Valiant effort from Young Braves in School Knockout.

(above)Their parents should be proud!

The young Braves (or Bravettes, as they will be known for this article) took on last years NSW country schools of under 80 Students Champions Exeter on Tuesday at Brave Park.

Ian Robbo had nominated Dunko as Manager for the day in his absence and he had a pretty handy, if youthfull side at his disposal. The player list was as follows

Sharna Mitchell (C)
Zac O'Brien
Cody Summerville
Jenna Goodlock
Lochie O'Reilly
Tanner Foord
Roly Jones-Whittem
Wade Wilton
Hassan Lacsina
Cormac Clarke
Bill Mitchell
Tom Wetherall
Josh O'Reilly
Bevan Taylor

The Bravettes were down at Brave park well in advance to set the goals and posts up, even if the coach managed to put one net on upside down. Resplendant in the U'11 Braves shirts, the Braves were well and truely warmed up by the time Exeter arrived in their red strips, after their 4 hour bus trip.
It was Exeter who got stuck in first though, threatening the braves goal, and striking the post early. Their age and superior size was telling as they had the edge on the Bravette backline. At the other end, the Bravettes made some chances in the first half but were unfortunately caught offside in some goalscoring positions.
In the second half, a more even contest ensued, Exeter again threatening the Bravettes goal and again striking the woodwork a couple of times, with keeper Corey Mitchell keeping Bemboka in the game with some handy saves. During one of the Bravettes counter attacks, they put enough pressure on to win a penalty for handball. Cormac stepped up and unfortunately was a little too accurate and hit the post, with the Bravettes unable to get hold of the rebound.
Exeter continued to apply pressure at the other end and broke through for the decisive second goal, which decided the contest.
For the Bravettes, Hassan, Jenna and Sharna will have played their last game in the competition, but played very well and left nothing in the tank at the end of the game.

The Bravettes look good for the future, with some of the year 3 players having three more bites at the cherry in this competition.

Better luck next year Bravettes!

The crows circle no longer for the Braves!

Joshy Mac loved to check the updated table every Monday morning...

After a couple of weeks of indifferent results which saw ressies loose to Tathra, beat the league leaders then narrowly miss a chance to take the minor premiership, they finished with a possible top 4 spot on the weekend. A narrow 1-0 loss against the Eden 'First Grade' team meant a nailbiting wait fir other results on the weekend to see if we made the 4.
Firsts, after a Draw to lowly Tathra (with 10 men), a rather sizable loss to Merimbula were looking down the barrel needing the win 2 of the last 3 to keep Merimbula at bay. Win one came with a 3-0 demolition of the Eden Wailers on the weekend..


More detail to come with full match reports soon..

Go you Braves!