Woy Woy 4 – 1 The Entrance
Our Match of the Round in Men’s Division 1 for round 12 took place between the Woy Woy Roosters and The Entrance Bateau Bay Eagles on Austin Butler Oval yesterday afternoon.
In the end, it was an excellent performance from the hosts, who took a big lead early that proved too much for the Eagles to overcome.
The match began with three goals in quick succession for the Roosters as their high press troubled The Entrance defenders in the early stages.
The opening goal came from the penalty spot after Brendan Saunders charged down the left flank before cutting it back to Mark Smith, who was fouled in the box.
Trent Butler stepped up to take the spot kick and made no mistake, sending the ball home with a low and powerful strike into the right side of the net for 1-0
Almost instantly after Woy Woy would double their ascendancy when Erik Vermeulen took the ball to the left edge of the box before shooting optimistically from his wide position, his strike was a good one, deflecting off the Eagles’ defenders and throwing off Zaric Jones in the goal for the visitors, allowing the ball to sneak into the net at the near post for 2-0.
Two would become three all before 10 minutes were up, as Woy Woy scored their flashiest goal of the day to cap off their terrific start.
Smith began the movement for the third goal as he took on defenders just in from the right wing, making space for Tal Ben-David to overlap him on the flank. Smith played the overlap and cut into the box where Ben-David would send it back to him, allowing the midfielder to instantly shoot and make it 3-0 with what was a very classy goal.
The Entrance would do whatever they could to steady the ship from here and almost had a wonderous goal when Jack Watson sent in a left-sided corner that struck the crossbar, but they didn’t create anything much better than that.
Meanwhile, the Roosters had a golden opportunity to make it four when Jackson Browne latched onto a loose ball at the back from The Entrance, putting him one-on-one with Jones, but his strike hit the post.
Not long after, the keeper would be under pressure again when Smith cut into the box from the right and found himself with space in the area; he shot, but this time, Jones made a good save, and his defence cleared.
The pressure was mounting, and The Entrance soon faced another setback. This time, it occurred when Jones left his box to receive a back pass from his defence. Once he reached the ball, Saunders pressed to steal it from him and slipped by before rolling it into the empty net from distance on the left wing, making the score 4-0.
If this onslaught had continued, it could have been a long and arduous afternoon for the visitors, but they would finally stem the flow of goals and drag the game to halftime.
Just before the break, the Eagles would have one chance. It arrived when Joshua Rose, down the left for the Eagles, played a lovely ball into the path of Oliver Mann to his right. It was the first time they had managed to get fully behind the Woy Woy defence all half, but his shot went over the bar.
Halftime soon followed, with the hosts taking a commanding 4-0 lead into the sheds with them as they looked to move into fourth place.
The Entrance came out in the second half with much clearer intent, and with the help of some fresh legs off the bench, they began to take the game to the Roosters in search of anything to add to their names on the scoresheet.
Their first chance came through Levi Nielsen, who found himself with time and space just in from the left, but Angus Fotheringham handily saved his shot in goals for Woy Woy.
Woy Woy knew they could afford to take risks, so they often kept their line high up in possession. However, Butler, at centre-back for the Roosters, always got back to hassle the Entrance attackers when they countered; he had a great game in defence.
The Eagles would get behind this high line on a couple of occasions though, and a great combination began to form between Rose down the left and Indy Hough down the right as the A-League veteran produced a couple of fantastic switches that left the Roosters scrambling.
A chance would come between these two that was started by Jackson Whitfield, who charged down the right wing and beat his man as he got towards the byline, once there he got the ball into the box to Rose, who laid it back to Hough on the penalty spot, but his shot went just over the bar.
Soon after, The Entrance would claw one back through Rose, who produced a brilliant strike from the edge of the box just to the left of the posts that sailed into the top of the net for 4-1. It was one of the first opportunities of the game that granted Rose both space and time to shoot, and he took it perfectly.
The visitors would continue to push, but Woy Woy would not allow them to shrink the gap any further as they began to put their foot back on the gas just enough to slow The Entrance down.
One final chance went the Eagles’ way when Rose found Nielsen in the box, but the Roosters were determined not to concede again and got back to block the shot.
A fifth goal nearly came for the hosts. Vermeulen got it around Jones in the box, but he was wide right and deep, so the shot wasn’t on, and his ball across the face of goal sailed out past the far post.
Full-time would follow soon after seeing Woy Woy take fourth spot on the ladder as they begin to build some momentum in this middle period of the season.
Speaking with Woy Woy coach Thomas Macerola after the match, he expressed his pleasure with his side’s performance and highlighted the importance of bouncing back from their 2-0 loss to Kincumber in the previous round.
“With a few players out through injury, we experimented with a few players roles —and it paid off. The boys came out firing, eager to make a statement after last week’s result, and quickly took control of the game.” Macerola said.
“We set the tempo early with high energy and took a 4-0 lead early in the first half, though we could’ve been even more clinical in front of goal.
“As expected, The Entrance responded after the break, making the second half a tighter contest.
“While the team was disappointed not to keep a clean sheet, it was a performance that showed what we’re capable of”.
Written by Mark Goodyear
Round 12 Results –
