Player unavailability continues to plague East Gippsland United Football Club and the upshot of this was evident in the scorelines for their round four Latrobe Valley Soccer League fixture against Moe United last Sunday in Moe.
With only 18 players available to make up two teams, more than half the players took to the pitch for the seniors’ match having already played reserves.
Moe took control of the game from the start with two quick goals, while the Eagles struggled to get the ball past the halfway line.
Eventually finding some rhythm, the Eagles fought hard to get the ball forward but were unable to maximise on the opportunities created.
The Moe defenders held firm to continually force the turnover, while their keeper stopped any balls that slipped through.
At the other end Moe’s attacks were able to consistently find the holes in the Eagles’ defence as it made the most of its scoring opportunities.
With the score 7-0 at half time the Eagles needed to dig deep in the second half or face complete embarassment.
They regrouped and worked on retaining their shape and maintaining possession, as they did their best to create scoring chances only for the shots to be blocked by the miserly Moe keeper.
Light rain made the ground slippery in an increasingly physical match with the Eagles defenders working hard to slow the onslaught of Moe goals but the game finished with a comprehensive 11-0 victory to Moe.
It was a similar story to what played out in the earlier reserves game. With numbers low, some players took on different positions to fill in the gaps.
With some early Moe opportunities saved, the Eagles were doing their best to work the ball forward, only for Moe to force the turnover once they got it there.
Moe finally broke the deadlock after 15 minutes in, causing an easy turnover in the midfield, followed by a fumble by the defenders in front of the net.
That was the first of seven goals for the half as the home side dominated.
There were flashes of brilliance for the Eagles but they couldn’t maintain any consistency.
One of these flashes happened 43 minutes into the contest when Lachlan Feather brought the forward to Sean Mamo who sent the ball over the Moe keeper’s hands and into the back of the net.
The second half started with another goal, this time from Alex Davidson.
But with a penalty awarded to Moe and a potential goal to Bailey Websdale not allowed due to offside, a deflated Eagles did their best to stay in the game and held Moe to another four goals for the half to finish the match 11-2.
