The No 4 New York Magpies hosted Florida United on May 1st as part of the ANZAC Plate Tournament.
Facing Florida for the first time in a few years the Magpies had a few butterflies. The game got off the scrappy start as both teams fought hard to win the contested ball. New York's Buckingham started on top in the ruck and his midfielders responded by continually sending the ball forward to Walkington, Sani, Walker and McCormack who ensured the Magpies had a 5 goal lead at half time. McMaster and Flavel controlled the air and Davis, Lewis and Lin played with composure and experience beyond their years to ensure plenty of attack from the backline.
Photo by Robert Oliver. Two Magpies tackle a United Player.
The conditions were taxing on the all players and both teams kept up the intensity in the second half. It was a hard fought second half and Magpies McCormack, Mantzaris, Guarino and Desai all worked hard through the middle. The Backline continued their pressure with Desai and Puvi running hard and finding plenty of the ball. Big men Toby and Buckets made sure that work up the field was rewarded with scoreboard pressure.
For a while Florida played them evenly with some powerful hits delivered by some of the Redbacks defenders. Particularly, hard hitting was Florida's CJ Morton. However, in the last 10 minutes, Florida's energy reserves collapsed and New York piled on goals. United battled hard and were not demoralized.
New York 4.5 10.7 (67)
Florida 0.0 1.3 (9)
GOALKICKERS
New York: Andy Brennan 2, Sani Hadziahmetovic 2, Joel Daniher 1, James Hawkins 1, Mitchell Davis 1, Nick Walker 1, Toby Tornay 1, Myles Walkington 1.
Florida: Unknown.
BEST PLAYERS
New York: Scott McMaster, Dave Wittmer, Walt Lin, Andy Brennan, Chris Georgiou.
Florida: Cameron Freeman, Aaron OBrien, Connor Morton, C.J. Morton, Alex Mirakian.
Field Umpires: Bruce Rogers, Michael Payne.
