R2 Match Reports and Club News 2023

No Training today for all Miniroos, 16 Boys, Div.3 Men, 17 Girls, Div.1 & 2 Ladies.

Club Shorts (New Stock) and Socks Sale

Now moved to 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Thursday 23 March
Hotspurs Canteen Aloysius Park
Shorts $25
Socks $15

Presidents Report

Well the first 2 home rounds have come and gone. With unseasonably hot weather it just hasn’t felt like the start of a season just yet.

Nonetheless, our committee and coaches have yet again done a tremendous job to get the club up and running. The players have shown extraordinary resilience having to train and play in the searing heat, but we have yet again had great results across the board.

Hotspurs have yet again fielded teams in all age groups, including an extra 12 boys team this year being coached by 2 senior men who stepped up when needed in Harry Heath and Kristian Shipard. Our 16 boys are the only team that remains needing a sponsor for this season. They are a ripper team, please see our Sponsorship Prospectus for details to give these fine lads the support they need.

This year marks our 50^th anniversary as the first club in AWFA. We have massive celebrations planned for the weekend of the 29^th and 30^th of July. We will host our co-founders Melrose in the Foundation Cup on Sat the 29^th , followed by a gala dinner celebration at the Commercial Club Albury. Junior Games will be played on the Sunday.

Keep an eye out for details.

This week the club are away at various grounds, our Div 1 Men will be playing St Pats.

I look forward to seeing you all in round 4 when we host Myrtleford.

#GoSpurs

Brad Howard
President
Albury Hotspurs

Fixtures

Round 3

Diamonds	Hotspurs	Under 17 Girls	25/03/2023 11:05	LaTrobe G1
Diamonds White	Hotspurs Black	Under 12 Boys	Postponed to 28/03/2023 18:15	LaTrobe G2
Diamonds	Hotspurs	Under 14 Girls	Postponed to 4/04/2023 18:00	LaTrobe G2
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Division 2 Women	Postponed TBA	Alexandra Park G1
St Pats FC	Hotspurs Yellow	Under 12 Boys	Postponed to 30/03/2023 17:00	Alexandra Park G2
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Division 3 Men	26/03/2023 10:00	Alexandra Park G3
Wangaratta	Hotspurs	Under 12 Girls	Postponed to 4/04/2023 18:30	South Wangaratta 2
Cobram	Hotspurs	Division 1 Women	26/03/2023 11:20	Cobram 1
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Over 35’s	26/03/2023 11:25	Alexandra Park G3
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Division 2 Men	26/03/2023 13:10	Alexandra Park G1
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Under 14 Boys	26/03/2023 13:10	Alexandra Park G2
St Pats FC	Hotspurs	Division 1 Men	26/03/2023 15:00	Alexandra Park G1

BYES, 13 Boys and 16 Boys.

*Note, all fixtures are subject to change and you should confirm with your coach and GameDay

Miniroos

Training to continue, Tuesdays 5-6pm
Helpers required for set up from 4:30pm thank you.

Please register ASAP so we can sort out teams for Saturday games, R1 29 April 2023.

Registration is a requirement for attending training, we understand a few come to see if miniroos is a good fit for your child but encourage all to register ASAP thank you.
No child unregistered will be able to play come Saturday game days.

Season 2023 Information

Club Shorts $25 and Socks $15 can be purchased from the canteen 9am-4pm Sundays at Home games March 19, April 2, 16, 23, 30. And 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Thursday 23 March

All Abilities

Next session, Sunday 2 April 11-12pm Lambert park

Match Reports

Div.1 Men

FFA Cup Spurs v Myrtleford, 1-1 full time 4-5 penalties
On Wednesday night we travelled to Melrose park to host Myrtleford in our FFA Cup tie. This was the first game for our new team mate, Jack McGiffen, to have a run with our club. We started the game really well and created many opportunities but couldn’t find the back of the net early. Slowly the game turned into an arm wrestle and Myrtleford scored around the 80th minute. We continued to push and were awarded a penalty in the 89th minute in which Jack slotted and we went to penalties. Unfortunately it wasn’t our night and we missed one and they scored all five. Thanks to Jack for fronting up after travelling halfway around the world and having a day and a half to get ready for the Australian heat! If you see Jack around see hello and stop for a chat and make him feel welcome.

