Sunday, July 22, a lovely winter's day, the Canowindra Redbacks had to do battle with the Orange Waratahs.
This was going to be a very difficult game for us as the Waratahs are on a winning streak defeating every team in the comp in the last two months.
This being the case the Redbacks were also confident as they had a game plan that would put a great deal of pressure on the Waratahs.
Event though the Redbacks were without main striker Taryn we still thought we were a good show.
This week we were very happy to have the services of Renae Nash coming back after six weeks off with injury. Renae seems to be able to boost our side with her never say die attitude and her endless ability to be able to run all day.
In a setback to our side our newly found goalkeeper for the year Megan Power was unavailable to play.
The goal keeping role has been a big thorn in our side over the last few years and finding a replacement for Megan was a very hard task.
After a couple of drills at training and the coach offering the job to anyone in the team who wanted it, I was pleased to see two of our girls put their hands up to volunteer for the job.
So ten minutes from the kick-off everything was back on track, but for one small detail. Where was Kim?
After a couple of concerned enquiries from team mates, the coached decided to give her a call.
"Ring Ring" "Hello Kim this is Grassy, where are you?"
"I've just crashed my car on my way to the game." "On no" was my first thought and then I tried to get some idea of where she was.
Kim being in shock was a bit vague about where she was but gave me enough information so I knew roughly how to find her.
Right, I said, I will send help. I jumped into the car and proceeded straight there leaving the Redbacks in the hands of assistant coach Barry Burn.
This was to be Barry's first time at running the team in a game and I knew exactly what he would be going through.
Anyway Kim was expecting her knight in shining armour to come rescue her but instead she got an old man on a donkey.
After wiping away a few tears (because there was no knight) we made a couple of calls and it wasn't long before we had her car back on the road and heading back home.
I would like to give a huge thanks to John Burn and Tracy Bates for dropping what they were doing and coming straight out to help us.
We are so lucky to live in a small community where everyone will do what they can to help anyone in distress.
We arrived back in town and made our way back to the game to see how we were going.
As we pulled up we saw that Barry was conveying someone to the hospital.
After another "Oh no, what else can go wrong today?" we found out that Eryn had suffered a wrist injury and was going to hospital for X-Rays.
Luckily for us Doctor Nick was at the game and went straight to the hospital to perform the X-Ray.
Once again this would only happen in a small town and we would like to give Doctor Nick a huge thank you for what he did on Sunday.
Because I was only at the game for the last 5 minutes I had assistant coach Barry write me a report of the game so this is how it went. Almost word for word.
This week had shown from the start that our team is a team. With Renae calling the shots from her centre position the side fed off one another and attacked the Waratahs goal square with some good lead up work.
Once again we were unable to convert pressure into points.
The first goal of the game came from an ex-Canowindra player, Mindy Dixon who hammered a ball into the net from well outside the goal square.
Waratahs 1, Redbacks 0.
The next goal came after an unlucky bounce in front of our keeper to just beat her into the net. Waratahs 2, Redbacks 0.
Another goal just before half time made the half time score Waratahs 3, Redbacks 0.
All the talk was positive at half time and after a goalkeeper change at half time we went back into it.
Our keeper for the first half was Julia Carman who played an excellent game for her first time at it.
Our second half keeper was Kristy White who takes her game very seriously, so seriously in fact that after having a goal scored against us in the second half she went behind the net and tried to hang herself.
Thankfully after a drink of magic water and a consoling talk from coach Barry she was able to continue on with the game.
This is just the sort of spirit that the side plays with. Both my goalkeepers today get a very special thanks from the rest of us for the way they handled themselves today.
I also have to mention the game that our newest recruit Skye Harrison had today with coach Barry playing her all over the park with the confidence of knowing that she is a very versatile player and excelling in all positions today.
Skye is growing in confidence with every game and is becoming a valuable asset to our side.
With the score of Waratahs 5, Redbacks 0, this is where I got back to the game. I could tell regardless of the scoreline that our girls were playing a notch above normal and it was great to see a reward for their play when another much improved player Tara Grant converted some intense pressure from the Redbacks into a goal. Well done Tara and that will probably cost her father a few dollars.
The final score ended up Waratahs 5, Redbacks 1. Me and Bazza were extremely proud of our girls today and if this side can stay together for a couple of seasons it won't be long before we will be back on top again.
Next week we take on competition leaders Bathurst City Colts at Bathurst. They gave us a real thrashing last time we played so we are keen for some revenge.
Players Player this week was Renae Nash.
Best and fairest: This was too hard to separate players so we gave two points each to: Skye Harrison, Renae Nash and Eryn Traves.
Meat raffle went to Matthew Lawrence.
Thanks for reading, P-plate coach
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