Today's Results

Tough one today guys, I was really surprised to hear the result, was sure you were going to dominate and put a couple on them in that second half. Thought first half was a good effort in an absolute embarrassment of a ground.

In other Div 6 news Petone lose again, allowing the Accies to go top. All makes those dropped points today even harder to swallow - but we are still in this and can definitely finish in the top two.

Hope you sorted a pony. I want to see a match report.

CAPITAL 6:
Uni Stallions         1    Lower Hutt Sangham    1
Marist Inter          2    Brooklyn Northern     4
North Wgtn Villa      0    North Wellington      1
Wainui Undertakers    0    Uni Accies            3
Petone Chicago        0    Miramar Rangers       1

                       P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts
Uni Accies            12  8  0  4  35  25  24
Petone Chicago        12  7  2  3  33  16  23
Uni Stallions         12  6  3  3  24  17  21
Brooklyn Northern     12  7  0  5  28  26  21
Lower Hutt Sangham    12  6  2  4  27  27  20
North Wellington      12  4  4  4  23  23  16
Miramar Rangers       12  4  3  5  32  37  15
North Wgtn Villa      12  4  2  6  26  23  14
Marist Inter          12  3  0  9  32  47   9
Wainui Undertakers    12  3  0  9  14  33   9

Game cancelled tomorrow - stink.

Less bamboozling Fantasy points vs Accies

Looks something like this:

Paul	2(+60), 1(3+saves) 2bps	5
Spencer	2 (+60)	2
Jason	2 (+60)	2
Graham	2 (+60)	2
Mike	1 (-60)	1
Aaron	2 (+60)	2
Dan	2 (+60)	2
Lloyd	2 (+60), 3 (1 assist), 1bp	6
Paddy	2 (+60), 8 (2 goals), 3 bps	13
Logan	2 (+60), 4 (goal)	6
Robin	2 (+60)	2
Panda	1 (-60)	1

Paddy's huge season reflected in his big lead in the overall standings:

Paddy	73
Paul	53
Dan	53
Tangihaere	47
Aaron	42
Logan	42
Jason	40
Rauru	37
Corey	34
Lloyd	34
Robin	32
Spencer	27
Graham	24
Tristin	23
Nick	17
Joe	13
Jamie	5
Mike	2
Panda	1

Dealing to Nth Well's bambooziling play

So North Wellington next up, the one team whose formation totally flummoxed us the last time we played them, which is strange since they're 4th from bottom. Was the loss due to us as individuals playing poorly, them playing out of their skins, or did we not adjust to the opposition. It could have been any of those reasons but I’m just going to look at their tactics and what we can do in this game to address things if they play the same way.

In the last game there were two things that Nth Wellington did differently to other teams we’ve played. First was their formation which looked a lot like a 4-5-1 (see picture). They played with a lone striker who mostly looked for ball at feet or over the top – even though he was an old guy he had enough pace to get to the ball first and was excellent at holding it up and waiting for support. Their wide midfielders tended to stay very wide and pretty deep, rarely pushing past the striker or looking to get behind the defence. They also had three central midfielders, one attacking, one holding and one “normal” centre-mid. The second thing Nth Well did is they were a passing team and mostly to feet, this was especially obvious with their left and right backs who were often used to switch play and had fairly handy control and distribution.

So what could we do differently if things play the same way? First we need to dominate the lone striker. In the last game we took him too lightly, he was old and small and we thought he wouldn’t be a threat – we were wrong. If we neutralise him they won’t have any platform to attack. Second we need to push our wide defenders forward onto their midfielders and wide midfielders onto their defenders. This way we give them less time to distribute which they did very effectively last time. To balance this we need to drop centrally. A holding centre-mid needs to watch for breaks through the middle and stop the ACM getting the ball. This will probably mean only playing 1 striker so we can go 3v3 in centre-mid.

If we did this we’d probably look something like this (see right). I’ve taken out the other 2 centre-mid in both teams so other player positioning and defensive responsibilities can be more easily seen.

An epic victory

Well played Stallions - a good game plan, all round team performance, a moment of two of brilliance, and one of stallion-worthy skullduggery. The Accie curse broken. The return of Panda. But then the best news - other results have gone our way with the 3 teams above us all losing (how did Petone lose to Wainui?). We are now 3rd, only 2 points off the top, and 1 from the Accies in second.

Since we  had no drinks, thought I'd quickly note the awards, mainly so that the pony can get his match report thoughts gathered.
Stallion: Paddy - for the cheekiest free kick goal ever. That one is going to go down in Stallions-Accies lore.
Pony: Graham - the most ridiculous, loopy, saddest foul throw ever! That charge down the wing almost compensated, almost ...
And as for the person who suggested that Panda should get pony after his missed goal first game back shame on you!

I reckon we should hand over MVP points allocation to Nick G and/or Nick W- screw trying to get everyone's votes, but feel free to make your opinion known here if you think someone particularly deserves something.

Great game, so good not to play in mud. A season definer?

Hmm, who got the assist for Paddy's other goal? It went through a chain of great short passes, but not sure who got the final pass in.  Don't think Logan's goal had an assist attached.

Odd results today

Bottom of the table beats top of the table 1-0, whats up with that? And Marist (9th) beating Lower Hutt (3rd) 5-2

Fire up for the Accies

Match preview:

Accies fear the Stallions. Sure, they have never lost a game to them, but during their hardest moments of weekly training and intense pre-match drills they wonder what it would be like to be 10-15 years older, but still playing at the top level of Cap 6. They wish they could have their Thursday nights free of training, rock up 10 minutes before the game starts and maybe have a penalty shootout as warmup. They look to the Stallions' enthusiatic crowd of under 5's and ask: "Who is cheering for me? Who loves the Accies?" No one loves the Accies, not even all those Accies who have requested a Stallions transfer. 

On Saturday at Te Whaea, the Accies will face their future, and their doom.

 

Should we have added anything else?