We headed down to Peter Lightfoot Oval to take on St Cats. Arby headed off on a month’s holiday so we were back to a flat eleven (makes substitutions really easy!). The field is shorter and narrower than what we are used to and we struggled in the first half to adjust to the pitch.

We had a couple of decent shots on goal (Isaac S x 2, Timmy) and St Cats had a shot on goal that Buster made a really good save. The boys are happy Buster is right to play again with a lot of confidence when he is between the sticks. The big news of the first half was when Isaac S fell to the ground and came up clutching his wrist. He was in a lot of pain but played through until half time, with the score are nil all.

With Isaac checked out by the Doc and strapped up, very sore but was going to give the second half a go. We changed up our structure back to a 4-3-3 to create less congestion in the middle of the park. The second half started with end to end play with both sides trading shots on goal. Both keepers were forced to make good saves to deny the potential goal scorers. At the 40’mark, after continued pressure, Tim finally breaking through. It wasn’t a pretty goal as it was pin balling around in the box before he slotted it home. With Blackstone on a high and St Cats with their heads down, we capitalized with Tim scoring again 2 minutes later via an assist from Isaac.  Then next period was all Blackstone with shots on goal at the 46’, 49’, 52’ and 53’. Despite his sore wrist, Isaac soldiered on and was rewarded with a goal (nice little chip over the keeper to close the match out at 3-0. St Cats had one cracking chance for a goal after the ball was cleared and the player struck the ball in full flight from around 30 yards. The ball was going straight into the top of the net but Buster leaping up was able to get a touch and deflect the ball onto the crossbar.  Blackstone continued to dominate play with further shots at 57’, 59’, 65’ and70’ marks but could not increase the score line.

We found out later Saturday afternoon that Isaac had broken a bone in his wrist and would be out of action for 3-4 weeks.  Really disappointed for him as Isaac was really gelling with the team, not only from a football sense but also forming good friendships with the boys.

Full time result Blackstone 3 defeated St Cats 0.