U16B’s Round 1
East Gosford 0 – 0 Woy Woy
This is the first piece in a new series we’re calling Community Champions, a new initiative by Central Coast Football aiming to highlight the great work coaches and players are doing across various age groups and divisions.
The first clubs chosen are the East Gosford Rams and the Woy Woy Roosters in the U16 Bs competition, who played out an entertaining 0-0 draw to begin their season on Saturday.
These two sides met for a pre-season friendly in the weeks prior, which ended 3-1 in favour of the Roosters, so the Rams knew they needed to change things up to get a better result.
At 10 AM on Hylton Moore Oval, you almost couldn’t have asked for better conditions for football. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and a pleasant breeze was in the air as both teams readied themselves for a new season.
Speaking to both coaches revealed much more about each side, though, and it highlighted the fascinating stories surrounding them.
The East Gosford team includes the champions of the Under-15 Cs from 2024, who have moved up a grade, and a few players from the Under-14 Bs team from the same year. These younger players are stepping up in age to help provide the team with more players, meaning this is a team playing up in grade and age.
It’s a daunting prospect, one not lost on their coach, Daniel Lacey. A former player turned grassroots coach, Lacey guided the 14 Bs last year and has taken on the task of directing this new side.
Talking to him, I discovered his philosophy behind coaching, which you could see developing in his new side on the field.
He spoke about keeping the side well-drilled tactically, noting that you’re likely to get beaten if you face a tactically fluent side.
During the game, you could see these principles coming to fruition.
From the kick-off, the Rams team looked to stick to the fundamentals of their formation, get the ball into midfield, and find ways to progress it to their striker.
Rams players fought hard to get back into position in transition to make this plan work, but what was most impressive was their defence.
For large periods of the match, Woy Woy was in control, but chances were not coming easy, thanks to the work of Beau Remington and Joakim Olle in the Rams backline.
Not for lack of effort either, Eusoff Mohd Eskandarian was playing brilliantly for the Roosters in a roaming 10 position. Almost every Woy Woy attack went through the young man as he battled with the aforementioned centre-backs in multiple entertaining foraysforwards.
In his second year coaching this side, Woy Woy coach Samuel Riddle explained his ideas that delivered these results. He focuses on making players know they are in important roles; more precisely, he said, “Last year, I tried quite hard to give each player a specific role in the team, with their own specific strategies and aims”.
You could see this in his side, too, individuals coming together to make a greater whole. Eskandarian was great at getting his teammates involved. He set up a great opportunity early for Thomas Conquest, who made a fantastic run to get played behind the East Gosford line, but his shot went just wide at the near post.
This was the theme of the first half, with the Rams playing gritty defence while the Roosters roamed around the final third, looking for a way to get past them.
It was also very much a round one encounter; you could see the players getting up to the speed of things again, and slowly, East Gosford would come out of their shell.
A pair of brothers who spent time in the Ram midfield would spark this: Ansh and Anuj Bhatt. Each showed great ball-playing ability and composure in the centre. Ansh created the best chance of the half for the hosts, working the ball out to the right before putting a ball out to the left that looked very dangerous, forcing the Woy Woy into desperate defence to end the attack.
At halftime, I caught parts of Lacey’s team talk; he emphasised listening to the team captain for the day, Samuel Whight, and allowed the boys to talk each other through how to activate their attack more. It was inspired stuff, as the second half was much more even. Later, this prompted me to ask Lacey what drove him to become a grassroots coach, and he reflected on his English background and how he grew up with and has always loved football. He said, “In the younger age groups, a lot of the parents who were coaching hadn’t played football before; they were doing it because no one else would do it. So, I just felt compelled that since I have footballing knowledge, that I could probably help the boys out”.
He noted that this was the reasoning in the younger grades as he coached his son, Haydn Lacey, also on this Rams side, and humorously admitted that now the players are “A lot bloody better than I ever was”.
Riddle echoed a similar answer when I asked him. Having spent years playing, he made the jump to coaching last year when he and a friend asked the Roosters organisation if they needed anyone to help out. His reasoning for it all was perhaps the best reason anyone can have to guide younger players: He just loves football.
Both sets of players love football, too. When they returned for the second half, they were energised and ready to leave it all out there.
The match resumed with a lightning-fast chance for the Rams as Whight sprinted out to hassle Roosters goalkeeper Edmund Hendriks, forcing the gloveman to clear the ball straight back into him, leading it to sail just over the crossbar.
Woy Woy then looked to strike back instantly, and they won a penalty with a great attack.
It came when Eskandarian found Tyler McDermott, who put the ball into the far post where his teammate was fouled in the box.
However, the proceeding penalty went over the bar, and the deadlock remained.
So now the Rams needed to resume their fightback, and Whight again was the genesis. He beat two defenders up top with his pace and fought to the box before shooting towards the near post, where Hendriks managed to make the save.
The Roosters refocused after this, earning more chances and forcing the East Gosford goalie, Henry Setchell, into some classy diving saves but never getting past him.
Ultimately, the deadlock would remain, and the Rams proved they’d learned plenty from their trial match.
It’s fitting that when asked what professional players inspire them, the Woy Woy players mentioned two of the great defenders of world football, Virgil van Dijk and William Saliba, as each side produced a clean sheet they could be proud of.
Talking to the coaches about the match, Lacey highlighted his team’s unique makeup and expressed his satisfaction at seeing them overcome it.
“It was pretty good, I thought” Lacey said.
“I thought it was going to be tough for them because half the team is playing up a grade, and the other half is playing up a year
“But it was pretty good, I was pretty happy how it went in the end”.
While Riddle admitted some frustration but was happy with the fundamentals.
“Match ended 0-0, but we felt we deserved more”, Riddle said.
“We had 2-3 great chances including a penalty that we struggled to convert
“Our inability to score probably came from it being the start of the season with everyone settling into new positions
“Overall, from my perspective, it was a great game fundamentally but lacked the final product”.
