Orbost Hockey Club made the trip down the highway to take on Wellington in round six of the East Gippsland Hockey Association (EGHA) at the magnificent facilities at the Gippsland Regional Sporting Complex last Saturday.
Across a day of high-scoring action, the Green and Gold’s teams emerged with four impressive victories from the day’s six fixtures.
The under 10s team began the day with a come-from-behind win, one in which despite some strong
defensive play from Sadie Lindfield, Frida Songailo and Keira Murray in the
first half, it was Wellington who fought its way to a two-goal lead.
The visitors fought back before the break and were justly rewarded when siblings Neave and Alastair Songailo helped to lock the ball in attack, allowing Izzy Palmer to fire an accurate cross to Joe Millward for the conversion into the goal.
Early in the second term the Green and Gold made their decisive move in the contest when Joe Millward scored a quick brace of goals in almost identical fashion, dispossessing his opponent in a dangerous area and firing the ball home to give his team the lead.
With the hosts now searching for an equaliser, opportunities arose for quick counter attacks, and in a positive sign of how this young Orbost team is developing, twice a quick pass from midfield onto an Orbost stick led to a breakaway, with both Demi Murray and Lara Kenny showing impressive pace and control to score the final two goals of the game, as Orbost ran out 5-2 victors.
The under 12 fixture was also a closely fought affair, one in which Orbost’s youngsters again impressed without quite being able to find that last crucial touch that would divert the ball into the goal cage.
Jaxon Murray played a critical role down back with a number of swept clearances to safety, while Darius Mathews tackled hard at every opportunity and goalie Savannah Lindfield employed her big boots to good effect on several occasions.
Further upfield both Cohen Mathews and Geoffrey Florance were creative with the ball on their sticks, with the latter’s crossing to Asha Farley and Joe Millward in front of goal providing much of the Green and Gold’s attacking impetus.
With Belle Healey working hard around the contest and Isobel Lawless helping to keep the ball locked into forward positions, a pair of second half shots from Asha Farley were denied on the line, highlighting that this unfortunately was not to be Orbost’s day in front of goal, as Wellington took the match 3-0.
The under 14 team have been Orbost’s highest scorers so far this season, and they maintained this offensive production as they powered to another impressive away win, scoring four times in each half.
Six of the goals came from Jasper Anderson’s ability to bully his way past opponents and then blast unstoppable shots into the cage, but this was a real team performance in the front half for the Green and Gold youngsters.
Keira Irvine’s pressure game inside the Wellington “D” kept the ball alive on multiple occasions, while Kitty Millward’s direct running and Geoffrey Florance’s dribbling abilities were also a constant threat for the home defence and deservedly brought both players a goal each.
The Orbost backline also played their part in the win, with Cohen Mathews’ tackling tenacity, a Peter Florance goal-line clearance and goalie Jaxon Murray continuing to grow in confidence between the pipes all highlights, as Orbost were brilliant winners 8-1.
The Green and Gold’s under 16 side also continued their winning ways as they combined well to break down a well-organised defence and ultimately force open a tight contest in the final quarter to emerge with the win.
Keira Irvine’s development as a key attacking threat continued when she scored both the first and last goals of the contest, thanks to perfect positioning near the goal-line to slot home loose balls, while Campbell Edlington’s power running and shooting kept the Wellington goalkeeper under pressure throughout.
Leni Millward’s sterling play in the centre, Chloe Findley’s charges down the wing, combined with Mitch Farley’s running
and rebounding, which included a weaving run and successful shot from a tight angle, all helped Orbost to maintain their attacking waves.
Aster Anderson’s determination to force the ball home after the goalie had made the initial save deservedly bringing her a pair of scores, as her side impressed with a 5-2 victory.
The subsequent under 18 fixture saw Orbost’s youngsters take on an experienced opponent full of attacking firepower, but the visitors were by no means overawed in the first half when they took it right up to Wellington and were only a highly-debated disallowed goal away from going into the halftime break with a 2-2 scoreline.
Sarah Gladstone literally put her body on the line to keep the ball out of the cage, while defenders Leni Millward and Mia and Ava Martin were regularly in action with their tackles and clearances.
Joe Mathews and Jasper Anderson provided plenty of attacking impetus, and the visitors’ efforts were rewarded when Viola Spevackova was on hand to score her career-first goal after an initial shot from a corner was saved.
After Aster Anderson had a shot cleared off the line and a double blast from Campbell Edlington was well-saved, Mathews thought he had equalised for his side, only for his corner strike to be overruled on a technicality by the narrowest of margins.
However promising the contest was for Orbost before the main interval, unfortunately Wellington hit its attacking stride after it, as the visitors lost their shape, resulting in a flurry of late goals that completely rewrote the early script, Wellington running out easy 14-1 winners.
The final match of the day saw Orbost’s women’s team grind out a deserved victory in a contest where their goal-scoring opportunities came thick and fast.
The forward efforts of Jaime Haas saw an early penalty stroke awarded for the visitors, only for Misty Anderson’s flick to be well-saved, a passage of play which saw in quick succession Misty Anderson hit the post, Marni Riordan the side of the cage and Connie Greenwood denied by the goalie’s boots.
A Green and Gold goal seemed inevitable, and on the stroke of halftime, Greenwood made sure of it thanks to a great piece of positioning on the far post to register her career-first score.
Thanks to the strong rebound work of Sophie Luchetta, plenty of hard-running from Alena Walmsley and the forward drive of Zoe Martin, the Orbost opportunities kept coming after the break, with Misty Anderson doubling their lead with a sweet strike from a corner before her daughter Aster secured the win and the competition points by being the quickest to react to a loose ball in front of goal after another corner shot had been saved.
Orbost delighted to bank the points with a convincing 3-0 win.
With the EGHA taking a break next week
for the King’s Birthday long weekend, Orbost will be back in action on Saturday, June 14 when it welcomes Sale to the Orbost Recreation Reserve.
