Ben Homer

Broadmeadow Magic 4 (Virgili 4’, Bradbury 16’, Sichalwe 52’, Paul 84’) defeated Lambton Jaffas 2 (Majurovski 21’, Wood 29’)

Arthur Edden Oval

Saturday 25^th June, 2.30pm

Broadmeadow Magic all but ended Lambton’s hopes of a fourth consecutive finals appearance in the PlayStation® 4 National Premier League Northern NSW in the Match of the Round on Saturday. The loss leaves the Jaffas stranded on eight points and needing at least seven wins from their final eight matches if they are to make the finals.

After their most important win of the season last Sunday in the Westfield FFA Cup against Hamilton Olympic, Lambton were sluggish in the opening 15 minutes and Magic took full advantage. James Virgili cut inside the right edge of the box and rolled his shot across Brad Swancott for the opening goal after just four minutes.

Ten minutes later Magic doubled their lead when Kale Bradbury – after receiving a pinpoint pass from Michael Kantarovski – cut inside the left edge of the box and stepped several defenders before firing his left foot shot into the bottom right corner.

But, Lambton refused to let the visitors have it all their own way. Kevin Davidson played a lovely ball over the top of Magic’s defence to find his captain John Majurovski, who went one-on-one with Nick Hartnett and calmly slotted his shot.

It was Davidson again with the final pass to get Joel Wood on the scoresheet. This one, straight through the heart of Magic’s defence to find Wood who turned and slotted his shot to make it 2-2 with not even half an hour gone.

After a topsy-turvy first half, the sides went it locked up at two goals apiece.

Magic started the second half much like the first, with an early goal. James Virgili dodged and weaved down the right side before playing a cross right to the feet of Paul Sichalwe who couldn’t miss from point-blank range to make it 3-2.

For the next half hour, the match was on a knife's edge with Brad Swancott pulling off some brilliant saves for Lambton and Nick Hartnett for Magic, where the latter stopped a goal-bound header from Michael Williams following a Lambton corner.

It was Magic’s day though and Shane Paul made sure of it when he cut down the left edge of the box, ran down the by-line and finished with his right boot into the right corner to put the nail in the coffin.

Magic co-coach Bobby Naumov was disappointed his side didn’t take more of their chances.

“We were disappointed with the chances we had, we could have made it easier on ourselves today. To be honest it was probably the deserved result. There was probably a period of 15 to 20 minutes where they scored their goals and got back in the game. They’re a dangerous side, but we just made it harder on ourselves by not taking our chances.”

Lambton coach James Pascoe lamented his side’s slow start.

“You can’t give a good team like Magic a two-goal start and we certainly did that today. It’s hard to put your finger on why. Maybe a little bit of fatigue from last week? But I didn’t see any of it at the week at training.”

“It’s hard to come back from two goals down against a good side but I think [the comeback] just took the last little bit of gas out of us.”

Magic meet Weston next weekend at home, while Lambton meet Weston mid-week in the catch-up match from round 9 and then will face a Westfield FFA Cup rematch against Hamilton next weekend.

 

Edgeworth Eagles 3 (Hammel 18’, McBreen 50’, Holz 56’) defeated Weston Workers Bears 0

Rockwell Automation Park

Sunday 26^th June, 2.30pm

Edgeworth inflicted more pain on Weston, extending their winless run this season, while at the same time taking back the top spot on the ladder from Hamilton Olympic.

Edgeworth missed two penalties in the match, the first just before half-time from Daniel McBreen who blazed his over before Benn Kelly saved Bren Hammel’s penalty in the second half. They were the only negatives for the Eagles who dominated much of the contest.

Edgeworth hit the front after 18 minutes when Aden Gardner played a pass from Weston’s goal line into the back of a defender. The ball fortuitously fell for Dylan Holz who fired a shot from point blank range which was brilliantly saved by Weston keeper Benn Kelly. However, the parry fell towards Bren Hammel who poked home into the empty net.

With a 1-0 lead at the break, the Eagles struck immediately on resumption when Dom Bizzari played a long ball from the centre of defence to Daniel McBreen just inside the box, who headed home just before Kelly was able to punch the ball to safety. McBreen was somewhat ginger from his head’s collision with Kelly’s fist but played on.

Edgeworth’s third came less than ten minutes later when Bren Hammel found space down the right and played a low cross to Dylan Holz who had too much space for his marker Robbie Turnbull to make it 3-0.

Edgeworth coach Damian Zane thought his side ‘did enough’ for the victory.

“I though we were fairly dominant. I can’t remember them having too many chances in all honesty. We missed two penalties so it probably could have been more.”

Zane was glowing in praise of Aden Gardner.

“Aden was phenomenal. He’s straight into the ‘’Brody Taylor’ mould. Every time he lost the ball he won it back. Some of the stuff he did was real quality.”

Weston coach Trevor Morris was happy with the heart his side put into the match.

“We showed a lot of character and a lot of ticker against what is, in my opinion, the best team in the competition. They were ruthless. They pressed us from the first minute to the last. It could have been a cricket score if we didn’t work hard.”

“I take my hat off to Edgeworth. They work so hard and all the luck they get; they work so hard for it. We’ve just got to work hard to turn it around. As I said at halftime, they missed a penalty. You’ve got to thrive off that, you’ve got to say ‘this is our day.’ That is a cue to say ‘let's get excited, let’s go.’ But, unfortunately, we made some poor decisions and some bad mistakes that cost us goals.”

