After suffering their first loss of the season last week the Premier League Men travelled to Camberwell hoping to bounce back strongly.
It was never going to be easy against the best team in the competition over the last five years at their home ground, but the men put in a stellar performance and came away with three valuable points.
The win means they stay on top of the ladder and closer to securing a home game in round one of the finals. 

The game started at a frenetic pace with both teams playing an expansive style. Camberwell were awarded a stroke early on but couldn’t convert and from that moment on Southern dominated the game.
 An overhead to the backline from Matt L'Huillier and good composure from Nathan Ephraums and Pim Okhuizen set up the first goal for Al Hart to give United a 1-0 lead going into the first break.
L’Huillier beat ex Kookaburra George Beazley from a penalty corner in the 2nd quarter to extend the lead and Brad Marais put the boys up 3-0 early in the 3rd quarter from a corner break down.
L’Huillier beat Beazley again in the 4th quarter to make it 4-0 and then Camberwell scored a consolation goal late in the game. The 4-1 was one of the better performances by the men in recent times and will fill them with confidence going into the last stages of the competition and the finals series. 

The PL win was only part of a great day at Matlock park where Southern took home 10 from a possible 12 points. It was great to see the teams all supporting one and other and displaying the camaraderie which is becoming the norm from the top four teams. The culture and positive environment, a lot of which is player driven, is a joy to see and helps foster a life long love of the game and the club. 
All in all, it was a great day and one everyone should be very proud of. 

Highlights from the Men’s PL win over Camberwell can be found here:Southern MPL vs Camberwell Highlights

Report by Jesse Workman

After a great 5-1 win against Waverley the boys headed out to Matlock Reserve to take on a Camberwell team whose last 5 results read 3-0 (MCC), 8-0 (KBH), 13-0 (Brunswick), 9-0 (StK. PH) and 6-0 (Mentone). Despite the recent domination Camberwell's reserves had over the competition and us missing Joey, Billy, Will and the just returned Macca, our boys still went into the game full of confidence. 

The message and theme during the pregame was all about embracing the day as it was and embracing the challenge of Camberwell at home where we'd never won as a reserves team. Our focus was on us, our game plan and trusting it, supporting each other and being brave in all facets of our game. And wow were the boys all of that! 

The first quarter was frenetic with Southern pressing hard and containing Camberwell's attacking threat with neither team able to carve out any clear opportunities, the game was very much being played between the 25's. After a period of sustained pressure and possession from the SUHC lads, Camberwell did manage to counter and catch us high and dry up the pitch and score. Despite Hammo's best effort to come out of his goal and engage the attacker, a fine tomahawk goal was scored. 

At the first quarter time break the message remained the same as pregame with just a little more possession added in when we counter pressed Camberwell. The second was very much like the first except this time the Southern boys were finally starting to penetrate Camberwell and create some opportunities. At half time though the score was still 1-0 to Camberwell. 

Despite being down 1-0 at half time the boys were full of confidence knowing how we had played in the first half. The message from pregame was again reinforced and as the third quarter started you could sense it would only be a matter of time. Camberwell had no answer as the boys pressed and counter-pressed relentlessly and the chances started to come thick and fast. By the end of the third it was 3-1 to the Southern boys. 

Heading into last the focus was on maintaining our concentration and seeing the game out. On the first play of the fourth quarter Southern added another goal to make it 4-1. A goal shortly after to Camberwell made it 4-2 and despite Camberwell enjoying most of the possession, some fine defensive work led by Hammo in goals and some smart play by Boomer and Edo allowed us to see the game out. 

A great team effort with all players performing at a high level that gave us a fantastic result that really tightens up the race for a top 2 spot in the reserve grade. Huge two games to come against Mentone and Greensborough. 

Goals: L.Eddington (2), Silvers (2)

Report by Shannon Davey

Camberwell came fast out of the blocks scoring three goals in the first quarter- showing our girls just why they held top of the WPLR table. It was clear they had a dominating player in the middle of the pitch, and we knew if we were to get back in this, we HAD TO shut her down.

With an improved second quarter, conceding no goals against, the girls managed to find their groove.

Wise words from Dos at half time came with eager ears, ensuring all understood the change in tactic and the game plan ahead. This time we were the ones to come out firing, seeing us hit the back of the net 3 times, and conceding just once.

