Match of the Round
Budgewoi 4 – 1 Terrigal
Going into Sunday’s rescheduled round 1 contest against Budgewoi, Terrigal knew a result would take them outright top of the league, and after some positive results including a win Thursday night, confidence was high within the O’lads camp.
However, it was Budgewoi who came flying out of the blocks and within the opening five minutes the home side were up 1-0 after a misjudged cross evaded the defence and allowed Bayley Appo through one-on-one and he ran past the oncoming keeper and finished well into an open net.
Just as the game calmed down, Terrigal went forward for a corner, which Budgewoi cleared and in a flash they broke downfield. A slip in defence from Ryan Pearce allowed Josh Swaddling through on goal with only the goalie in his demise as Swadling finished well into the bottom corner to double Budgewoi’s advantage to 2-0 after 25 minutes of play.
Right on the stroke of halftime, the O’lads were given a chance to get back into the game with a one-on-one of their own after a misplaced clearance, but Haydn Harris couldn’t beat the Budgewoi keeper as the visitors were forced to head into the break 2-0 down.
Coming into the second half Terrigal knew they needed to start hard and fast and get themselves back into the game, but it was more of the same as Josh Swaddling made it 3-0 just minutes after the restart.
As players started to get tired after multiple games in the week, the game started to slow down. That was until Mahkye Brownlie popped up to finish from a corner with 20 minutes to go and give Terrigal a glimmer of hope.
From kick-off, Josh Swadling almost secured his hat-trick after his shot from halfway beat the opposition goalkeeper, but he was denied by the crossbar.
Nonetheless, five minutes after conceding, Budgewoi iced the game with their fourth goal of the evening with Ty Warby also getting on the scoresheet to secure his seventh goal of the season.
An ecstatic Haydn Appo spoke on the win. “Outstanding performance by all the boys across all three grades. We turned up focused and stayed focused today. I know the lads like playing at home, and it was great to win in front of our home supporters.”
“I also acknowledge that Terrigal just played their third game in eight days, and we are about to play our first of three games in six days. It was great to catch up with Pearcy and the Terrigal lads after the match, as I know that that can be tough to do after a loss.”
“It’s a sign of good character and good team spirit, which they have. Obviously, they were disappointed, but take a look at where they are on the table. It’s where we want to be and working hard to get to.”
“A tough day all around for Terrigal, but a fantastic day for Budgewoi,” voiced Ryan Pearce. “Thanks to Haydn and his boys for hosting us at their post-match presentation, it’s great to be able to have a beer and unwind after going to war on the pitch.”
“A really tough day at the office for us, Budgie had our number in all grades and didn’t give us a sniff. We felt flat, but it was made even worse by Appo’s boy’s intensity and being clinical. We can make no excuses for this poor performance. We need to be mentally and physically sharper to compete week in and week out in this comp. With such a fresh squad to grade it’s a really big learning curve for us”
Match Official – Jason Blackwood
Berkeley Vale 4 – 5 Woongarrah
Berkeley Vale let another lead slip against Woongarrah as the Wildcats came from behind to pick up a vital three points and keep their impressive winning run of games alive.
The start of the game was a tight affair with both teams feeling each other out until Woongarrah were awarded a free kick.
Jacob Melling would step up and take the set piece from outside the box, whipping it towards goal with the Berkeley Keeper meeting the ball and parried it away but into an oncoming Berkeley defender that would hit him and rebound into his own goal to give Woongarrah a 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for Berkeley to find a response as Berkley Vale had a corner that was cleared away only for it to be crossed back in finding an unmarked Daniel Rojas who headed home to level the score.
The next 20 minutes was end-to-end before Berkeley were awarded a penalty and a great chance to go ahead. Paul McGinley stepped up for the Wombats and cooly sent the kept the wrong way to give his side the lead.
From kick-off, a wayward back pass was intercepted by Jakeb Brownlow to go one-on-one with the opposition keeper as Brownlow slotted the ball through the legs of the keeper to double Berkeley’s advantage to 3-1.
