MATCH OF THE ROUND
Berkeley Vale 0 – Terrigal 4
Terrigal proves their dominance by beating 2nd place Berkeley Vale with an emphatic 4-0 victory in the Round 6 BPL Match of the Round.
It was an extremely fast start for the reigning Premiers who opened the scoring only 36 seconds into the game as Stuart Adams raced clear down the left flank to cut in and coolly slot home past Berkeley goalkeeper Kyle Lawther to give Terrigal a perfect start to the match. It was 2-time BPL Player of the Year Stuart Adams who caused the home side problems once again when he was brought down in the box and the O’lads were awarded a penalty. Jacob Melling stepped up for his side and dispatched the penalty to give Terrigal a 2-0 lead at the break.
Berkeley Vale continued to struggle in the second half as Terrigal looked to dominate and put the game to bed. In the 52nd minute, Ben Flakus grabbed Terrigal’s 3rd goal of the game when he was able to get past the Wombat’s backline as he drilled the ball hard and low in the far post to give the keeper no chance. Stuart Adamd’s continued to be a constant threat all afternoon and had his hand in Terrigal’s 4th goal when he and Antonio Pace combined to set up Daniel Bird for his 7th league goal of the season as Terrigal walked away from Mingara with a thorough 4-0 win.
That marks Berkeley Vale’s first defeat of the season, coach Mark Pratt labelled the result as a wake-up call for his side. “A comprehensive win by Terrigal, and their best performance of the year according to Marty whilst probably being our worst performance thus far. It’s a good wake up call for our team if we want to compete with Terrigal this year.”
“That was our best performance of the season. We defended well which you must do against Mark’s side, but we dominated midfield, passed the ball well and were a threat going forward all game. The only disappointment of the day was to lose Max Vegter midway through the first half which looks like a bad knee injury. Fingers crossed for him this week and hope that it won’t be long term,” commented Martyn Griffiths.
Kariong 0 – Kanwal 1
Kanwal secures their first win of the campaign beating Kariong on the Cougar’s home turf with a 1-0 win for the Bulls.
Round 6 brought Kanwal down to Kariong Oval for the first time in many seasons, a game between 2 sides both looking for their first win of the season and desperate to gain valuable club championship points. Kanwal began well, dominating possession for large parts of the first half. It was only for a desperate Kariong defence who defended well and an inability by Kanwal to finish off several clear chances, the score remained 0-0 at halftime.
Kanwal continued to dominate possession in the early stages of the second half and were finally rewarded with a goal. A Kanwal set-piece saw the ball delivered into the box and was met by the head of Ryan Gusse whose well-taken effort found the back of the net and gave the Bulls a 1-0 lead. After the initial goal of the match, the game then opened up with Kariong pushing hard for an equaliser. Kariong was unfortunate not to get their goal as one of their effort’s rattled the Kanwal post, the Cougars also had several corners, but the Kanwal defence stopped any chance of a comeback as they stood strong and saw out the game 1-0, delivering Kanwal their first win of the season.
Kanwal’s Ryan Walker was a relived coach after the game after his side secured their opening points and walked away with maximum club championship points. “I was proud of the hunger and desire shown by my team, I was also impressed with the desire shown by Kariong. I believe their first win is not too far away.”
Woongarrah 1 – Wyoming 1
An equalising goal in the dying moments saw Woongarrah salvage a point at home against an unlucky Wyoming side.
Right from the opening whistle, it was an end-to-end game between both sides who played at a high pace. Both teams looked to break down each other by drawing the opposition out of their shape. Wyoming seemed to get on top in the latter part of the first half and a Wyoming counterattack would catch the Woongarrah defence off guard as Ian McAndrew picked out the run from Darren Cooper who magnificently chipped the Wildcats goalkeeper Josh Masters and gave his side a 1-0 lead. Moments before halftime Woongarrah had the perfect opportunity to level the score at the break only for the Woongarrah striker to miss from 6-yards out, Wyoming would take their lead into halftime.
The second 45 minutes of play saw much of the same as the first but this time it was Woongarrah who enjoyed more of the ball as Wyoming were on the back foot and defending for the majority of the second half. Woongarrah thought they had found their equaliser through a corner which found the head Ben Glachan, but his effort was cleared off the line as Wyoming continued to hold on to their 1 goal advantage. With 15 minutes left on the clock, Woongarrah centre-back Mark Harmsworth was shown a red card after a foul on Jared Mcnee saw Harmsworth pick up his second yellow card for the match and his side would have to finish the game with 10 men. Woongarrah continued to throw everything at Wyoming despite being a man down and with only minutes left on the clock, Chris Gavin would finally get the equaliser Woongarrah fought so hard for when a fantastic header from a set-piece beat Wyoming’s keeper Tom Coventry and with that the game finished 1-1.
Wyoming’s Ian McAndrew commended Woongarrah’s efforts for not giving up and walking away with a point. “Credit had to be given to Woongarrah for never giving up and grabbing the late equaliser with ten men.”
“Both sides left nothing in the tank, it was great to see my boys never give up and be rewarded for it. We have to move on now and focus on a tough game next week away to Southern,” commented Woongarrah’s Luke Rogers after the game.
