Pararoos rusty but on track
The Pararoos cleaned out the cobwebs with a draw against local Dutch side ‘Asser Boys’ this evening.
The Pararoos cleaned out the cobwebs with a draw against local Dutch side ‘Asser Boys- this evening. The Dutch side shocked the Pararoos early on with a first minute goal after some good work up the right side.
Australian Goal Keeper Sam Larkings who has recently recovered from a knee injury felt the pressure early after a collision with one of the opposition strikers only for the ball to roll sneakily into the net to put ‘Asser Boys- 2-0 up after 12 minutes.
It seemed to take a while for the Pararoos to switch on and find their rhythm and at times failed to organise defensively until captain David Barber rallied his troops. Beau Menzies was solid in the backline and stopped a number of attacks.
After some crisp passing and a great run down the left side by Barber, Australia managed to reduce the deficit to one goal.
Thomas Goodman was also unlucky in the 14th minute crashing a well struck shot off the crossbar.
Youngster Jack Williams was brought on late in the second half and looked shaky, but gained in confidence the longer he stayed on the pitch. At times he was beaten by the bounce of the ball after some good penetrating long balls from the opposition keeper, but seemed to learn quickly from his mistake.
The Pararoos equalised after another good run by Barber and some clinical finishing by Ben Atkins from a cutback pass in front of net.
After a mix up at the back ‘Asser Boys- went ahead once again after a poor clearance from the Aussie Backs. A few minutes later Ben Roche found the opposition weakness down the left side and slotted past the keeper to tie the match.
Australia was unlucky late in the second half with Ben Roche and Thomas Goodman both hitting the crossbar on separate occasions. Australia are the only nation to play a warm-up match prior to the start of the competition.
CPISRA Media were on hand to interview Paul Brown after the game. When asked his thoughts he replied “Everything is going according to plan I expect my players to be a little bit rusty at present, that-s why we needed to play the match.”
“We definitely have to reduce our errors, improve our communication and settle in front of net. The positive thing is that we created a number of chances and the speed of play and combinations were good.”
"I didn-t want to give the other national team coaches any more information about the way we play so it was a different Pararoo side out there today.”
“There were some definite positives that came out of the match. I confirmed some starting players for the match against Spain and it was a good match to try some of the things that we have been working on at training, which are working well.”
Final score: Australia 4 drew ‘Asser Boys- 4