Toukley 1 – 6 Doyalson
Our Division One Match of the Round for round two occurred on Harry Moore Oval, where the Toukley Gorokan Gunners faced off against the Doyalson Wyee Wolves.
It was an exciting prospect on paper, as both sides emerged victorious in round one, but ultimately, the visitors were decisive victors with a nearly flawless performance, sending them into second on the ladder.
Doyalson played on the front foot from the get-go, pressing high and causing the Toukley defence trouble. As such, it didn’t take long for the first goal to come.
As the ball made its way to the Toukley backline inside their half, a miscommunication occurred, seeing only Doyalson’s Karl Gavin running behind the line to gather it. Gunners’keeper Robert Ryan came to the edge of the box but decided against rushing directly to the ball, so Gavin calmly slid it past him in the open space for a score of 1-0 only 4 minutes into the contest.
This would quickly become a theme in the match as Doyalson constantly looked to play through balls behind the Toukley defence, making for a long game for two of their defenders, Sebastian Ceolin and Jack Rodgers, who valiantly battled with the Wolves’ forwards throughout the game.
The next chance would come moments later when Doyalson’s Jason Smith found himself in space down the left flank. He drove in and got his shot off, but Ryan made a tidy save to his left, and the defence cleaned it up.
This was an ominous beginning for Toukley, who couldn’t keep up with the sheer pace Doyalson were playing at; almost everyone was in constant motion for the visitors, leaving the Gunners scrambling to keep up with the speed of their transitions.
Soon enough, the Wolves doubled their ascendancy. It came when their captain, Jamie Bartlett, put in a perfect freekick from the left just wide of the box out to the far post, where he found the head of his centre-back, Jyden Vella, who got to it in the crowded box and sent it towards goal. For a moment, it appeared Ryan had managed to trap the ball on the line, saving the chance, but it was just over, and the score became 2-0.
Not long later, two would become three when a rapid counterattack down the right flank from Smith ended with a picture-perfect ball across the face-off goal to the feet of a storming Callum Lee, who powered it home first time from the left side of the box into the top of the net for 3-0.
The Toukley attack was struggling to find any flow, and despite the efforts of Adam Blanco in the middle, who was constantly looking for passes forward, nothing was coming.
This defensive dominance came from the Wolves’ back three of Vella, Christopher Gavin, and Toby Williams, who stopped the Gunners at every turn.
But they would not keep a clean sheet. Choosing to throw more bodies forward in a desperate attempt to claw a goal back, Toukley would finally make some progress going forward.
Blanco found Dean Pepper down the right wing and played a ball into the box that Wolves keeper Josh Masters cleaned up at the near post.
Still, this marked a change in proceedings for the hosts, and the goal would come.
It came from a freekick taken by Pepper, the 2024 men’s player of the season in Division One. Positioned centrally and just at the edge of the final third, you couldn’t fault Pepper if he opted to chip the ball to a teammate. Instead, he took a shot. It was a low effort aimed just inside the right post. It appeared that Masters had it comfortably under control, but he fumbled the ball, and suddenly it was in the net, making the score 3-1 just 32 minutes into the match.
Toukley would have one more chance, but in a great show of determination from Doyalson, they kept it out. It arrived in the final seconds of the half when Zachary Hewitt arrived through on goal, only to have his shot blocked by an outrushing Masters. The ball deflected straight into the Gunners’ midfield, where a chip was attempted instantly and weighted perfectly to sail into the empty net, if not for Gavin, who sprinted to the goal line and headed the ball over the crossbar.
That was enough for halftime, with the hosts ruing their slow start still behind at 3-1.
Doyalson started the second half just as fast as the first, finding their fourth goal in the 49th minute with more brilliant creative work from Smith.
It was another counter from Doyalson, with Smith rapidly receiving the ball in transition down the right flank, where he had the space to drive. Smith took some space before playing a perfect through ball to Jamie Witherspoon centrally, who ran through to be one-on-one with Ryan. The keeper attempted to rush the ball, but Witherspoon stayed calm and slotted it past him to make it 4-1.
Toukley was now attacking with everything they had. Zach Ristov and Zachary Hewitt ran down the flanks, looking for a way through, yet the Wolves’ defence remained resolute, and they would earn the fifth goal with a clearance.
A freekick taken by Pepper swung into the box and was instantly smashed out long by Doyalson towards halfway, where Lachlan Bellenger was waiting. Bellenger turned his man and ran onto the ball in open space one-on-one with the keeper, who had a lot of open space in front of him. Ryan rushed towards the ball, but Bellenger just had too much time and effortlessly chipped it over him into the net for 5-1.
The visitors were happy to play exclusively on the counter now, and Toukley would have the bulk of possession for the rest of the game. They had a couple of opportunities pulled back for offside, but soon enough, Bellenger would be through on goal again.
This time, the striker had no one near him as the Toukley defenders stopped to protest that he was offside. The flag stayed down, and Bellenger completed the rout. After a short cat-and-mouse game with Ryan in the box, he put it into the net, and it was 6-1.
Fulltime would follow, and the visitors emerged emphatic victors, leaving them and Umina as the only teams perfect through two rounds this season.
Speaking with Toukley coach Peter Ward after the match, he noted his side’s slow start and the limited chances they had to get back into the contest.
“We missed the start, and we couldn’t wrestle it back,” Ward said.
“They are a big physical side, and they got the momentum.
“I thought if we scored that goal to 3-2 just on halftime we would have some momentum in the second half, but they got one early on us, and we couldn’t wrestle it back.”
Meanwhile, Doyalson captain Jamie Bartlett was thrilled with his side’s dominant victory and noted the important role his defence played in securing it.
“Coming off the back of a gritty win against last season’s premiers Gosford in round one, we came into what’s always a tough local derby against Toukley,” Barlett began.
“We started strong with three goals in 20 minutes.
“We may have scored six, but I’m most impressed with how we defended. Limiting Toukley’s chances is hard on any day, especially at Harry Moore Oval”.
Match Official – Michael Tohme
Written by Mark Goodyear
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