Pararoos finish on a high after beating Venezuala 1-0

In Australia’s last International match of the tour they have beaten Venezuela 1-0 in a feisty match in Sant Cugat, Spain.

In Australia-s last International match of the tour they have beaten Venezuela 1-0 in a feisty match in Sant Cugat, Spain.

“The South Americans came out firing and tried to get stuck in, much like Northern Ireland did the other day, but this time, with a few matches under their belt, my players were ready for it” said, Head Coach, Paul Brown.

In the first half, Venezuela had all men behind the ball and only defended their half of the field trying to get Australia on the counter attack. It almost worked, but for the solid defence of Jack Williams, James Turner and safety net, Chris Barty, between the posts.

Both teams were very unlucky not to score in the first half. Australia controlled the flanks , but some desperate defending by the South Americans made it difficult for Jarrod Larkins-Law who was involved in some good combination play with Barber and Kinner.

Both teams went into the half time break thinking that they could win the game, until starters, Jack Williams and Ryan Kinner had to be substituted at half time.

Larkins-Law dropped into the backline to partner Turner and Christopher Pyne replaced Kinner on the wing.

The Australians penetrated well through substitute Connor Marsh and Pyne with Marsh just failing to test the keeper on two occasions.

The South Americans made a substitute obviously trying to take advantage down the Aussie right side. Pyne was replaced by Goodman on the left and pushed forward.

Once again the Venezuelans pushed and threw everything at the Australian backline, but time and time again the Pararoos defended their home third defending one corner after the next. At the 50th minute the South Americans came close after a well-timed free kick was punched away by Barty resulting in another corner.

With ten minutes to go, Australia surged forward playing out of the backs with confidence. Some good combination play through the middle from Barber to Marsh, on the right side, found Pyne making a good angled run to the near post. Under pressure, and from an almost impossible angle, Pyne managed to beat the keeper on the near post to take the Pararoos ahead 1-0.

After the match, Brown said “My players gave everything today and deserved the win. They have got better and better as the week has gone on and it is a shame that we could not replay our first two matches, as I-m sure that the results would be very different. Saying that, a 1-0 loss to Portugal and a 2-0 loss to the USA puts us on track for 2016.”