Welcome to our first ‘Weekend Wrap’ for the season! Some great results achieved by our teams and sounds like plenty of fun was had by all.

The Development Squad kicked off on Friday afternoon. This is our 6-8yo skills program. This year the program is bigger again. We were able to offer over 50 spots and still have a waiting list. Some of our youngest Bluetongues have returned for another year of Dev Squad while for others, Friday was their first taste of club soccer. It was chaotic and fun. A massive shout out to all the parents and junior coaches that pitched in, and to Adi Kerr for seamlessly kitting out 50+ kids in 45 minutes – amazing!

Senior Men: Alphington 1 – Doreen 2. Slow start conceding 2 early goals, but a never say die attitude saw the team get back into it, creating plenty of chances.

U/9 Boys WHITE had a fantastic first game at home against Brunswick Zebras. Good running and effort from all positions saw us take a 2-1 lead. We peppered the goals for the next 15 mins, hitting the post twice but couldn’t find a third. The last five minutes saw the boys lose a little focus as everyone pushed up trying to get on the scoresheet and unfortunately we let in another goal right at the end, closing out a 2-2 draw. Plenty to work on but fantastic running and a great foundation to start!

And we’re underway! U/10 Girls BLUE took on Brunswick at home in the season opener. Bathed in beautiful autumn sunshine all the girls were excited as were the parents and support crew of whom there were plenty. The girls ran their little hearts out. The defensive line was impressive and allowed our midfield to create plenty of opportunities for the forwards to score. We won 4-0. Brilliant effort.

U/12 Girls BLUE – Unfortunately Kensington Jnr SC forfeited, so no game for the girls this Sunday. 😔

Men’s Reserves: 5-2 victory against Doreen United. First win of the season. Played well and with great support for each other. A reward for all the hard effort the entire team has put in so far this season.

U/9 Boys BLUE played the Yellow team, it was a well battled contest, end to end stuff, there were lots of oohs and ahhs, with the result a fair one being 2-2.

During the Senior Women’s match vs Chisholm United FC, a Chisholm player was injured and transported by ambulance for treatment. The match was abandoned after 60 minutes in. AFC wishes the player involved all the best for a speedy recovery. Unfortunate ending but the team played really well and with and extra 20 I think we definitely would have gotten the result with momentum fully in our favour. With 18 players registered so far and a few more to come it’s shaping up to be the biggest year ever for the Senior Women’s team, so we are really excited about the year ahead.

U/8 Boys played away at. Essendon Royals. This team’s first ever game , playing against a Royals team with many games under their belts. The first half ended 0-0 with Alphington under pressure for most of it. However strong defending kept Royals out but we produced multiple chances through strong counter attacking play. In the 2nd half we lost 3 quick goals but we never gave up running and scored a well-deserved goal to the delight of everyone. Superb game and played in a good spirit, well done Bluetongues U/8 boys!

Great first up performance by the U/10 Girls YELLOW team today, away at Clifton Hill, on a full-size pitch no less. In a tight first half we went in at the break 2-0 with a screamer of a goal taken just before the whistle. In the second half the girls came out determined and put the game away to run out 7-0 winners with solid running all match. Two individual fantastic hat trick scorers, some great solo runs, defensive efforts and pressure all round kickstarted the season in fine fashion. There will a few tired girls this afternoon!

U/10 Boys YELLOW played Alphington U/10 BLUE in a highly entertaining round 1 intra club encounter. After a spirited first half, both teams went into the break all square with the yellows equalising on the stroke of half time. In the second half both teams continued to create great chances, however, the yellows were able to capitalise on their opportunities and play some excellent team football as the game wore on. The blues were unlucky this week and will focus on keeping their shape and structure for the entirety of the game as a learning experience:) Thanks to Adrian for your help as referee, the team mangers, coaching staff, parents and players. Go blue tongues!

U/12 Girls YELLOW showed real heart today taking an early lead against the Darebin Falcons. There were a lot of great opportunities that we were unlucky to not convert. Despite the 2-5 loss, the team had lots of fun in their first game of the season and provided us with great insights for the future.

The U/11 Boys put in an awesome effort to beat Clifton Hill 3-1 – a team who we lost to convincingly twice last year. It was brilliant to see the boys’ hard work and positioning beat talent. Couldn’t be prouder as coach. Super effort.

The U/9 Girls had their first outing vs the Yarra Jets away. Took a little while to find our groove but the girls soon were having a great time encouraged by all those on the sidelines. Looking forward to learning and gelling together more as the season progresses.

The U/15 Boys kicked off the season with a narrow defeat in a real nail-biter at home to Ashburton United. An entertaining and evenly matched game stayed at 0-0 until well into the second half when Ashburton took the lead, pouncing on a loose ball in the box. The Bluetongues fought back well and equalised when one of our fullbacks surged forward to score with a stunning long-range effort. Just as our boys were getting on top, the opposition regained the lead late on with a speculative short from distance that crept in at the near post. With our boys pushing forward for an equaliser, Ashburton hit them with a superb break-away goal to seal a 3-1 win in the last minute.
This is a brand new U15 team, made up of players from two of last season’s teams and some new players. Considering this was the first time they’ve played together and for some of the boys, their first game on a full-sized pitch, it was a very encouraging start to the season. The boys are working hard in training and once they get to know each other well and all get up to peak fitness, they can look forward to a great season. I want to give a big thanks to our late stand-in referee today, without whom we couldn’t have played.

O/55s UTD, had their first run last week where everything went our way with 11-1 victory. With striker hitting double Hattrick.⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ Followed up this weekend against stronger opposition and came back twice for 2-2.

Thanks for reading – have a great week! GO BLUETONGUES! 🔵🟡⚽️🦎