been in the position of trying to win the game in the final 20 minutes. How we did not convert at least 5 good chances today will have the coaches scratching their heads for sometime but in the end full credit to Kemblawarra 2 who were the better side today and would hold their own in 1st division.  We did not look composed on the ball and our touches, ball control and finishing were poor for the majority of the game so there is plenty to work on at training this week. Coaches player - Kath - who was strong at the back (as usual) all game closely followed by Brooke

Round 6

Thirroul 2 defeated Kemblawarra (1) 0

A good clean sheet win today by limiting the opposition to very few chances all game. Another great start after Leila won a ball and after getting back on her feet crossed to an unmarked Grace in the 6yrd box who did the rest. Today the little things we talked about before the game were being done better than in the last two weeks and with our back 4 of Lou, Yvette, Kath & Ness having great games and working as a unit. The second half saw more good ball movement and commitment to winning the 50/50 balls and after some sustained possession and field position a foul was awarded with Amy stepping up and clearing the wall with a great strike which left the keeper no chance. We kept working as a team for the full 90 minutes and with the opposition beginning to lose discipline only some desperate defence prevented a higher score. Coaches Player - Yvette who has been very consistent in all areas of the game for the past few weeks and was outstanding today, Leila, Kath, Brooke and Amy all had strong games with our other 9 players contributing to the final score. Well done everyone.

Round 5

University (2) 2 drew with Thirroul 2

Association Cup Semi-Final

University 4 def Thirroul 1

A comprehensive victory to a team which is by far the best we have encountered this season and will be very hard to beat for the remaining titles. The first half saw us under constant attack in our half and only some outstanding  goal keeping by Emily and poor finishing by Uni keep the score to 2-0 at half time. The early part of the second half saw Uni's dominance continue and us go another goal down which both camps agreed resulted from a blatant offside. From that point on we began getting into the game and with some field position and ball control began giving the Uni keeper some work to do. We pulled one back after a foul was awarded just outside of the 18 yard box with Amy's strike over the wall finding the top right corner of the net. The remainder of the game saw Uni keep us at arms length with only their poor finishing and Emily preventing a double figure score. Coaches Player and Players Player - Emily - in what was her best performance of the season. Ashley, Yvette, Brooke and Amy all had strong games but overall we were bettered by a class team. Well done ladies in ending our run one win away from the final. This was your biggest test so far but you competed as individuals and as a team for the full 90 minutes. Thanks to Aleisha for organising the bus to the game and our bus driver extraordinaire ( who said goal keeping coaches aren't multi-skilled ) Kenny Howes.

Master Builders Competition

Round 4

Bellambi 2 def Thirroul 1

With absences, illness and injuries in key positions today was always going to be a tough assignment. Frustrating was a better description of a game where we created enough chances to win several. We started well enough hitting the uprights 3 times in the first 5 minutes. The game then settled down into an arm wrestle with Bellambi doing all of the little things better, not giving us any time when in possession and generally out enthusing us. We fell a goal behind after being beaten down our left side with a great strike from distance leaving Emily no chance. The second half saw us take control of the game, play some great football and  pull one back after Amy beat 3 players down the middle of the park and finish with a nice strike. Our dominance in field position and clear chances continued but today our lead up play and finishing was letting us down with balls not cleanly finding feet or strikes picking out the keeper. With the opposition just hanging on through the final 15 minutes the game was there to be taken. Appropriately, the winning goal came in the final 5 minutes against the run of play after a long ball caught us square at the back only to watch a toe poke clear Lou's hands in goals. Coaches player - Aleisha who gave it her all for 90 minutes. Leila was creative and Amy ran her usual marathon. Thanks to Gloria, Amanda and Mikeala who backed up after a full game in the 2's. I hope everyone now realises that each game - no matter who you play, where they are on the ladder or what division they are in - will be a competition and you must do all of those little things better to get the points.

Round 3

Woonona (1)  3 def Thirroul 2

Our first test in some weeks was the classic game of 2 halves which was played with the intensity expected when these two teams meet.  A good start from Thirroul was undone when we conceded a soft goal from a corner where we did not pick up the unmarked scorer. Immediately from the kick-off we worked the ball down field into shooting range to see Grace knee the ball over the cross bar. Our shape then went missing and we were being beaten continually for possession and muscled off the ball unhelped by some ordinary refereeing. We conceded another goal which was the result of field position and possession running the home teams way to go to 1/2 time 2 down. The second half started the same way the first ended with us losing the battle for possession and being unable to control our attack. Another soft goal was conceded from a corner - again the result of us not picking up the runner.  With the home teams supporters getting excited and expecting the flood gates to open we did not lose our composure and pulled one back when r Grace found some space down the middle of the field and after turning two defenders inside out slotted a great shot straight over the keepers head. Game on. This woke us up and with the opposition sitting back and watching we began controlling possession and another chance went begging after a foul just outside of the 18yrd box saw us sky the shot over the crossbar. Shortly after we pulled another goal back after Aleisha followed through a shot and chested the ball past the keeper for her first ever goal and silence the home team supporters. The remainder the game saw both sides throw everything into the contest and Emily earn her keep with some great work between the posts only to see Woonona hang on to get the points. Coaches player and players player - Amy - who played an inspirational captains game despite being choked up with the flu. Ness tried hard all game, Yvette adopted to the "man marking " role with ease and Lou put through some good balls in the second half. Special mention to Kath who battled on bravely today with a gastro bug but as usual gave it 100%. Can't wait for the return match in round 18.....

Round 2

Thirroul 8 def Fernhill 1

Goals from Grace (3), Asha (2), Brooke (2) and Ashley saw us home in a game played at times in driving rain. We made good use of the field and in general did all of the little things well which limited the opposition to 1 clear chance and forced the Fernhill keeper to pull off some great saves. Good games from Kath who pushed forward and put through some killer balls with Amy, Asha and Brooke all linking well with our strikers. Well done everyone.

Association Cup - Quarterfinal

Thirroul (1)  8 def Dandaloo (1)  0

Master Builders Competition

Round 1
The IWFA Master Builders Competition kicked off this weekend. The 1st Division team played Shell City 2 at Keith Bond Oval Oak Flats, result and match report below:

Shell City (2)  0  Thirroul (1)  8

Association Cup - Round 2

Thirroul 1 - Kemblawarra 1
Penalties 5 - 4

Thirroul 1 def Kemblawarra 1 5-4 on penalties after 1-1 at fulltime. We did this the hard way today and should have wrapped up this game with a comfortable win well before full-time. The first half saw us totally dominate in possession, clear chances and field position but not being unable to find the back of the net. Kemblawarra scored just before half time against the run of play to go to the break with the lead. The second half saw us under constant attack but most pleasing was our ability to stay composed  with Kemblawarra camped in our half for the first 20 minutes. We evened the score up shortly before fulltime after Amy was brought down inside the box leading the ref to point to the spot. The penalty lottery then began with Amy, Brooke, Ashley, Grace and Lou beating the keeper and Emily pulling of a great save to get us into Round 3. Player of the match - Aleisha who had a great all round game. Special mention to Kath who saved a certain goal with a great second effort clearance and was an inspiration to every Thunderbird in front of her. Well done everyone.

Association Cup - Round 1

Thirroul 11 - Bulli 0

1st Division Team

Our 1st Division squad has been strengthened with some exciting 2008 juniors who will combine with the majority of the 2008 T1 squad.

Coaches Tam McCaffery and Trent Oliver are expecting this squad to develop this season based on a solid foundation of preseason training and practice matches.

The 1st Division Squad is:

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