The Entrance 2 – Southern & Ettalong 0
The Entrance overtakes Southern on the ladder after the Reddies were too strong for the Lions in round 6.
In what proved to be a good spectacle of football for the entire 90 minutes, the game began in a bit of an arm wrestle, with both defences dominating and both attacks starting the match a little clunky. The Entrance thought they had the opening goal of the match after 10 minutes of play when a set-piece found Zac Anastas who headed the ball over the Southern keeper and into the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed due to a dubious offside call. Clear cut chances for both sides were at a premium, on the 25-minute mark, Southern’s Michael Tawyer wriggles free of his marker, rode another challenge for an Entrance defender and fired a low drive inched wide of the upright. Southern didn’t take advantage of the numerous chances they created in the first half, and it would prove costly. The score looked to remain level with halftime vastly approaching, a foul was awarded to the Reddies at halfway. Some quick thinking from Matt Johnson allowed Josh Schumann to get on the wrong side of his defender and have a shot on goal that was parried to the feet of Zac Anastas who calmly slotted the ball in the goal to take his side 1-0 up at the half.
The standard of contest rose in the second half, with both sides maintaining a bit more possession and throwing everything at the other end to get that next elusive goal. There were a couple of half-chances for either team, but for the most part, both defences stood firm. On the 65th minute mark, the Entrance brought on attackers Tyson Adams and Mahkye Brownlie to add some impetus on the game. 10 minutes later the two substitutes combined to get the sealing goal. The goal came from Brownlie putting multiple SEU defenders under pressure, forcing a turnover and squaring the ball for Adams, who kept his composure 1-on-1 with the keeper and side-footed the ball into the bottom corner. The Entrance defence remained strong for the remainder of the match as they saw out the game with a clean sheet and a 2-0 win.
“With some injuries to players it offered us the opportunity to give young Brad De Silva his starting debut in First Garde and he did very well on the right side of midfield. All credit to The Entrance for making it difficult for Southern to break them down. Our challenge is now to be patient and devise the best ways to break these well-structured defences down when chasing the game. I was pleased with our performance and effort but disappointed with the result. We now need to focus and be ready to get back to winning ways when we take on Woongarrah at home next Sunday,” stated Southern’s Dale Eggleton post-match.
The Entrance’s Matt Page was thrilled with his team’s performance but states they still are yet to reach their full abilities. “That was a good performance from us today. Southern is a talented side, and even with a few players out, are still dangerous so it was pleasing how well we defended as a unit today. Things are building nicely for us, but we’ve still got a long way to go to reach our full potential.”
Killarney 5 – Avoca 1
Despite conceding first, Killarney reassures their spot in the top 3 after conquering Avoca in front of a home Edsaac crowd 5-1.
Avoca looked to start quickly as they did in the previous round when they scored four first-half goals against Kanwal and the Shark’s done exactly that when Avoca veteran Jake Elder opening the scoring will a well-taken goal on the 13th-minute mark. However, Avoca’s 1-0 lead would only last 10 minutes as current BPL leading goal scorer Ethan Hall beat a defender inside the box and then his left foot shot found the corner of the net to give Killarney their equaliser. That goal marks Hall’s 8th goal of the year, 6 of them coming in his last 3 games. 10 minutes before halftime, Ethan Hall almost got his second of the match but this time his shot was met by the Avoca goalkeeper who could only parry it as far as Killarney’s Tim Knight who was in the right place to tuck home the Terriers second goal of the game and give them a 2-1 lead heading into half time.
Avoca looked to get back on level terms come the second half, but Killarney’s defence saw out any attacking opportunities from the Sharks. It would be a Killarney substitute who would find the Terriers their next goal after great lead up play down the right-hand side was finished off by Nathan Baxter on the 60-minute mark. Nathan Baxter had his hand in Killarney’s next goal as he set up Jordan Preston who scored a volley from 15-yards out to take the game to 4-1. With 5 minutes to go, Nathan Baxter would grab his second of the day and furthermore secure the Killarney side a crucial 3 points as the game finished 5-1.
“We probably deserved a closer scoreline but Killarney shower they are very much a team that should feature in the finals,” added Avoca’s Neal Hide when reflecting on the game.
Killarney’s Chris Ackerley was thrilled with his squad’s performance after the disappointing defeat they suffered last weekend to Southern. “It was a good effort from our boys today after the tough loss to Southern last week. It was pleasing to see two more Killarney juniors in Darcy Wright and Josh Wallace who made their first-grade debuts.”
BPL Leading Goal Scorers –
| 8 | Ethan Hall (Killarney) |
| 7 | Daniel Bird (Terrigal) |
| 5 | Keith Gumbs (Southern) |
| 4 | Jesse Parnell (Avoca), Michael Tawyer (Southern), Bailey Garland (Berkeley Vale), Stuart Adams (Terrigal) |
BPL Points Table –
BPL Club Championship –
BPL Round 7 Fixtures –
Division 1
Round 6 Results –
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Written by Adam Blunden.