Both Oakleigh Cannons U11s sides faced off for the 2nd time in the 2019 Sunday East Kangaroos Green League at Jack Edwards Reserve today.
Oakleigh (Costa), playing in the white away strip, pounced on a nervy goal kick restart and could've taken the early lead in the first opening 2 minutes of the game but their shot went just wide of the left post.
About six minutes later, Nicholas broke through the midfield and put a nice pass through to Striker Ethan who got past the defence to take his first opportunity with a nicely placed goal in the left corner giving his team a 1-0 lead.
Then just two minutes later, Ethan doubled his tally and took his side out to a 2-0 lead when he pounced on a deflected save after Lucas fired a shot at the Oakleigh (Costa) keeper. Striker Ethan, celebrating his 11th birthday, finished off a quick fire hat trick in style, collecting a pass from Winger Georgia and getting around the last defender to make it 3-0 after only 12 minutes.
The away side pulled a goal back only 2 minutes later after a lovely long range strike to make it 3-1 with still 16 minutes left to play in the first half.
Zaf's Cannons won a corner in the 19th minute and Winger Georgia took the set piece which sailed untouched into the goal and the score read 4-1.
Nearly 3 minutes later, the "home side" had an attacking throw which found midfielder Nicholas who hammered the ball into the back of the net to take Zaf's Cannons lead out to a 4 goal lead. Oakleigh (Costa) had a few late chances on goal but a couple of good saves from Keeper Athan kept the "away side" at bay and at half time, Zaf's Cannons lead 5-1.
In the 2nd half, it was a much tighter affair with both teams trading blow for blow with various shots going wide of the mark. Deep into the 2nd half, Zaf's Cannons had to sustain some attacking pressure from Oakleigh (Costa). In what was one of the plays of the day, Defender Charlie headed a shot off the line when the ball look headed for Oakleigh (Costa)'s 2nd goal of the match. Then only 3 minutes later, Zaf's Cannons made a break down the left wing through Midfielder Nicholas who whipped the ball across into he box which Winger Mikey calmly slotted into the left corner to make it 6-1 with only 4 minutes left to go.
Zaf's Cannons weren't quite done there either. Moments later, Mikey forced a corner down the right and from that set piece, Mikey quickly passed the ball to Defender Luke who curled the ball beautifully into the top left hand corner from the edge of the box and with only minutes left to play the score read 7-1 to the "home side".
Then right on the stroke of full time, Oakleigh (Costa) scored a consolation goal after a error at the back and Zaf Cannon's won their 7th League match of the season 7-2 in what was a very entertaining football match. Next weekend, South Melbourne FC will make their way to Jack Edwards Reserve for their 2nd show down with Zaf's Cannons in season 2019.
CATCH THE MATCH HIGHLIGHTS BELOW!
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