Toukley 5 – 2 Kincumber
Our match of the round this week was one of only three matches to take place on Sunday across both the men’s and women’s first divisions as rain once again ravaged local fixtures across the Central Coast.
Sticking with the men’s division this week, the game was played on a cold, wet, and windy Frost Reserve between the struggling Kincumber side last on the ladder and a side looking to return to form in Toukley.
It was a contest heavily impacted by the conditions, and it saw a resilient Kincumber side slowly run out of steam as Toukley emerged from the mud winners.
With a loss and a draw in their last two games, Toukley surely came into Kincumber turf looking to make a statement against a side still looking for their first win of the season, buoyed by the fact that their prior meeting ended 7-0 in their favour, but in the first half things did not come easy for the Gunners.
The match began with both teams figuring out how to navigate the choppy pitch. As a result, the ball spent much of the first 10 minutes either out over the sidelines or up in the air as players looked to avoid the diverts in the turf.
Soon enough though, both sides accepted that it was too difficult to play through the middle, where the ground condition was the worst. So instead, both opted to play down the wings. Toukley favouring their left and Kincumber taking a dynamic approach, swapping their wingers at times, and constantly looking to play on the counter down whatever side was more open.
The first chance of the game came from this plan when Owen Church, down the Toukley left flank, found Lachlan Tabrett in the box with one of the few great through balls of the game along the ground. Tabrett drove towards goal just left of the posts and attempted to strike it home hard, only for Mylo Kanclerski to make the save of the game getting quickly to his near post to keep the game tied.
However, it wouldn’t remain so long, with Toukley getting their goal from a corner soon after.
Corners were an issue for the Roos all game, and it all began with this one: Church put in a dangerous delivery to the back post that found Alex Humphrey, who got it down to Dean Pepper, who shot it into all the feet across the six-yard box. As both teams tussled for the ball, the first to find some space was Toukley’s Thomas Carlson, who instantly took his chance and smashed it into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
It was here that something seemed to spark in Kincumber, and just when it appeared Toukley would commence dominating the Roos, they showed that this game was far from over.
Despite the conditions, Kincumber now found a way to pick up the pace and so nearly found an equaliser when Shane Annabel and Nathan Doyle combined well down their right to find Mekhi Cansdell-Sherriff in the box to the right of the posts, but his shot curled just by the far post.
This didn’t stop their positive approach, though, and soon enough, it was all even again.
Cansdell-Sherriff again found himself in space, this time centrally and well outside the box. The ball came his way after a poorly cleared corner, and from there, he belted the ball towards goal and over Robert Ryan in the Toukley net to make it 1-1.
As Toukley kicked off again, a stunning back-and-forth took place, and they both scored within a matter of minutes.
The first came almost instantly when Toukley made a break down the right and played it into an unmarked Dean Pepper in the box, who tapped it home to retake the lead 2-1.
Then, not long after, in response, Kincumber tied it all up again when Doyle beat two down the right and got it into Annabel in the box, whose shot was well saved by Ryan but only as far as Mitchell Harding just inside the box, who sent an awkward looking strike low into the left of the goal making it 2-2 in remarkable fashion.
This marked a point in the game when the ground became incredibly slick, and players began to slip. It seemed like the excitement would fade into halftime, but Toukley would push through to find one more answer to the Roos’ resistance, and it came from another corner.
Once again, the ball was put in from the left corner by Church to the back post, where Sebastian Ceolin rose above the pack to head home and make it 3-2 with about 10 minutes to go.
This time, Kincumber had no answer, and Toukley controlled the game as well as they could in the mud to keep the game 3-2 their way at the half.
Although the rain managed to stay away during the game, the conditions were arguably even worse in the second half as what little sunlight there was began to fade and a cold breeze blew over the field.
As a result, the game lost a lot of its back-and-forth excitement as jerseys got progressively more mud-caked, which played perfectly into the Gunners’ hands.
They began to frustrate the Roos, often keeping them penned up in their own half and fouling them or forcing the ball out any time they made a break. It was a smart game plan that suited the conditions, and soon enough, it led them to extend their lead.
It became 4-2 when Max Hewitt got through the line down the Toukley left and played it across the box to Pepper once again, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net, finally cementing Toukley’s lead.
Kincumber would have a handful of half chances, mainly from the solid work of their wingers Doyle and Elliot Harriman, but nothing clear-cut fell their way, and the game slowly ran away from them as Toukley made their lead three.
The final goal of the game came when Pepper attempted to return the favour to Hewitt by squaring it to him in the box. His shot was deflected out to Riley O’Connell, who completed the chance with a savvy strike across himself from the right over the line to make it 5-2.
To close it out from here, Toukley racked up a few yellow cards as they refused to let the Roos counter their high line, and it proved enough to get a hard-fought away win 5-2.
Talking to Kincumber coach Jacob Jones, he noted he was happy with his side’s efforts despite the poor conditions.
“It was a tough game for both teams cause the pitch was pretty rubbish,” Jones said.
“For the most part I was pretty happy with how we went, but lots to build on”.
While Toukley coach Peter Ward was mainly happy to escape the attempted Kincumber ambush in the cold weather.
“I thought that the conditions made it horrible for both teams” Ward Began.
“I just wanted to get out of there with the points to be honest
“Kincumber were good value but, they took it to us, especially in the first half”.
Match Official – Russel Kirkland
Written by Mark Goodyear
Men’s Division 1 Results –
Women’s Division 1 Results –