With a score of 5-1 down leading into the final quarter, our girls were on top. Camberwell’s playmaker was achieving so little she shifted positions to attempt to get back in the game. But the girls wouldn’t allow it. Holding strong, dominating play and using the width and length of the pitch to run over the opposition; making the score line 4-5.

But the never let die team attitude saw Shan hit the net one last time. A final result of 5 all against the team of the comp - an amazing effort; some might say the come back of the season.

Well done to all the girls, and a special thank-you to those who hung around to cheer us on! (Goals scorers included: 2 to Ash, 1 each to Traz, Shan and Jazzie)

Bring on Mentone next week at the spice bowl... we’re ready!

Report by Traleen Cumming

It was wet, it was windy and it sure as hell wasn’t pretty. But the Pennant A boys got the three points they needed to keep alive their finals hopes after a 3-2 win at Footscray on Saturday.
Contending with strong winds and an undulating pitch that had more kickers than a Queenstown snow park, Buddha’s bandits jumped to an early lead thanks to a slick build-up leading to a fortuitous opening.
A quick switch of play from Jamie Coombes (fresh from an intense pre-season camp in Europe) opened up Andrew Layzell on the left, who cracked through a piercing ball that clouted into the left post and popped like a pinball on a 45-degree angle. Craig Hardham, the bloke in the team with the worst eye sight, trapped the bullet without a moment’s hesitation and tucked into his first sausage roll of the game.
The Doggies, after a few unsuccessful PC attempts, managed to equalise 10 minutes later with a direct hit from their third corner.
After some words of inspiration from Coach Duff, United produced a much stronger second half and took the lead again when Hardham scoffed another sausage (I can’t remember how it was scored but I’ll exercise a bit of poetic licence and say it was a customary rocket).
And then with ten minutes to go, the United boys experienced one of their highest moments – shortly followed by one of the lowest – as a signalled goal was brutally taken away.
After a quick long-corner play, the ball somehow found its way onto the stick of Coach “Rick” Duff, who devoured his first snorker of the year with absolute glee. As he sheathed his sword and trotted off the ground for a celebratory can, the controlling umpire changed his mind and reversed the decision, leaving all and sundry shattered. (Ed - On another note, what he was doing in the attacking circle is another story and an investigation into how this could have occurred has been launched).
Thankfully, this didn’t have a bearing on the game as United slotted a PC three minutes later (they didn’t pick my slower ball) to put the game beyond doubt.
Footscray snagged a late one with a minute to go, but Buddha and Jesse Mulder made sure to chew up precious minutes on the clock by breaking down the play with a few rodeo rides of the ball carrier which resulted in yellow cards….and which, crucially, meant additional frothies for the boys after the game. How good.

Report by Mark Tesoriero

Pennant C were completely out gunned by a rampaging Doncaster on Saturday night. After successfully lodging a protest against Footscray for playing an ineligible player the week before Pennant C need 1 more win to guarantee a finals birth.

Unfortunately that will come down to the final 2 games after Doncaster were to powerful this week.

Doncaster put the game away in the first half with 5 goals.

The second half was a much more tightly contested affair but Southern were not able make inroads into the scoreboard deficit. Doncaster eventually running out winners 8-1.

Pennant C remain in 4th place on the ladder, 4 points clear of TEM who we face in a must win clash this coming Sunday.

Report by Jono Boyd

Some key players missing made the trip to Footscray a tough one.

The Southern "boys" took the game to third on the ladder Brumbies, making them need all 7 games to get the win.  Great work guys. You nearly did it.

Doncaster decided that they would come out defensively, flooding our attacking circle.

Once we penetrated with our first goal, others flowed freely.

The oppositions couple of attempts to have a loan striker lead into their attack was quickly shut down by our defense and skillfully returned to our sticks where once again we mounted an attack.

There were so many positives from this match, such as individual performances, great linkage of passes and absolute patience with the ball if passes weren't on, finding options. However, two highlights were:- Our increased intensity and determination in the 2nd half.

Last week we won the first half 5-0 but the 2nd half by only 1-0. This week we turned that around and the team brought home the win with a dynamic 2nd half and being down to only 11 players due to injury. I had asked after last week that they maintain the intensity for both halves and this week they did just that.
Secondly, we had 6 different goal scorers! This was awesome! Scorers: Alisia 2, Puck 1, Lou 1, Mandi 1, Nicole 1, Bron 1.