Edgeworth play midweek against Adamstown before meeting the Jets on the weekend, as do Weston who plays Lambton on Wednesday before backing up against Broadmeadow next Sunday at Magic Park.

 

Valentine Phoenix 1 (Marpu 20’) defeated Maitland Magpies 0

Cooks Square Park

Sunday 26^th June, 2.30pm

Valentine continued their strong run of form lately with a tight win over Maitland at Cooks Square Park. The Magpies have now lost 3 of their last 4 matches and haven’t won since round 7.

The only goal came when Ridge Marpu flew onto the ball after Matt Comerford failed to control it just inside his own half. Marpu showed pace and agility as he made a beeline for the goals dodging and weaving in-between defenders before going one of one with Matt Trott and slotting his shot into the top right corner.

Maitland was unable to find an equaliser and have only scored two goals in their last four matches. Coach Steve Piggott was blunt in his assessment.

“Valentine deserved the victory. We couldn’t find a goal and I don’t know where we are going to get one from.”

“Our focus this week was setting up our backline and then focusing on how we are going to get the ball wide and get balls into the box to our striker.”

“Unfortunately, we lost our big striker about 12 minutes into the game, Ben Martin. He came off with a sore back and we lost our presence in the last third after that. But, let's give full credit to Valentine, they stopped us from scoring.”

Valentine Assistant Sam Griffin was very happy with his sides showing.

“It probably won’t go down on the highlight reels for either side. But, it was the clean sheet we were after and if we can play ugly and win 1-0 I’m fine with that. It probably the first time we have put two good 45 minute halves together.”

“When we play a good 45 we usually keep the other team scoreless, it's just the other half that kills us. We finally did it for two halves in a row, and low and behold a clean sheet and a win.”

Maitland meet Charlestown next weekend in the ‘Match of the Round’ while Valentine meets Adamstown at home.

 

Hamilton Olympic 1 (Goodchild 7’) drew with Adamstown Rosebuds 1 (Read 24’ (P))

Adamstown Oval

Sunday 26^th June, 2.30pm

Adamstown continued their mid-season resurgence against Hamilton Olympic on Sunday when they played out a tense 1-1 draw. Olympic took an early lead but were unable to hold on as Alex Read equalised for Adamstown.

Kane Goodchild made it ten goals for the season after just seven minutes when Rhys Cooper found him at the back post, after a well-weighted cross from the right edge.

But, as Adamstown showed against Broadmeadow two weeks ago, they are fighters. Grant Brown was the villain when he fouled Chris Berlin in the box. Alex Read smashed his penalty down the middle to lock it all up inside 25 minutes.

Both sides had some great chances in the second, with Danny Ireland pulling off some brilliant saves in the second half to keep the match deadlocked.

Adamstown coach Graham Law was ‘gutted that we drew that game.’

“Danny Ireland was outstanding. He made a save from our header late on look easy. That’s just what you get with Ireland. In the second half, he made some great saves.”

“Four weeks ago after the Jaffas game we got beat 5-0 and I thought it was a turning point and people though I was mad. But since then we beat Weston and have drawn with Magic and now Hamilton.”

In regards to their chances of making a run towards the finals, Law was unsure.

“I think the number of points that will be the cut off in qualifying for the finals will be around 29 or 30 points. It might be a bit beyond us now. But, we’ll see how we go.”

Adamstown plays Edgeworth away midweek before playing Valentine away next weekend. Hamilton meet Charlestown midweek at home before playing Lambton next Sunday at Darling Street again.

 

Jets Youth 4 (Brymora 9’, 74’, Joice 25’, Horsley 85’) defeated Charlestown City Blues 0

Lisle Carr Oval

Sunday 26^th June, 2.30pm

Charlestown’s poor run of form and the Jets Youth’s hot streak continued at Lisle Carr Oval on Sunday in the PlayStation® 4 NPL, with the Jets running out resounding winners 4-0.

It marks the Blues fourth defeat in succession, while it is the Jets third win on the trot. It took just ten minutes for the Jets to hit the front. The ball went from one side of the box to the other, catching Charlestown keeper Nathan Archbold out of position. Tom Waller’s cross from the left side found Krisitan Brymora in the middle of the box who slotted into an empty net.

Fifteen minutes later the Jets doubled their advantage through Cameron Joice. Byrmora’s cross from the right found an unmarked Joice at the back post who sent Archbold the wrong way for another easy finish.

The match remained scoreless for much of the second half before the Jets put the result beyond doubt in the 75^th minute when Cody Carroll found space down the left and played a pinpoint cross to Brymora who hit home on the half-volley for a 3-0 lead.

The final nail in the coffin was put in ten minutes later when Cody Carroll – with his back facing goal on the right edge – spun and played a cross to Charlie Horsley at the back post who put his shot in behind the oncoming Archbold.

Jets coach Clayton Zane was impressed by the improvement his side has shown over the course of the season.

“We’re scoring a lot of goals which is really good, but the big thing is keeping the clean sheets now. We’ve cut out the individual errors at the back. Having a bit of pressure of the back four, we’ve got a couple of boys playing in the 18s who can’t get into the team. There is that pressure on people to keep their positions, which is helping.”

“Charlestown threw everything at us in the first twenty minutes. They played heaps of long balls and went really direct to the two up top. That was the most pleasing thing, the way we dealt with the long balls. The two at the back today were really good, they won their duals and competed for everything.”

Next week Charlestown play Maitland in the ‘Match of the Round’ while the Jets play Edgeworth in what is sure to be a cracking match as well.