Match of the Round
Berkeley Vale 4 – 2 Southern & Ettalong
Berkeley responded to their only loss of the season in a strong way, taking down the former league leaders Southern & Ettalong thanks to the returning Jakeb Brownlow who recorded a hat-trick in their 4-2 win.
It was a tense opening to the contest as Southern allowed Berkeley to maintain possession and play with the ball along their backline as the Lions sat in deep and limited the opposition’s attempts at going forward.
The initial 10 minutes worked well for the visitors as they looked to pounce on any mistakes and attack on the counter with numbers and intensity.
However, three goals in quick succession saw a clinical Berkeley Vale take a 3-0 lead with their first of the night coming from a great faint by Brownlow which allowed his teammate Conor Fitzpatrick on goal as Fitzpatrick found the run of Scott McGinley who calmly passed the ball into the back of the net.
Berkeley’s second of the night came just three minutes later when a well-worked play saw a dangerous ball played across the face of goal as Brownlow beat the opposition keeper to the ball and tucked it home for his first of the match.
Brownlow was on the scoresheet for a second time six minutes after grabbing his first as the rapid Ashton Hurley was able to break beyond the Southern line and dribbled around the keeper before cutting it back to Brownlow who swiftly turned and fired into the open net to make it 3-0.
Southern managed to gain some composure and possession as they looked for a way back into the contest.
Thirty minutes into the fixture, Southern were awarded a free-kick in an extremely promising area just outside the 18-yard box. For the second week in a row, Jacob Lepre expertly finished with a well-placed shot to take the contest to 3-1.
Five minutes before the break Southern’s Jameson Flynn was adjudged to have been brought down in the Berkeley box as the official pointed to the spot and awarded the Lions a penalty despite protests from the opposition.
Golden Boot leader Lepre sent the opposition keeper the wrong way to restore the deficit back to one goal to get his side back in the contest and set up an exciting second half.
The second period was a real arm wrestle between two top teams who knew how vital the next goal would be.
Berkeley were awarded a corner 15 minutes into the second half. A deep ball in led to a scramble inside the box as Southern’s Alex Wardle was forced to make a terrific save but the rebound was quickly pounced on by a lurking Brownlow who secured his hat-trick thanks to a header which gave his side some breathing space.
A second yellow card to Charlie Polson saw the visitors Southern reduced to 10 men and from that point Berkeley Vale were content to control possession and see the game out to claim the double over Southern in 2024.
“Just the rebound from the loss the week before that we needed. It was a good week on the training pitch and a return to winning ways,” stated Mark Pratt post-win.
“A disappointing result for us after our recent form, but I was still happy with the attitude my lads,” voiced Matt Page.
“I’m proud of my lads, though we will have to learn from this. You can’t afford to have periods like we did in the first half against anyone in this league, especially against a side like Berkeley Vale.”
“We have to pick ourselves up now for a tricky Woongarrah clash where we try to overturn another result from earlier in the year.”
Page also added, “Full credit to Gumps and the wombats, they took full advantage of our lapses and were clinical in front of goals. Despite their recent dropping of points, I still feel they are competition favourites and they proved that Saturday. All the best to them for the remaining rounds and hopefully we can meet them again later in the year.”
Match Official – Miles Allen-Scott
East Gosford 2 – 4 Kanwal
Only Hylton Moore Oval stood the test of the wet weather for our MPL Fixtures on Sunday as East Gosford and Kanwal went to battle on a soggy, soft pitch that made for slippery conditions.
East Gosford started well out of the blocks enjoying a huge amount of early possession. Moving the ball around well and playing some nice football for the conditions.
Kanwal had a chance to open the scoring in the first few minutes with the ball falling to Noah Hucker in front of goal, but he was unable to convert as he miss-hit his shot.
For the next 20 minutes, neither team created any clear-cut chances until Lucas Dominello was able to secure the opening goal of the contest.
Dominello was played into the box and was able to turn his defender, go across another defender and fire a left-footed strike that took a small deflection and pushed the ball past the outstretched keeper to give the home side the lead.
A few minutes later East Gosford almost doubled their lead with a well-taken free-kick played into the box with the header well saved by Kanwal keeper Kurtis Mahon.
Kanwal would start to get some chances of their own as they worked hard to get themselves into the contest.
From a corner, the ball landed to Noah Hucker who finished well but the goal was disallowed for a handball before his strike on goal.
Kanwal would have a second goal disallowed with the ball flicked onto Logan Moore who rounded the keeper and finished into an empty net only to be disallowed for offside.
In a frantic last five minutes to the half, both teams had chances but neither team could convert as the Rams held onto their slim 1-0 lead after the opening stanza.
Knowing his side can switch off at halftime, Troy Ward spoke about this, and East Gosford came out of the sheds ready to go again.
It took no more than five minutes in the second period to double their lead when a great through ball found Oliver Vanderslot who beat his defender, dribbled to the byline and squared the ball for Lucas Dominello to tap in from close range for his second of the day.
From here Kanwal lifted their intensity and physicality and would have some half chances but couldn’t take advantage until a brilliant ball over the top from Callum Dunkerley found Logan Moore in space.
Moore drove into the box and gave the keeper no chance with a well-placed shot into the bottom corner to restore the deficit to one goal and give the Bulls hope of a comeback.
Kanwal would be on level terms in the 60th minute after a corner played to the back post found an unmarked Callum Dunkerley who made no mistake with his header to level the scores at 2-2.
The game then settled into a midfield battle until Kanwal would gain the lead for the first time in the match on the 77th minute mark with Logan Moore running onto the ball and producing a calm finish to record his brace and give Kanwal a 3-2 lead.
With momentum now on their side, Kanwal would dominate the next ten minutes and eventually double their lead thanks to Evan De Zilva.
Zilva dribbled into the box and from a tight angle played the ball across the box into an East Gosford defender who tried to clear but Zilva was first to follow up and was able to tap the ball into the net to record a 4-2 victory for the Bulls.
Ryan Walker was pleased after the game with the hard-fought win as his side now go top of the ladder. “For the boys to lift and come away with the win from two-nil down on a slippery pitch on a cold wet afternoon shows a great desire and never-die attitude.”
“In previous years that game may have got away from us, but this group of boys have shown something special so far this season. A tough few weeks coming up which will go a long way to defining our season.”
Match Official – Dylan Watson
Golden Boot Standings –
| 11 | Jacob Lepre (Southern & Ettalong) |
| 9 | Logan Moore (Kanwal) |
| 7 | Ashley Henderson (Woongarrah) |
| 6 | Jack Ellwood (Southern), Ty Warby (Budgewoi), Jakeb Brownlow (Berkeley Vale) |
| 5 | Mason Lavery (Kanwal) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
Division 1
Round 11 Results –
Points Table –
Club Championship –