The 'silly' headband is back where it started with Bjorn (Greta) for I believe not knowing her left from right. It would have gone to Puck for spilling all the team lollies on the ground but lucky for her she had immunity for scoring a goal. We have 9 survivors left on the island and only 5 without immunity :)

Report by Deb Stockdale

Saturday saw our Womens PD hosting a young & fast Doncaster team who are sitting 4th on the ladder looking to consolidate their place in the finals, with bad news earlier in the week that we'd lost Cath for the rest of the year & then in the warm up Kate rolled her ankle on a tree root in the park resulting in a bad sprain that had her out for the game.

The game started at a fast pace & for the first 10 minutes was fairly evenly balanced before we started to get more control in the midfield pushing into our forward line. A number of circle penetrations without managing to score was starting to look like a familiar pattern but our passing was spot on & we put a great run together resulting in our first goal at the 12 minute mark. In one of our best halves for the year the girls really put in a big effort moving the ball with precision & pace & getting into the right spots at the right time more often than not which lead to a Karina rocket at goal & we went into half time with a 2 nil lead. With a rock solid defence doing everything right we kept pushing forward in the 2nd half with good control through the centre from Nikki & Maddy creating a number of chances for our forwards. Ange, Jett & Mossy were piling on the pressure in the circle and but for some fast shut downs from the Doncaster defence would have scored early in the second half. It wasn't too long though before our efforts paid off with Jett scoring one of her goals by shifting the goalie off her line and tapping the ball in just before it hit the baseline.

A big thanks to Jett for jumping in to help after her game with PF as we were down to 1 on the bench & her game was absolutely brilliant, chasing down players, accurate passing, creating chances & of course scoring a hat trick. The game ended up in a 5/1 win for our team but the best part was the all around performance of the girls, which resulted in one of our best full game performances across the field. With other results we are now 1 game clear in 2nd place with just two rounds remaining.

Report by Lex Johnson

We started our game in cold, wet and blustery conditions, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm shown on the pitch. For the first half we held the top team scoreless and created opportunities for ourselves. The effort was outstanding but you could see areas that we could definitely trouble the top team in the finals!. The second half saw us camped in our defensive area for most of the half and we withstood a lot of pressure before finally letting one in. It was great play by MUHC to create the perfect scoring opportunity.
Play of the day was Bec McNess setting up for her usual spin and drive movement only to foolow coaching instructions and stop halfway through and pass backwards! Quote of the day was Ella was asked to mark the tall forward that was looking most dangerous, her response was, "are you kidding? Her legs are longer than my attention span!" Thanks Ella for always bringing a smile to my face.

Report by Warren Davey

A late Saturday afternoon game with most of the rain gone but still a cold afternoon. The ladies were out there warming up and looking keen to play until the realization that they only had 10 players. Much scrambling was done but to no avail and they had to play the game with only 10. It was difficult to see where they were missing a player as they were equal to Brunswick in all areas and it was an even battle for 55 minutes before Brylee Roberts opened the scoring with a strong shot at goal. It just proves that you should never give her space to shoot as she will make it count! Brunswick replied immediately and leveled 1-1. Shortly after Brunswick scored again to make it 2-1. The crowd was silenced but the girls never gave and equalized in the dying minute to snatch a draw against a higher placed team. Great work by Amanda Kenny on the back proving she is a force to contend with and linking up with the drive from Cindy and Sandy in the midfield just kept creating more attacking opportunities. Once again, another great game from the Metro A ladies.

Report by Warren Davey

With a change in personnel the MetBs faced another challenge. Coxy back in goals after the short lived coup the week before, we brought back in the two young guns who quite frankly have skill some of us old types couldn't even dream of when we were younger.

After an even first half with both sides at nil all, a chat at half time urged us to take our chances a bit more quickly when attacking and within the first couple of minutes of the play restart, a Riggsy strike from a short corner saw us take the lead and minutes later it was 2-0. When we went three nil up with 20 minutes to go, it's fair to say that we got a bit ahead of ourselves and with about 6 minutes left the score was 3-2. But cooler heads prevailed and we went back to a bit of discipline in controlling the play and were unlucky not to have added a fourth - 3-2 was a good result and nice to sing the song.  Goals to Riggsy, Ashton and Lachlan.

Report by Marcus Barber
 

The team played a great game against a stronger Mentone team. Great to watch the Southern kids, a great team, having fun playing hockey. Goals to Rylan and Jarrad.

Another bitterly cold Friday night, and a trip to Bellfield Park to play Yarra Valley away where both teams had an altered line up as a result of U16 SSV.

