Match Reports
Metro 5 Brisbane Wolves v KPR 05/06/10
Result: Brisbane Wolves 2 KPR 0
Date: Saturday 05/06/10
Kick Off: 17:30
Conditions: Like a Mars Bar in the fridge at 7-11
Bullet point match report due to Jamie Carragher related fatigue:
1. The first game of the second half of the season saw KPR travel out to Wynnum to take on the bottom of the table, and so far winless, Brisbane Wolves.
2. The KPR captain was a late show after locking his keys in the boot of his car in a fishing related incident. It didn’t really matter as the Wolves had only managed to muster up 9 players by kick off time, and the game was delayed for half an hour to give them time to get 11 men on the pitch.
3. The first half was a fairly even contest. The home side played with a determination and composure which belied their league position, and KPR were once again below par and wasteful when opportunities presented themselves.
4. The Wolves broke the deadlock on the half hour when a speculator from distance (which on another occasion might have winded a passing Seagull) sailed through the air with arrow-like precision, giving keeper Grant Preston no chance.
5. KPR were efficient in their approach play, with Stevie Kerr having a blinder in his first game back after a long injury lay off. He linked defence and attack superbly down the right flank and combined well with Tom Beattie on a number of occasions. However, for the second time in as many games, the visitors seemed to get a collective nose bleed in the final third.
6. The second half was pretty much a carbon copy of the first. The home side didn’t ever really look like troubling KPR, but the visitors were their own worst enemy, with miss-kicks, over hit passes and reckless shooting seemingly the order of the day.
7. Rather than trying to break the ball, the KPR players would be wise to take a second or 2 to compose themselves and try placing the ball rather than attempting to launch it into outer space every time they shoot. A shot on target always has the potential to trouble the keeper - just ask Robert Green! To constantly see the ball sailing 20 foot over the bar must be incredibly demoralising for the Rovers.
8. Chris Duffy went closest for the visitors, when he got his head on the end of an inch perfect Stevie Kerr cross, but didn’t quite manage to hit the target.
9. With time running out, KPR found themselves in more trouble than Andrew Johns at a hângi, after an unforgiveable lapse in concentration allowed the home side to double their lead. The big Wolves centre forward was left completely unmarked at a corner, and had time to take the ball down and smash it home on the half volley, through a sea of lunging black & yellow legs. KPR immediately changed to a 3-5-2 formation, but the 2 goal lead proved insurmountable, and the Wolves hung on to post their first win of the season.
10. The last time the KPR Metro side made the finals in 2006, they did so with a record of 10 wins, 6 draws & 6 losses (and even then they only scraped 4th place on goal difference). The class of 2010 have 4 wins under their belt so far with another 10 games to go so it’s not all doom & gloom just yet, but they will have to find another dimension in their upcoming fixtures to have a realistic chance of playing finals. Maybe a back to basics approach would be beneficial. Defend in numbers, first touch, simple passing, movement, composure, effort and communication. This league is still wide open and you only have to look at recent World cup results to know that nothing is black & white in football! Let’s face it, if Jamie Carragher can play for England.....anything’s possible!!