With 10 minutes left to play in the opening half, another cheap turnover from Woongarrah would result in Berkeley midfielder Josh Cairelli driving towards goal before slotting the ball into the corner of the net to make it 4-1.
Woongarrah was able to pull one back before the break as Jacob Melling once again found himself on a free-kick, this time going himself as he was able to bend the ball up and over the wall and into the net to restore the deficit back to two goals.
The second half was only seven minutes old when a Mathew Johnson header was denied by a fine save at close range from the Berkeley keeper.
Minutes later after some great lead-up play, James Stiffle would receive the ball in the 6-yard box as he beat the rushing defender and poked the ball past the opposition keeper to make it 4-3.
10 minutes later the score was all level after another Berkeley Vale own goal. A dangerous Woongarrah corner came off a Wombat head to find the net as the game was now 4-4.
Woongarrah would go searching for the winner and with 15 minutes of normal time to play they would find it. Another corner would be put into the box for Myles Donnelly to rise above the pack and head home the ball, to not only give his side the lead but also the win.
“You can’t give cheap ball away in your own half against a quality side like Berkeley, they have the players to make you pay for your mistakes and they did,” declared Luke Rogers post-game.
“A much better game from us than the last time we played them but can still improve a lot on that performance. Impressive comeback from my lads. One of the best I’ve been involved in.”
“Sometimes a two-goal lead can be hard to defend and when Woongarrah scored a third in the second half all momentum was in their favour.” Reflected Mark Pratt.
“Congratulations to Luke and the team on their win, tough to give up another game away from home but we need to deal with it and move on.”
Match Official – Anthony Kabbout
East Gosford 2 – 7 Southern & Ettalong
Heading into their clash with the Rams suffering two straight defeats, The Lions bounce back to winning ways with another empathic victory over East Gosford.
The first goal of the afternoon came 10 minutes into the contest when Southern & Ettalong received a free kick in a promising area.
Without their usual set piece specialist Jacob Lepre available for the game on Sunday, Jack Ellwood stepped up for the Lions as his effort on goal left the opposition keeper no chance as he give his side a 1-0 lead.
One became two for the Lions 20 minutes later when a well-worked play down the right flank saw a dangerous ball delivered into the box as the East Gosford defence failed to clear and the ball fell nicely for an unmarked Sam Webb who found the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Down but far from out, East Gosford got one back two minutes after conceding their second as Oliver Vanderslot was played down the right-hand side.
Vanderslot headed directly towards the goal and decided to go himself rather than play the ball across the face of the goal and found the back of the net from an acute angle to give East Gosford hope.
As the half-time whistle loomed, East Gosford had one last attack as a brilliant run from a midfielder saw him placed on goal as he picked out the oncoming run of Ciaran Simmons who converted into the back of the net with his first-time effort to take the score level at 2-2 to conclude the opening period.
Unhappy letting their two-goal lead sip, Southern came out in the second stanza determined to get back in front on the scoreline and it took Matt Page’s men just 3 minutes after the second-half whistle sounded.
After a cheap turnover of possession by the Rams, Southern quickly advanced the ball forward to Nathan Baker who picked out the in-behind run of Brock Van Aalderen who made no mistake of his one-on-one and calmly slotted the ball to the keeper’s left.
The next 30 minutes the game was very cagey as both teams searched for the next important goal. Southern’s keeper made a fantastic save to deny the Rams going back on level terms as the visitors quickly counter-attacked.
The swift counterattack led to Nathan Baker being placed on one goal with only the keeper left in his way as Baker was able to place the ball into the bottom corner and extend Southern’s lead to 4-2.
From the kick-off, another cheap turnover in the middle of the park from East Gosford saw Southern away on goal as Jack Ellwood finished the attack to secure his second of the evening.
With the full-time whistle just minutes away, a long throw-in from Southern’s captain Todd Balneaves found the head of Jack Ellwood who flicked the ball into the back stick which eventually found the goal for his well-deserved hat-trick.
Even further into injury time, Nathan Baker was brought down in the box as Southern were awarded a penalty and an opportunity to take the score to 7-2. Baker stepped up and stoked the ball past the opposition goalie for the game’s final goal of the day.
