Golden Gate Roos defeat San Diego Lions

Saturday, July 25, 2010 - On a cool, windy day in Daly City, California San Diego won the toss and decided to kick against the breeze. This paid dividends for them almost immediately with the Lions kicking two quick goals via John Jones and Justin Valley to establish an early lead. However the Roos eventually settled with the midfield of Mark Beare, Revo Under 23 players Kyle Johnson and Matt Lege, Captain Andrew Lamont, Coach Matt Bishop, Brian Lewis and Revolution player Mel Chen starting to find the ball. A quick change putting Shane Powell onto Valley had an immediate impact with Powell defending well and the Roos backline found their rhythm.

The forwards lead by Aaron Bradley and Michael Jobling were on song early once the opportunities started to come their way. With Chris Johnson deciding not to play last minute it was great to see Bradley step up early kicking 2 goals in the first quarter and being ably assisted by Mel Chen and Tocher Kellom, each kicking a goal each. The Roos were up by 17 at the first break.

Pictured: Sacramento players for Golden Gate, Travis Hemmen & Saleh Tyebjee. San Diego player, Justin Valley in right hand background. Photo by: Amy Bishop

The Lions had the wind in the second quarter however were unable to capitalise as the Roos backline defended well. Vice Captain Luck Quirk, Revo Under 23 players Saleh Tyebjee and Matt Lege, Shane Powell, Jamie Gain, Ian Gunn and Jared Kerstiens stood tall when it was required. Matt Bishop worked back into defence and for some reason the Lions continued to blaze away only to find him waiting there on many occasions. The hard work of Lamont, Mike Lancaster, Chris O'Meara, Gordon "Flash" Beith and Travis Hemmen gave the Roos defence many options to transfer the ball into attack. Hemmen was particularly important winning a lot of contests giving the Roos first use of the ball. The Lions could only manage one goal , through Brian Nickel, for the quarter and the Roos were able to kick two through Jobling. The Roos were up by 4 goals at half time.

San Diego came out switched on in the 3rd quarter again kicking a quick goal against the wind through Justin Valley. However it was all Roos from there with this being the last goal that San Diego would kick for the game. The Roos kicked six goals for the quarter with Tyebjee kicking three while playing at Center Half Back. Jobling added another to his tally, Davide de Vellis who worked hard from the Half Forward Flank kicked his first and Kyle Johnson also kicked his first for the game, a ripper from deep in the dead pocket. The Roos had raced to a 57 point lead by the end of the 3rd quarter.

The Roos did not let up in the 4th and final quarter kicking 4 unanswered goals against the wind. It was fantastic to see players like Heber Saurey, Matt Falkowski, Adan Linke and Gordon Beith continue to add value where possible. A highlight was Heebs running through the middle of the ground away from our goal and doing the disciplined thing of looking for support which eventually came and resulted in a goal. Bradley, Jobling and de Vellis added one each to their tallies and Lancaster kicked his first for the game. The Roos running out winners by 80 points.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Roos 4.5 6.8 12.11 16.13.109

Lions 2.0 3.2 4.2 4.5.29

Goal Kickers:
Roos M. Jobling (4), A. Bradley (3), S. Tyebjee (3), D. De Vellis (2), M. Chen, K. Johnson, T. Kellom, M. Lancaster
Lions J. Valley (2), J. Jones, B. Nickel

Best:​​​​​​​
Roos: S. Tyebjee, S. Powell, K. Johnson, A Bradley, T. Hemmen, M.Bishop, M. Beare, D. deVellis
​​​​​​​San Diego: not supplied