Round 2 Howick Hornets V Mt Roskill Saints Match Report

The round 2 match up had both teams searching for their first win. Unfortunately, mother nature threw a tantrum and it ended up being The Hornets V The Saints V The Weather, and turned out to be a very wet & windy game.

Playing into the wind the first quarter the Hornets struggled to get the ball out of the danger zone, which meant Mt Roskill kept the pressure on the Hornets backline. Mt Roskill amounted 5 goals with the wind to Howick's 0, which put us on the back foot early.

In the second quarter playing with the wind, the Hornets played much of the game around our forward 50m. The Hornets struggled to find open men in goal kicking range for clean marks and most of the time the ball was sent into our 50m for a contest. Mt Roskill were good with ball in hand and managed to work their way up the field against the wind to nudge through a few more goals.

Clearly the wind was tough competition for the Hornets and coach Andrew Azzopardi inspired the Hornets with a half time talk, urging the team to come back firing in the last two quarters. Azza gave the team two goals; 1 - Third quarter, limit Mt Roskill to two or less goals with the wind, 2 - Fourth quarter, kick two goals.

They managed to complete their first goal in the third quarter. The Hornets applied mountains of pressure on all contests in the air or on the ground and managed to keep Mt Roskill to only 2 goals in the third quarter. The defensive effort from some of the players was second to none. The fourth quarter had the team on track to completing their second goal with dominate play with the wind. A big 45m goal from Kevin Crowe right through the middle sparked the team to finish strong. With two unfortunate behinds (blame the wind) the team nearly achieved their second goal.

The Hornets continue to play with a lot of heart and work hard for their team mates right until the last whistle. Each week they are improving as a team & club which is what they have set out to do in their inaugural year.

Up the Hornets!

Final Score: Howick Hornets 1.4 (10) to Mt Roskill 13.9 (87)

Goals: Kevin Crowe (1)

Special mentions 
Alan Rathburn - Our powerful ruckman who was dominating his opposites on every ball up.

Keeley Pitipoki - On debut and managed to be very elusive with the ball in hand. He managed to evade a minimum of 3 tackles per touch of the football.

Ben Biggelaar - A big diesel engine that kept on ticking. Played nearly the entire game as a ball follower and was always physical around the ball.

Kevin Crowe - Continues his form from last week. A player to watch out for, incredibly strong who can break tackles and also has a very handy boot on him.

Tim Elsey - Led the backline in trying conditions. The wind meant he was very busy for most of the game and he stood up against a skilled offense.
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