Royals Match Report 2006-07

Onny too strong for resolute Royals
Royals 0-1 Onny Eagles (League, 01-04-07)

The match against Onny Eagles was likely to be the key match which would decide who would become league winners. Onny Eagles were in number one position in the table, but the Royals had a game in hand. If the Royals were to beat Onny Eagles they would have an excellent chance to come out on top in spite of the Royals players being a year younger than their opponents. That would have been some result!

But it was not to be. The absence of key players and the strong wind conspired to make the task too difficult. Yet the Royals nearly secured a point. The first half, with the Royals playing with the wind in their backs, ended at 0-0. No goal was scored by either side although Onny had more of the game, at times pinning the Royals into their own half for lengthy periods. But the Royals defence did some sterling work, frustrating the efforts of the Onny players. The Royals did launch various counterattacks but also failed to find the mark. The penetrating power of Bourne was badly missed. 

In the second half Onny played with the wind, which had gained in force, in their backs and the Royals found it very difficult to break out of their own half. Though beleaguering the Royals goal the Onny Eagles failed again and again to score. Either desperate defending or brilliant goal keeping by Keugler or badly directed shots by Onny's strikers kept the score at 0-0. It indeed began to look as if, against all the odds, the Royals would get a point from the encounter. Try as they might Onny could not score. 

With just 6 minutes remaining a scramble in front of the Royals goal ended with the ball running loose. An Onny striker pounced on it and stabbed it into the back of the net. After all the hard work put in by the Royals defenders and some brilliant saves by Keugler it was a heartbreaking outcome. Yet with all the chances Onny had, it was not surprising that one eventually did go in. Playing against a team a year older, restricting Onny to a mere single goal was a great achievement. 

During the second half the Royals only succeeded a few times in breaking out of their half and threatening the Onny goal. The wind was blowing so strongly that any kick towards the Onny goal failed to go far. The return kick, in contrast, carried it deep into Royals territory. Nonetheless during one of the breakouts Carless-Turland dribbled the ball to close to the Onny goal and Lewis just failed to latch on to his pass.

Shortly afterward Royals best chance, Carless-Turland was sent off for swearing at the referee, an incident that marred an otherwise outstanding display by the Royals.

Team: Keugler, Riley, Green, Brayne, Smith, Hearle, Lewis, Miles, Robinson, Carless-Turland, Groom. Subs Not Used: Weynberg, Holtz