Presidents Report
It was a great to be back at home for the first time since 2019. Special thanks to Phil, Olivia, Dwayne and Kelvin (and others) for getting the Spurs Canteen, grounds and kits up and running for the season, these things just don’t happen by coincidence, thanks for the hard work.
On Sunday most teams played Wodonga Heart and some great matches were on display.
Considering we had a lot of club referees and the weather wasn’t great, each game was played in the good spirit and with great sportsmanship.
This week we host our arch rivals in Albury United and we will have some big crowds, lets show our support for Hotspurs in all grades.
Its great to see our Major sponsor Bradys Hotel back on board in 2021. We will have a running booking for the beer garden pavilion for all the Sundays we are in town.
Please get back and have a meal and meet up with fellow members on a Sunday afternoon/evening, the camaraderie, friendships and banter is what drives the ideas of our great community club.
FA Cup Div 1 Ladies vs Boomers Wednesday 6pm March 31
This year AWFA have introduced an FA Cup style knockout competition with games played under lights during the week.
Our Ladies have drawn Boomers first round, so head along to Melrose Park on Wednesday evening and give them all the support we can!
#GoSpurs
Brad Howard
President
Albury Hotspurs
Senior Coaching Certificate Course & Game Day Certificate Course
Prompt registration is suggested to ensure you get a place, additional courses will be looked at if needed.
Course Details:
Dates & Times: Friday 16th April 6.30pm – 9pm, Saturday 17th April 8.30am – 3.30pm, and Friday 23rd April 2021 6.30pm – 9pm.
Location: Glen Park Albury
Registrations via:
Senior Coaching Certificate Course: http://education-ffa.sportingpulse.com/Entry/?EID=23293
Game Day Certificate Course: http://education-ffa.sportingpulse.com/Entry/?EID=23544
Questions: email: secretary@awfa.asn.au
Fixtures Results Ladders
With the introduction of SportsTG/GameDay all Fixtures, Results and Ladders are now availbe to view under menu…
SEASON 2021>Fixtures Results Ladders>Hotspurs Only or All AWFA
Right click to open in new tab/window
MINIROOS TRAINING CANCELLED
Today, March 23.
New Club Short
Thanks to sponsors, Beyond Bank Australia and Bonetti’s Pizza & pasta the club shorts and new strips looked fantastic on Sunday.
Most “registered” Sunday players 12 years and up now have their club shorts to bring and wear every game day.
Miniroos Club Short rollout
Registered Miniroos Parents/players can now start collecting their club shorts from the canteen 6:00 PM to 6:20 PM from Tuesday 16 March 2021.
Club Shop
Place your Made to Order club gear ASAP. Cut off date Wednesday 24 March for late April delivery. CLOSED, Next cut-off order date for made to order products TBA. Go to the shop!
Match Reports
Div.1 Men had a bye
Next scheduled fixture
3:00 PM Sunday March 28
Aloysius Park.
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Women Div.1 had a bye
Next scheduled fixture is the AWFA Women’s FA Cup 2021
6:00 PM Wednesday March 31 v Boomers
at Melrose Park.
The ladies then line up again against Boomers in AWFA R3 11:20 AM Sunday March 28 at Glen Park.
Div.2 Men v Heart Won 4-0
We always know that a team like this is going to battle hard in defence and be tough to break down to open up scoring, this was the case but we also seemed to be defending their line as well at some stages! We have continued on from last week’s attacking play but we just need to work on our finishing a little more, although we must acknowledge the great job that their keeper did. We also welcomed Will Karantanis in for his first game for Hotspurs and he certainly played well! This week will have us play much tougher opposition and we are looking forward to it! We are currently sitting in 2nd position on the ladder.
Women Div.2 v Heart Lost 1-5
The scoreline didn’t reflect the closeness of this game with scores locked at 1 all at half time. Spurs created some good chances but didn’t put them away, while Heart were ruthless in front of goal putting away all their chances. Really nice games by Steph up front and Gabbie in the middle. Ciara and Nat were solid in defence as usual. Jess landed Spurs’ goal and really led the team around the park. Good work Ladies.
Over 35s v Heart Won 4-0
Spurs fans returned to Aloysius for the first time in 18 months and – albeit only 500 of them – were able to show their appreciation for a team that had been not been crowned champions during that period.
They chanted “bring on the champions” minutes before kick-off and raised their scarves for a quieter-than-usual chorus of ‘Walk on Water’.
The beaming smile on Aiden Kilroy’s (assistant manager) face as he watched supporters take their seats during the warm-up was still in place hours later after his side produced an authoritative performance that kept them in touch with the more fancied sides.
Left-back Doug Alexander-Arnold was a menace throughout for Heart defenders and he looked the most likely to engineer an opening in the first few minutes.
Sure enough, it was his fizzed cross that The Master Tuska headed just over as the dominant home side pressed for a breakthrough.
However it was Kinning’s searching ball that Coatsy chested to himself to take one touch before firing past the visiting keeper.
The goal was celebrated with predictable elation by those able to snare a ticket for the game and they were entertained regularly during the first half, with Corketts nutmeg on himself and Wilds ‘Cruyff turn’ two of the highlights. Kinning then completed a solo run which was aided by a brilliant dummy run by Wild, which Kinning calmly slotted.
