Northside Monash looked ready for this game; practicing up until the very last moment. Dalleys had a much more relaxed, almost party-like atmosphere. However there are calls of “no excuses today” from the Dalleys fans that had travelled to watch the match.
Dalleys had been doing it tough this season, drawing last week with North Sydney United but losing the prior seven matches. A win today was important.
Maccabi Northside had a similar record, drawing last week and losing the prior five matches an as some of losses had been large, they were trailing Dalleys on the league table.
The first half was a scoreless draw, with both sides working hard for every opportunity.
Maccabi Northside were playing with a lot of little touches on the ball, lots of control and good setup. But they couldn’t break through Dalleys defence.
Dalleys had the upper hand in the half, with lots of action around the Monash 18 yard box. But many of their passes were overstretched and inaccurate. This led to a rising level of frustration from players and coaches as several good opportunities went begging.
The first real attempt on goal happened 10 minutes in to the second half when a clearance from the Maccabi Northside goal area was rocketed back in by Dalleys, swerving right of the posts.
That opportunity was converter in to a goal a few minutes later when Dalley’s set up a man on the edge of the box, fed him a good ball which was pushed home to the delight of the Dalleys faithful.
That goal fired-up Dalleys, the 2014 champions appeared at last; good communication, good passing plays, moving towards the pass and a real desire to win.
Don’t get me wrong, Dalleys weren’t the only team in town; Maccabi Northside kept a level head and had some tremendous passages of play, but they could not break Dalleys defence.
And that’s the way the score remained. 1:0 to Dalleys, much to the pleasure and relief of the Dalleys fans.