Southern had 4 players away, and another player injured, so were down to 9 of the regular team, and were fortunate to have Sarah Connell from U14, and Kane Dickson and Ryan Hornibrook from U16 join us this week. Thank you for stepping up to help us out- all three players did an amazing job stepping up to the higher level of intensity and structure of Under 16 Shield. Some excellent teamwork and passing saw all players get involved, and Southern dominated the play to be 3-0 up at half time. Hat tricks to both Dom and Davin, and goals to Anthony and Nick from short corners saw Southern finish with an 8-0 win.

Report by Robyn Fitzgerald

16 pennant went out to Mentone for what was a top of the table clash. Mentone struck early and took a 2-0 lead into the half time break. 

As a team we rallied. Had a few words on how we could overcome the strong tackling team. We then got on a roll. Had them in all sorts.  With Molly and Singtong going down with injury but battling on we ended up drawing 2-2. 
Thanks to those that filled in.  

A rocky week for the under 16 section to say the least!

Report by Hayden Jones

A win to Black this week, 4-2 over Yarra Valley.  The first half saw several entries into the attacking 25 but only one conversion (Jackson Yates).  The second half saw us draw further ahead with goals to Brent O’Mara and Daniel Pardo before Yarra Valley jagged back a couple seeing us 3-2 up with 10 minutes to go and a degree of apprehension on the bench.  The sealer came from Daniel Pardo (2 for the game) and the team held its 4-2 lead to the end.  The defence and mids worked hard throughout with Yarra Valley playing a break away style that saw our halves in particular running end to end as they supported our forwards and backs.  Our Dingley Village Adventure Golf Star of the Week was Dylan Foote.

Report by Ric Birkett

The Red team played the top team on the ladder, TEM, on Friday night. We started the match with only 8 on the pitch because 3 players were filling in for other teams. We got off to a flying start with a lot of energy and teamwork and scored the first goal. At full strength we continued on with great effort from forwards backs and coach and scored 2 more goals to record the biggest upset of the season!
We are now in 4th place but need to win both our next two matches to secure a finals berth.

Report by Hugh Stevenson

U14 Shield travelled to a freezing Ballarat. The boys fought hard to an even contest in the first half but over run in the 2nd half. Although we did take one back from West Vic with a goal of our own. Boys will look to keep improving and broadening their game knowledge. Thanks to West Vic for the dinner after the game!
It was also great to have the support of grandparents of Lachie, Isaac and Aston in the cold. 

Report by Chris Silvers

The team arrived in a Frankston and the evening was icy...the boys knew they were in for a tough game playing Peninsula who were currently sitting 3rd on the ladder. Undermanned and without a bench they knew it was going to be a huge effort to play competitive hockey for a full two halves. Within a few minutes our defence was placed under extreme pressure and Peninsula scored a goal.  We could see the boys found the chilly conditions challenging and it was not long before Peninsula found the back of the goal once again. The half time break could not come quick enough. Once again Coach Alessandro gave the boys another inspirational halftime speech and instilled in each and everyone of the boys the game was not over. The second half once again began with Peninsula placing our defence under great strain but with the words of Coach Alessandro firmly in their minds the tide soon turned and we began to control the play. The SUHC boys were now in charge. The boys worked the ball well out of defence and David Hayes was soon given an opportunity and and scored a goal. The small band of SUHC supporters who made the trip down to the game knew the boys had turned it around and may be in with a chance. Within a matter of minutes the team controlled the play and Oli De Luca was given a dynamite pass and took the ball into the D and he stared down the goalie. With a little dummy pass and a fast back stick the goalie was outclassed and an easy goal was scored. Scores were level and each boy stood 10 feet tall and they were now on fire! They turned the heat up on this game and it was now Peninsula who were now starting to feel the pressure of what great team work can achieve. With about 4 minutes to go the magic happened. The boys fought hard out of defence and the mid field were given an opportunity and they did not let the our defenders down and soon moved the ball to a line of forwards. We controlled this last major play like another training drill and David Hayes knew it was now or never for the team who braved the harsh conditions and then it happened...BANG...went the ball into the back of the goal and on a freezing cold night it was music to the boys, parents and Coach Alessandro’s ears. With a big cheer the boys stood proud with a 3-2 win. Lachie Bride helped command the troops throughout the game and was this week’s Star Award winner.

Report by Nando de Luca