Fleta Page June 24, 2012
BELCONNEN bounced back from its first loss of the year last week with a 2-0 win over Canberra City at Hawker yesterday.
The match looked like it might not get a clear result, with Belconnen dominating possession but unable to penetrate City's solid defence in the first half.
Belconnen coach Steve Foreshaw said his side struggled on the synthetic Hawker pitch. ''It's a bit slow, and I felt that was impacting on what we wanted to do,'' he said.
But he told his players to stick with their game plan and remain composed, a tactic which eventually produced a result.
The visitors' attack looked more potent in the second half, but it wasn't until the 70th minute that they finally penetrated with a goal from Dustin Wells.
Wells backed that up with a second in the 86th minute, drawing out the City keeper in a one-on-one contest and then chipping it over him.
City coach Matt Moore watched the game from the stands, a position he will get used to by the end of the five-week suspension he was handed during the week for his second offence of referee abuse.
Moore had to leave the coaching to his assistants, but from his view, he couldn't fault the performance of his players, despite their loss.
''The boys followed the instructions that we asked and were really disciplined in all their jobs,'' Moore said.
''You look at the last three weeks and the performances have been well below par, [so] to come out and put in an effort against a side like Belconnen is really pleasing.
''In the grand scheme of things, that's something we can build on, which we probably couldn't have said the last couple of weeks.''