Match of the Round
Woy Woy 2 – 4 East Gosford
Woy Woy and East Gosford produce another great battle as the Roosters almost completed a tremendous comeback, but the Rams remained too strong to talk home all three points.
Following another rained-out weekend and coming to the business end of the season, Ricky Sansom and his squad knew there was a need to turn up, and they did.
From the start, the intensity was there and it didn’t take long to pay off when a great ball was slipped behind the defence for Oliver Vanderslot to round the opposition keeper and slot home to give his side the lead.
Woy Woy’s build play was consistent as the half went on, but a few fundamental errors cost the home side dearly as the Rams were able to find themselves 3-0 up at the break.
After scoring their first goal, East Gosford maintained a high intensity with the Woy Woy box being peppered with some great crosses which they just couldn’t convert.
However, the pressure told on Woy Woy and with around ten minutes remaining in the half, Mitchell Wilson-Thomas was bought down on the edge of the box and the freekick was placed in the right-hand corner to double their lead.
Straight from the kickoff, East Gosford regained possession and moved the ball forward quickly as Aydin Ercan fired home off the post to take the game to 3-0 to conclude the opening 45 minutes.
Halftime saw Woy Woy discuss the simple errors that they made and where they could definitely improve on to get back into this game as the team remained confident they could turn it around despite being three goals down.
For East Gosford, Ricky reminded his boys they have been here before and sometimes can start the second half slow.
Starting slow is exactly what happened as Woy Woy came out blazing, scoring two goals within the first 15 minutes to take the contest to 3-2.
Thankfully for the Rams, they have learnt over this season and stabilised the game well with some great movement and then some great work down the left found Aydin again in the box and he made no mistake to make it 4-2.
The game then went from end to end with both keepers being involved heavily in the game, but the Rams remained disciplined enough to control the game and take out the three points.
“A very pleasing performance in a very important game, this did show how we have matured this year,” voiced Ricky.
“Woy Woy as I said never give up and just keep coming so the game is never over, good luck to them for the remainder of the year.”
Neal Morris also spoke on the contest, commending the opposition on the win. “Full credit to East Gosford, they are a good quick side and can see why they have done well this season.”
“Our second half effort was solid and much improved from our first half effort and gave us every chance at 3-2, but it’s always hard to come back from three-nil down and that’s what killed us, but we learn from that, we are not done and will fight out the last three games throughout the squad to stay in MPL. Big game against Killarney next week at home.”
Neal also gave praise to three of his players who played multiple games on Sunday. “Special mentions to Nathan Baker, Brady Holmes and Lachie Russell who played lots of extra minutes in other grades.”
Match Official – Des Patch
The Entrance 2 – 2 Avoca
These two sides met for the second time this season but shared the same results as their first encounter earlier in the year as both teams were forced to split the points after an intense back-and-forth contest.
In front of their home crowd and looking for a fast start after failing to pick up a result in their lower two grades, the Entrance took the lead with a well-taken goal by Noah Wharton who picked a good time to grab his opening goal of the year.
Despite their fast start, The Entrance failed to hold onto their lead and went into the sheds down 2-1 at halftime.
Jackson Carr got the Sharks back on level terms thanks to a fantastic header, followed by an excellent finish low across the keeper by Tyler Wade which gave the visitors the lead after the opening period.
Avoca entered the second stanza looking to further extend their lead as they created a handful of half-chances and also hit the post with one of their efforts, but the Reddies stayed in the game, fighting until the final whistle.
The Entrance’s hard work paid off when they were fairly awarded a penalty and a golden opportunity to get back on level terms with the opposition.
Goal scorer Noah Wharton stepped up for his side from the spot and calmly finished to see his side walk away with a crucial point to their name.
“Good match with the same outcome as in the first meeting this season. Avoca had several near misses as they sought the winner but just could not score,” vocalised Neal Hide.
Match Official – Anthony Kabbout
Berkeley Vale 8 – 0 Wyoming
Berkeley Vale put together another masterclass performance this past weekend when they finally got to play their make-up game from round 1, picking up their second 8-0 win this season.
The game started fairly even with some minimal chances for the Wombats. Wyoming never really threatened other than some set pieces which the home side handled quite comfortably.
After Berkeley Vale scored their first goal, they got better as the game went on and were able to score the second one soon after the first.
Wyoming had a great chance to get on the score sheet and make it 2-1 to keep the contest interesting but were unable to capitalise as Berkeley Vale made the most of their chances at the other end of the pitch and finished the first half with a convincing 4-0 lead, ultimately sealing the win in the first half.
A further flurry of goals in the second half saw Berkley Vale record another empathic 8-0 win as the opposition Wyoming falls to the bottom of the Club Championship ladder with just three rounds left to play.
Ashton Hurley, Kane Woolston, Tristan Bellmore, and Nick Trengrove all recorded a goal to their name while Jakob Brownlow recorded the remaining four goals to take his tally of the year to 12 and jump into first on the MPL Golden Boot Standings.
“Finally, we got to play our make-up game from round 1 to even out the games played on the table. My team was super focused and ready to play Wyoming knowing that it will be nothing like the game we played before as players from Wyoming returned from overseas,” voiced Andre Gumprecht.
Andre also expressed his joy with his side’s dominant performance as they move up the ladder. “At half time I communicated the importance of continuing pressurising Wyoming to make sure we not conceding any goal. My team did extremely well to score another four goals with some of the goals being the best goals I’ve seen this season.”
“I am very happy for the team to get our well-deserved three points to climb up the ladder into third spot.”
Match Official – Damien Bury
Golden Boot Standings –
| 12 | Jakeb Brownlow (Berkeley Vale), |
| 11 | Tim Knight (Killarney), Logan Moore (Kanwal), Kane Woolston (Berkeley Vale) |
| 9 | Jacob Lepre (Southern), Andy Klijn (Killarney) |
| 7 | Keith Gumbs (Southern), Cooper Ebrington (Avoca), Nathan Baker (Woy Woy), Tristan Bellmore (Berkeley Vale), Charlie Entwistle (East Gosford), Oliver Vanderslot (East Gosford) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
Division 1
Results –
Points Table –
Club Championship –