Spurs were even more dominant after the break and secured victory when Whitedog’s wonderful strike provided a 3-goal cushion but the biggest roar came when perhaps the greatest striker of our generation timed his run to perfection to find himself with no one to beat except himself, and himself won, thus failing to ripple the net in front of the fans.
Brad Robertson finished off the game with the fourth after collecting a rebound off a cross bar rattler from Kinning.
Those supporters who were denied a victory parade when Spurs should have lifted the long-awaited League trophy in the much anticipated 2020 season were treated to a performance worthy of champions against a Heart side who have proved an awkward opponent in recent encounters.
They thanked Irvine’s men for a fine performance with another rendition of ‘Walk on Water’ in the final seconds of stoppage time before cheering the manager’s familiar fist pumps at full time.
Well that’s how I remember it anyway.
writen by, Justin Wild
Div.3 Men v had a bye
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17 Boys had a BYE
A great first run for the team coming away with a 16-0 victory. It was really pleasing to see the team play such a quality passing and running game so early in the season. Tomo chipped in with a cool 5 goals, Patrick bagged 4, Brodie got a brace, while Dawson, Jack, Solomon, Frank and Jay all picked up 1 each. Throughout the game the team was moved to a variety of positions and everyone did a top job in each role. A real positive start to the season and exciting times ahead.
17 Girls v Heart Won 20-0
On a wet Sunday afternoon the crowd of Hotspurs fans waited for the feature event of the day, the U17 Girls against Wodonga Heart. The game was a crowd pleasing goal scoring bonanza.
This was the first game of the season for the team and it started with a hat-trick for goals for Ava Tuksar in the first 10 minutes (the first of three hat-tricks for the day). Ava Tuksar, Daisy Tuksar and Lily Godfrey were an impenetrable force in the middle of the park resulting in very few opposition incursions into our defensive half. Elise Knobel, Hayley Coulter and Elisha Wild made great runs wide, while Eloise Allwood and Alice McIntosh made a number of excellent overlapping runs penetrating deep into the oppositions half.
The first half of the game became a nightmare of the opposition goalkeeper who was called upon too often to make excellent saves but the shots were relenting. In comparison, Georgia Huckel spent the first 25 minutes without touching the ball as not a single shot was made on goal for the entire game. The biggest cheer of the game was saved for Elisha Wild who after replicating her father’s efforts in front of goal during the Over 35s match, showed great composure in front of goals scoring a brace for the game. As the avalanche of goals continued, our captain (Daisy Tuksar) made a number of on field changes with Lily and Ava moving into the backline and Keely Halloway and Alex Ventress called upon to control the middle. The changes did little to stem the flow and by half time the score was 12-0.
The second half started as the first had finished and it was a credit to all of the Hotspurs players as they maintained effort to keep their structure and be great at the basics. This game was a very one-sided affair which the girls knew was not going to be the case in future contests. With 15 minutes to go our very capable bench of U14 Girls players were called upon and Alex switched with Georgia who was keen for an opportunity to become more involved in the game. Lyla McNamara, Taylor Furze, Seanna Nichols and Shanaya Quinn were valuable additions to the side showing the depth of talent the Hotspurs has in their junior girls teams. The final score was 20-0.
8 players scored;
Ava Tuksar – 7
Daisy Tuksar – 3
Alex Ventress – 3
Lily Godfrey – 2
Elisha Wild – 2
Elise Knobel – 1
Keely Halloway – 1
Seanna Nichols – 1
15 Boys v Heart Lost 3-7
We started the game well with Patrick Mason showing great speed to put us 2 -0 up early. Wodonga Heart are a very fast and well drilled team and Sam, Keely, John and Alex V all did well to stop their attacking flow. It was all too much in the end, even though we had the 3-2 lead with 10 minutes to go, Hearts class prevailed and we ran out of legs with Will and Cooper already playing full games just prior. If we work harder and maintain match intensity during our training sessions I have no doubt we can improve out of site from that performance. A big thanks to Daisy who dropped back to lend a hand.
Well done to Patrick Mason who grabbed a hattrick after bagging 4 goals in the U17s in the morning.
14 Girls had friendly v Diamonds
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13 Boys v Heart Lost 1-3
As our manager Nathan said to the team before kick-off, it’s a winter sport enjoy it! We all knew that this was going to be a tough game and tough it was, but the team showed guts and determination for the entire match. We need to mention what a good job both of our keepers did in trying conditions, with big contributions from our defenders and central midfielders in trying to cut down their attacks. Once again we also have to thank our younger brigade for helping us out with numbers and also the parents for sitting in the rain. Please keep an eye on Hotspurs facebook page and your emails to see if training is still on and also an update on this week’s game (currently in the process of being postponed). Our current position on the ladder is 7th.
12 Boys v Heart Lost 0-6
In the first home game of the year we faced a very good Wodonga Heart team, after conceding an early goal we just couldn’t get ourselves going, eventually going down 6 nil. Dom, Ben and Harry defended valiantly and the midfield worked tirelessly for the whole game, it was pleasing to see that no one gave up, good luck to our rep players next week and also to Taj on a speedy recovery on his wrist injury.
12 Girls had a bye
Next scheduled match v Mrytleford to be postponed, date TBA.
R4 another bye
R5 1:15 PM, April 18 v Myrtleford, Savoy Park Myrtleford.
Match reports and newsletter information
Please email all match reports, photos and Hotspurs news to info@alburyhotspurs.com.au by Tuesday morning at 9am.