ROAR A DOMINANT FORCE

23 February 2015

Shepparton News - Matthew Galea

COBRAM ALWAYS IN CONTROL AS IT PUTS ST KEVIN’S AWAY TO MARCH ON IN FFA CUP

Cobram Roar’s march in the FFA Cup continued on Saturday with a 5-1 destruction of St Kevin’s Old Boys.

The state league five side was well out of its depth in the stifling heat of regional Victoria as the Roar dominated the cup tie almost in its entirety.

But still, you can only beat what is put in front of you and Roar playing-coach Adam Gatcum was pleased with the selfless team display and the margin of victory.

‘‘We’re not going to make a big deal of it,’’ Gatcum said.

‘‘Without being disrespectful, the opposition was not up to standard, but it’s a way of getting minutes under our belt while playing competitive games.

‘‘With such a short season,

Break away: if we get three or four games in this, we might end up with 20 competitive games.’’

The gap between the two sides was only made more obvious with two players being unveiled in the Roar line-up.

Former Cobram Tigers Tyler Seabrook and Spiro Vourgaslis were registered just in time to play for the Roar and their pace out wide was a massive bonus.

‘‘Spiro is going to be a big target man for us,’’ Gatcum said.

‘‘He gives you hard work and has an eye for goal and Tyler is a quality young local too.’’

The visiting side actually started off well, but the signs of what was to come were on display early.

A shaky defence and a young goalkeeper gave the Roar plenty of signs of encouragement, and by the time Gatcum put his side 1-0 up with a lovely volley after half an hour, the score probably should have already been 2-0.

Thankfully for Gatcum’s side, it didn’t have to wait long for that score line to become a reality.

Playing at left-back, Justin Smith somehow found himself on the right side of the box, from where he would smash home a lovely finish after a Gatcum shot was blocked.

St Kevin’s hit back in the second half with a direct free-kick, but it was of little consequence as Gatcum scored a second goal after 66 minutes to reinstate the Roar’s two-goal lead.

Seabrook capped his return to Cobram with a scrambled effort after 75 minutes, before a late owngoal wrapped up the final 5-1 score line.

The Roar will welcome state league two outfit Fitzroy SC to Apex Reserve next week.

PHOTO: Adam Gatcum moves Cobram Roar forward.