Due to the large influx of new people into the team this year, I was unable to garner a team list for the game but will work upon it for future reports. I’ll also hopefully be in the team rather than on the bench which will give a better match report!

By the time that i arrived with my horde, the team was already 2 goals down. There were some signs of a recovery when we started to dominate play for awhile but a third goal against us sealed our fate. The one thing that was apparent from the sidelines was that there are plenty of areas for us to improve upon.

Team List: Kevin Dix, Matty, Mickey, Robbie Gunn, Peter the goalie, Ian Jeffries, Rob Jeffries, Paul Harwood, Chris, Huggy Bear; Vaughn Cooper (bench) , The other Mickey (bench) and a couple of names that seem to have eluded my memory.

Under the rays of the glorious Aussie sun, In Jeffries attended the toss to start the year. I’d like to say that we started the year with a win at the toss, but to be honest, I wasn't looking at the time that hit happened.

First attempted blood was chanced by Dixie, but the shot went wide, not really troubling anyone. The reply a short time later saw a contested header put over the bar, giving us a goal kick to settle down.

Despite plundering thorough one of the opposition defenders, Dixie failed to find anyone with the resulting free kick, seeing the other lot break down the line and after a bit of scrambling work wide by Mickey, another goal kick resulted.

Dixie, feeling frisky early managed to get a brief early word from the ref but avoided being shown the colour of his pocket.

After recovering the ball in defence it was played up to Dixie who in turn sent in deep into the attacking corner ahead of Mickey who's cross was headed out for a corner by the defence . A touch more luck may have seen the corner converted, but it passed harmlessly through the box.

After wokrking the ball through the midfield, a nicely deceptive turn at the edge of the box saw a shot unleahed, only to pass wide of the right hand post.

The return play saw Pete block a shot but fail to collect and robbie J cleared it out wide.

After some torrid defending against a couple of corners, the game settled into a bit of a scrappy battle with neither side truly dominating.

Dixie was given some time from 30 yards and obviously had his eyes set on another blistering shot, but it wasn't to be when the shot was misqueued.'

We went a goal down a short time later we wnet a goal down later when they broke down the right hand side after a free kick was only cleared as far as their defence. Pete moved out to block the marauder entering the box, but poor marking saw the ball cut back to the waiting feet of the forwards for a neat slice into the net.

A second goal was averted from a corner a short time later when Pete pulled out a scintillating reflex save on the line.

A defensive error from the opposition saw Higgy working hard to make something of an opportunity, but due to not being truly in the clear, was unable to get a good shot off, resulting in a corner.

That disaster was, however, inflicted a short time later off another corner whilst I wasn't looking and suddenly we were down 2-0 and looking for a means to get the ball meaningfully into the box at the other end of the game.

Lucky again, a short time later, we appeared to be somewhat lackadaisical in covering the runs though the midfield and marking our players off of the ball.

At ½ time the score remained at 0-2 with a lot of work to do to turn the game around. Vaughn came on in the second half for Chris.

After the break we seemed a little more composed, a change of shape seeming to aid in our containing their offensive players and our ability to retain the ball and work it around the park.

Another break down the line by the other lot resulted in a great save by Pete to keep us in touch. A short time later it appeared that Gunny was booked though I can’t claim to have been aware of what it was for.

(Excessive?) Hard, physical soccer by the opposition seemed to unsettle us somewhat and we lost some of that shape and composure that we had managed to regain after the break. An appalling dive by some nutter from the other mob resulted in a send off (I assume it was his second warning of the game) giving us the numerical advantage on the park.

Some shaky defending on our part had the crowd getting twitchy again and worried that we were about to concede another. Dixie was subbed for 'the other Mlckey' (whose name I should find out!) to bring on some fresh legs up front.

Ian made his way towards goal only to be brought down outside the box (a seemingly common tactic when people realize that they can’t keep up with him) and Higgy's shot just from the free was just over the top corner of goal.

A great shot from from Matt late in the day was tipped over the bar and that was to be as close as we came for the day.

A disappointing result for our first game of the season, leaving plenty of room for us to improve.