Spurs 1 – United 2
Thanks to everyone who braved the heat to come and support us on Sunday. We unfortunately found ourselves behind 2-0 in the first half. After the half time break we can out a more rejuvenated side and we created more chances, Harry Heath had an excellent shot saved by the keeper and we started to hold on to the ball a little more. Jack McGiffen then earned a fortuitous penalty which he converted and we were back to a goal down. Unfortunately for us we couldn’t find the equaliser but the game opened up a bit with both sides having opportunities. Well done to all of the players who fought hard in oppressive conditions and it is good to see that we were able to work for each other for so long. Thanks to the guys who sat on the bench after the DIV 2 game as well.

Div.1 Women

Defeated United 7-2
The coach was a little bit emotional prior to the start of the game, but could not be prouder of the efforts from the team on the day.
In ridiculous heat, we have over come years of defeats at the hands of United to have an overwhelmingly dominant performance that sets us up for the season.
Its hard to pinpoint what area of the pitch won us the game, as we won every facet of the game. Under duress, under heat exhaustion, the 7 goals were shared amongst 6 players, and a defender in Alex Ventress was probably the best on ground. This is a great launch for the rest of the season.
There is no better match report than Steve Tervets in the BM

Div.2 Men

Div.2 Women

Vs United well it was one hot day for soccer ,our lady’s started a bit slow on Sunday but once found their groove they started playing some good soccer, first gamers Chelsea and Zoe played well. Nat Bella Ingrid and seanna also played awesome. We ended up losing 1-0 but to the girls credit they didn’t give up all game, well done lady’s. Also a big thanks to u17g for filling in cheers.

Div.3 Men

Over 35s Men

There’s no doubt the heat was an issue on Sunday but both teams had to deal with it. United controlled the match in the early parts of the game and went ahead at 3 minutes. When we did get the ball our passing and thinking let us down and we were soon defending getting caught too high. United got their second after 27 minutes, nothing goalkeeper Butsy could do as the ball was driven into an unmarked player only metres from goal.
To our credit we were much better in the second half showing much more commitment with and without the ball. Eventually we created two to three very promising scoring opportunities but couldn’t take one.
It was a good hitout in trying conditions and as we have many new faces in the squad we’ll start to find our best combinations and formation as we play a few more matches.

Thankyou Garry for being our club ref, and keeping the game very much in your control.

17 Girls

Under 17 girls won 5 nil v United
Well what an absolute cracking game from the girls. As a whole team the girls pass the ball so well to combine and create exciting goal scoring opportunities.
Our defence line were super strong with not much getting through- they were lead by Captain Alex and supported by El, Sienna, Bianca and Taria.
Our midfield moved the ball forward and put some great crosses in with Daisy communicating to the girls well and Eve, Rylee and MJ all doing a fantastic job. Our forwards
were awesome putting plenty of shots on target and finishing some very nice through balls. Charlotte finished with a hat trick of goals, Ro was super up front and combining nicely with Mya and Molly.
Our super Keeper Sophie kept a clean sheet and distributed the ball well. A huge thankyou to our 14 girls who provided us subs for the game and we welcome Taria to Spurs who played her first game for the club.
Keep up the awesome team work girls!

16 Boys

16 boys defeated United 11-0 (Sponsor Required)
This team are still finding their feet and what is required to play good football as a team. The boys are lead by Cooper Howard who has a wealth of experience , and the team has gained some fresh players in Aydan Castles who played his miniroos and up to U/12s at Spurs, and David Fweme who has brought some lightening pace to the strikers position. We lost another recruit to a double footed challenge in the first round, and we hope he can recover from his surgery and join us later in the year. This year it is supplemented with some juniors from the U/13 and 14 boys.
The game was ours to dominate and that we did. Goals were well spread and our defence was rock solid.
Well done to Dustin Brailey for busting through the fitness barrier in the midfield. No doubt it’ll pay dividends in weeks to come.
Goals: David Fweme x4, Cooper Howard x 2, Aydan Castles x 2, Murray Diver, Jono Gray-Block , OG

