IT proved to be a difficult weekend for Swan Hill’s Bendigo Amateur Soccer League (BASL) teams, with all three junior teams failing to register a win across Saturday and Sunday.
The under 16 boys’ side went closest to salvaging a point, with the Swans falling just one goal short in their 3-2 loss to Spring Gully Red at Stanley Avenue on Saturday morning.
Swan Hill’s under 16 girls’ team also played Spring Gully on Saturday morning, with the Swans suffering a 9-0 loss, while the youth boys’ team were the only Swan Hill team to play at home, going down 8-2 to Shepparton United SC.
While the weekend may not have been a successful one from a win-loss perspective, Swan Hill Soccer League president Ben Muir-Howie told The Guardian there were still plenty of positives for the club to take away, with the continued development and improvement of the next generation the key focus.
“With the juniors, it’s often the case that success comes from the small wins on the pitch and their individual development,” Muir-Howie said.
“You look at their passing, their ball control and what they’re trying to achieve on the pitch as opposed to how each team is progressing with results.
“The under 16 girls’ game for instance was a harsh score but the girls still played really well and it was just as good a performance as our two wins this season.
“There wasn’t a single player who didn’t play well, but it’s just that our opposition was much more experienced than us.
“I feel it’s just the one or two percenters that in the end can have a big say in terms of the end result, but we’re a club that’s focusing on player development, player improvement and engagement and not wins or losses.
“Our junior program is definitely going in the right direction, but we’re just at that stage where in terms of the competition we’re facing, we’ll unfortunately have weekends like we had.
“We’re seeing a lot of improvement week by week.
“The under 16 boys are in their first year together and are improving dramatically, the under 16 girls have a big squad and the youth team have a lot of very talented boys, many of whom have already had a taste of senior men’s soccer this season.
“The under 16 boys, for example, have been very competitive over the last couple of weeks, but again it’s just experience.
“We just need to tweak one or two things as a club, like our preparation and our focus, and the end results will happen.”
After trailling 0-2 at half-time, Swan Hill’s under 16 boys’ team worked their way back into their match against Spring Gully in the second half, until Henry Carr scored Spring Gully’s third goal to give his team a 3-0 lead.
But from that point on, it was all Swan Hill, with Thomas Kennedy finding the back of the net to bring the margin back to two goals, before striker Sonny Tucker set up a grandstand finish by scoring his first goal of the under 16s’ season.
That would prove to be as close as Swan Hill would get, however, with the Spring Gully defence managing to hold out as Swan Hill continued to press as they looked for the equaliser.
The under 16 girls also found their Spring Gully opponents too strong, with the Renegades following their four first-half goals with another five goals after the main break while keeping Swan Hill scoreless for only the second time this season.
The final match of the weekend saw the youth boys settle for an 8-2 loss to Shepparton United SC, with Thomas Clarke and Bailey Johnson scoring Swan Hill’s only goals, both of which came in the first half.
Swan Hill’s women’s side managed to secure their first points of the season when Kyneton District forfeited their match to the Swans, resulting in a 3-0 win for Swan Hill.
The Swans’ men’s team had a League Cup bye after being eliminated in the opening round of the Cup competition earlier in the season by division 1 side Shepparton United SC.