“I’m proud of the lads today we had a very thin roster for today and the young lads brought in showed they are ready for 1st team football,” stated Matt Page.
“Congratulations to both Brock Van Aalderen and Jack Wilson on strong performances and today was very much an all-round team performance. We tweaked a couple of things at half time and spoke about tidying up in a few areas in which the whole squad bought into and set the platform for a strong second-half performance.”
Page also showed his respect for the opposition. “A special shout out to Troy and his young squad. He has some talented younger players in his roster who will only improve with experience. I’m certain they will accrue more points throughout the season and test all teams in their remaining fixtures.”
“A game totally controlled by Southern,” spoke Troy Ward. “Ellwood was instrumental for them, and we allowed him to dictate their game. They’re too good of a side to let them play like that and they deserved the result.”
“We just weren’t good enough this week. Very disappointing after the effort put in last week. This week we just didn’t work as a team and paid the price for it.”
Match Official – Alexander Robinson
Killarney 4 – 0 Kanwal
Entering the fixture with the chance to reinstate themselves as league leaders, Kanwal came up short on neutral grounds as the Terriers picked up their second clean sheet victory in back-to-back weeks.
Killarney took the lead after an early cross from Ryan Gibson wasn’t cleared properly and fell to the feet of Isaac Broomfield who was making his starting debut in First Grade as Broomfield seized the opportunity and volleyed home from the penalty spot to make it 1-0 in favour of the Terriers.
The game settled back into a midfield battle with Kanwal’s best chance falling to Logan Moore in the 40th minute but he couldn’t loop his shot over the keeper.
Killarney had the last chance of the half with a corner ending up at the back post, but the shot hit the side netting and Killarney went into the halftime break holding their 1-0 lead.
Killarney finally doubled their advantage 15 minutes into the second period after Andy Klijn was brought down in the box and the Terriers were awarded a penalty. Harry Fountain stepped up from the spot and converted to take the match to 2-0.
Ryan Gibson again had his hand in Killarney’s next goal as he was able to turn his defender on the byline and crossed for Darcy Wright to finish from six-yard out to further extend their lead.
With roughly five minutes left to play, substitute Lachy Mackett raced onto a through ball to beat the Kanwal keeper and fire past him to solidify the Terrier’s win with his inaugural First Grade goal.
“A pleasing result made all the better by keeping a clean sheet,” voiced Chris Ackerley who now shifts his focus to Budgewoi.”
“Onto our mid-week game with Budgewoi which will be extremely hard, they beat us in the first round, then Terrigal on the weekend, making it an exhausting week, which we are looking forward to.”
Ryan Walker was disappointed after the game. “For us, this game was very disappointing in terms of the goals we conceded, you cannot switch off in games and the first three goals we conceded stemmed from two throw-ins and a goal kick which is not acceptable.”
“We need to move on quickly and prepare for a big derby match against an inform Woongarrah this weekend.”
Match Official – Preston Lorusso
Woy Woy 0 – 2 Avoca
Avoca snapped their seven-game winless streak and picked up maximum club championship points on enemy territory in what could prove to be a season-changing weekend for the Sharks who look to avoid relegation in 2024.
Not only did Sunday mark Avoca’s second win of the year, but it was also their second clean sheet as the Sharks backline was able to keep Woy Woy at bay for the entire ninety minutes despite Woy Woy having the home-ground advantage.
Dylan Watson and William Fox were the two names on Avoca’s scoresheet. Watson was able to score from the penalty spot for his third goal this season while Fox’s goal served as his inaugural goal of 2024.
Avoca will now look to keep the momentum rolling and complete the double over Woongarrah when they meet mid-week at Pluim Park.
Match Official – Miles Allen-Scott
Golden Boot Standings –
| 11 | Jacob Lepre (Southern & Ettalong), Logan Moore (Kanwal) |
| 9 | Jack Ellwood (Southern & Ettalong) |
| 7 | Ashley Henderson (Woongarrah), Ty Warby (Budgewoi), Jakeb Brownlow (Berkeley Vale), Oliver Vanderslot (East Gosford) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
Division 1
Results –
Points Table –
Club Championship –
