By Jon Huddleston 

A 3a/4a/5a hybrid team enjoyed an ultimately comfortable 5-0 victory over Southgate Adelaide on the water on Saturday.
After keeper Veysel Demir had skilfully shut down a couple of promising early Adelaide attacks, an unfamiliar defence of Scott Ramsey, Jon Huddleston, Neil Murphy and Mark Thomsett began to gel and snuff out the opposition attack. By the second half this had developed into almost total ascendancy.

Scott had a superb performance on the left, and, with a sensational performance by Kiran Ghosh on the right, Gate dominated the flanks and launched attack after attack on the Adelaide goal.

With the experience in defence, and the masterful control of central midfield by Antony Spencer, Gate could allow their youthful and skilful midfield and attack to dictate the game. Guy Garner was his usual dominant self in midfield and weighed in with a couple of lovely strikes either side of half time.

With a tenacious Daniel Spencer and Alex Hyer in support in midfield snuffing out the Adelaide side each time they broke in numbers, Gate comfortably added a second before the break when Hyer was quick to pounce as the ball broke in the D.

The second half was all Southgate attack and it was a pleasure to watch the young guns marshal the short corners while the ‘old(er) guard patrolled the halfway line.

Up front, Nayan Bhundia, Freddie Trathen, Cam Clayton-Smith and Leo Garner were a constant handful, turning the defence inside out. It was Leo who came up with the goals, the second a lovely tomahawk that flicked up over the helpless keeper.

So a well-deserved 5-0 win and some great performances all round. From a captain’s perspective, Veysel was crucial early on, Guy was immense all over the pitch and Kiran was faultless as he launched attack after attack down the right and through the middle but MOTM was probably Scott, who was simply everywhere, clinical in both defence and attack, and a nightmare to track by the Adelaide team.