The Lilydale Eagles travelled to Monbulk in perfect conditions and the Reserves were up first looking to continue their winning form.
The Eagles started on the back foot early, struggling to link up and after losing possession, finding themselves out of shape, particularly in defence and midfield.
Monbulk had some early promising looks in behind but the scrambling Eagles defence kept them at bay.
Eventually, the Eagles found their groove, particularly when playing down the right hand side through Tarin Cooper and Lilydale thought they had the lead when his ball across was tapped home by German recruit Arno Grote.
Unfortunately, Grote was a bit ahead of Cooper’s cross and it was rule dout for offside.
It wouldn’t be the only chance to come from this style of play however, with a couple more Cooper crosses almost turned home by Grote or cleared by Monbulk.
The best chance of the half however, would go Monbulk’s way, when a big bounce on the synthetic pitch created confusion among the Eagles’ defence and would have resulted in a goal if it wasn’t for a goal line clearance from the evergreen Colin Dickson.
The Eagles would also lose the dangerous Trent Scott-Elsley to a pulled hamstring just before the halftime break, which they would enter with scores level.
With a formation change at halftime, the Eagles would come out and strike early when a lovely ball over the top from Mark Vanderkolk found Cooper who waited for the keeper to come off his line before a nice little dink over him to break the deadlock.
The Eagles continued to look the most likely for a little while after, with their next chance coming after keeper-cum-midfielder Callum Ludwig flashed a shot-cum-cross across the box that Cooper almost got a boot on.
Then it was Cooper again, who after a goalline scrambled headed goalwards which looked to be going in only to be nodded in by Byron Loveless, who was offside and managed to steal a goal from Cooper for the second week running.
From then on, the Eagles’ limited available rotations off the bench started to take effect and it became a desperate attempt to hold out for a clean sheet.
Monbulk attempted to spread it long and wide but Daniel ‘Dicko’ Dickson was able to claim most of their errant long balls and the Eagles were resolute out wide.
The Eagles thought they might have had a chance for a second when an attempted clearance by Monbulk appeared to strike a Monbulk defender on his outstretched arm but the referee waved it away.
Other than some yellow cards for Lucas Cordedda and Loveless, Lilydale was able to hold on for the tight 1-0 win.
Onto the Seniors, who were looking to get a win on the board.
In a similar vein to the Reserves, it was to be a cagey first half with minimal clear-cut chances for both sides.
The Eagles found it difficult to work their way out of defence, unable to get the ball up the field often while Monbulk looked to attack down the wings and get the ball into the box.
Lilydale were able to repel most of these and any resulting corners weren’t too dangerous from Monbulk in a pleasing sign for the Eagles’ recent troubles with set-piece defending.
The Eagles did have some nice moments down the right-hand side, with some nice footwork from Jasper Blair and Jake ‘Digga’ Dioguardi at times to work their way out of trouble.
Ethan Emmett’s link-up play was also strong, Bailey Hone had some joy getting in behind the defence and Levi Clausen was putting in a solid performance in an unfamiliar right-back position.
At halftime, neither team had managed to break the deadlock.
Coming out after the break and it was a nightmare for the Eagles as in the 57th minute, defensive miscommunication saw a Monbulk clearance end up playing in striker Toby Storer clean through one-on-one and he was able to tuck his shot away to give the home side the lead.
Shortly after, Gilbert Harries found himself in the book after he contested for a bal out wide and inadvertently sent his opponent into the brick wall on the sideline.
Dicko also got an unfortunate yellow shortly after for a challenge that was probably a bit harsh to warrant a booking, though he made up for that with a foul later that definitely did deserve a yellow card.
The Eagles continued to push for an equaliser, with shots flashing just wide or crosses being cut out.
Josh Zmegac scored late only to see it ruled out for offside and Emmett also came close with a couple of efforts on goal.
Unfortunately for Lilydale, they weren’t able to find the back of the net and the game ended 1-0.
The Eagles will be back in action at home against Waverley City next week.
