Today’s match between West Pymble and Lindfield was more of a master class from Lindfield as they romped away from West Pymble scoring six goals to one.
Charles Bean Oval at UTS in Lindfield was looking great in the late autumn sun. Both sides hit the pitch looking for a win. West Pymble had thrashed Lane Cove last week 5:1 which had moved them one slot up the table and Lindfield were second from top and full of confidence.
Lindfield always strike me as a disciplined outfit. They talk well, they are coordinated in their moves and they don’t get easily rattled by the opposition. West Pymble has more raw talent, particularly up front, but was taking a lot of time to settle today.
West Pymble’s defenders were not communicating clearly and it cost them dearly after three minutes with a goal slotted in to the back of the net by Lindfield. This opened the flood gates and Lindfield pushed four more goals in to the net in the first half. The second goal nine minutes later saw the West Pymble Goalie have to come well out of his area to defend a loose ball which was quickly moved around him by the Lindfield striker and tapped home. The third goal to Lindfield brought real frustration to West Pymble who was clearly rattled.
However, West Pymble was getting chances up front, pressing the Lindfield goal, but simply couldn’t convert their chances in to goals.
Half time had Lindfield ahead 4:0.
I’d like to have been a fly on the wall in the West Pymble dressing sheds because something that the manager said clearly did the trick. In the second half, West Pymble were a much more settled and disciplined team. However, there was one serious error after two minutes with a defender attempting to clear the ball by passing across the West Pymble goalmouth, which was intercepted by Lindfield and converted in to goal number five. In the first half, that goal would have resulted in audible bickering from the backline, but now players were jogging back to position and looking a lot more focussed.
Lindfield were dominating the match and constantly bringing the ball down the left side of the field. Another move like this saw a good cross in to the goalmouth and yet another goal. That brought the tally to six for the afternoon with no reply from West Pymble so far and they were running out of time.
Eventually, the renewed focus from West Pymble paid off; they started to move the ball around from player to player and have some extended periods of possession. Late in the second half, when a Lindfield defender was hurt during another push forward from West Pymble, there was a moment of confusion, the linesman’s flag was up for offside but the referee allowed play to continue and West Pymble got on to the score sheet. Taking the score to 6:1.
A great afternoon of soccer for Lindfield who retain their second spot on the table and probably an afternoon that West Pymble will be glad to put behind them.