14 Boys

14 Girls

Spurs 4 – 0 Wang
A depleted Spurs side made the trip to Wang away from the club for the first time this year. Missing Indy, Em, Isla, Sash and Fruey from the lineup from the previous week we entered the game thinking we might have a challenge on our hands here.
We welcomed Abbey to the club for her first appearance and drafted Roxi from the 12 girls. With so many defensive players missing we changed our formation to ensure we had enough defensive cover. The two Lily’s had the measure of the Wang attack all day with the support of Roxi and Evey. Scar was immense in goal in Em’s absence. Going forward we caused Wang lots of issues particularly out wide with our pace. MJ opened the scoring after the drinks break with a left foot finish in the bottom corner. Izzy was a livewire all game and added to the lead in the second half. Stam scored a brace to make it 4-0. The scoreline suggests a comfortable win but it was a war of attrition.
We will only get stronger with many girls yet to return,
Go Spurs

13 Boys

Spurs v United
In what can only be described as scorching temperatures for a winter sport we met our biggest rivals from a club point of view in Albury United.
We welcomed Elijah back into the team this week as well as Thomas. Molly Spry made her 13s boys debut and it was remiss of me last week to not mention the 13s debuts of 2 under 11s players in Ryder Reid and Ryan Steele.
We started better than last week and piled on the pressure from the first whistle which resulted in multiple shots on goal and hitting the back of the net on many occasions in the first half.
In games like this it can be easy for the side on top to loose structure and have everyone trying to score and play insular football rather than the team structure that works best. But for us this wasn’t the case, best on ground and the award which has been kindly donated by Bryan Stow from Twin City Tiling went to Ryder Reid who proved his worth 4 goals but even more importantly rewarding the other runners and getting 3 assists, well done young man for taking the step up!
In the 2nd half we took the opportunity to play some players in positions they wouldn’t normally play in and it was great to see them show they can play in multiple positions if the team needs it. Others that benefited from the work rate of the team and got on the score sheet were Julien with 4, Murieann with 2, Mason and Taj with 1 each ending the game 12-0. We have the week off next week so get to training and keep putting in the hard yards.
Ne fear, no ego, no excuses.

12 Boys Black

Spurs 8-0 Heart
Our under 12 Black squad hosted Wodonga Heart at Lambert. For this cohort of boys they have sung the Spurs song together as a team in Bendigo, Canberra and Griffith representing Hotspurs at junior carnivals, however this was the first time they got to sing it on their home turf and boy did it mean a lot to them.
With some big outs before the game we drafted in some replacements with Mia replacing her brother Cooper in the lineup and Bianca joining her brother Ferdi in the team replacing Max H. Frankie made his debut with the boys his last appearance at one of those said tournaments in Bendigo over 2 years ago.
The team put on an outstanding performance with every player playing a pivotal role. Fizza weighed in with a hattrick, Jazz got 2 as did Ferdi one of which was a Beckhamesque freekick with Koen getting the final goal.
Our defence was outstanding throughout and our two imports for the day gave us a much needed physical presence. Quote of the day comes from the Goog when congratulated on his 3 assists ” I would have got 10 if the boys could put the ball in the net”
Well done boys and girls, good luck in Bendigo next weekend whilst representing AWFA.

12 Girls

Under 12 girls are off to a flying start this season, winning both their games in round 1 and 2.
The newly formed team consisting of returning and new players to Spurs aged under 9 to under 12 is proving to be super strong in defence, lighting fast in midfield and goal hungry up front.
Round 2 saw the girls take on Wodonga Diamonds at LaTrobe winning 5-0 with Diamonds initially unable to field a full team.
Our girls were also down several players this week leaving very little opportunities for subs in hot conditions but the girls pushed through for the win.
Goals coming this week from Mia x 2, Zoe x 2 and Amarlie.
This week the girls showed improved passing and receiving displayed by a beautiful assist from Amarlie up to Zoe for goal number 4 and a ripper of a pass from Sasha in defence up to Amalie for goal number 5.
Our youngest player Karla and midfielder Bianca gave some great chase this week helping keep the ball in our possession for the majority of the game.
Roxi, Sasha, Lily and Victoria in defence often took on two attacking players and stayed strong to not concede any goals.
Big thanks to Mia and Ivy for playing Goal Keeper this week.
The girls are loving playing together and are looking forward to growing stronger each week under the leadership of our amazing coaches Brad and Scott.
The team would like to say a big thanks to our sponsor Pedders Suspension and Brakes!