Report by Tristan Wheeler

 

Cockburn City stole an away win at Securitas Protect Stadium on Saturday afternoon, beating Mandurah City 1-0 in a hard-fought and controversial game.

The deciding goal came when Cockburn City forward Liam Murray beat Mandurah defender Oscar Thompson in the air, stealing the ball and calmly slotting home in the 87^th.

Cockburn coach Scott Miller felt his side deserved the win.

“They were the better team all day,” he said.

“For all their height, they (Mandurah) huffed and puffed but they never, even with the extra man, they never dominated, and we still did well.”

Mandurah coach Doug Hesketh was disappointed with the result.

“We controlled the play for most of the game and got most of our decisions right, unfortunately our opposition got all of their decisions right, but that’s football,” he said.

Hesketh urged his troops to regroup and hoped that they would have more luck going forward, after an improved showing this week.

Both teams opened the match in an attacking mood, flooding their oppositions’ box with crosses in the early minutes. Both teams dealt effectively with the attacking threat, with few chances eventuating in the first half.

The only real chance of the first half came in the 22^nd minute when Alexander Grayson’s shot hit a Cockburn defender and deflected onto the crossbar and out for a corner.

The second half began in a similar vein to the first, with neither side creating clear-cut chances in the opening minutes. In the 52^nd minute, a deflected header just missed the back post of Cockburn’s goal, and Ryan Francis missed the follow-up.

Controversy arose in the 58^th, with the game’s first red card going to Joshua Kuser, who lashed out against a Mandurah player during a set play. The referee consulted his linesman before sending Kuser off.

Mandurah took advantage of the sending off and began to press their advantage. Grayson had another shot go just wide of the goal in the 63^rd.

Captain Andrew Brown was clean through on goal in the 72^nd but was denied by an excellent last-ditch sliding tackle.

Cockburn had started to utilise a counter attack strategy, with Cameron Edwards going close in the 74^th. His low shot was saved by Bradley Eiffe.

Despite being a man down, it was Cockburn who took the lead. A back pass lead Eiffe to sky the ball into the wind. Murray would win the ball from Thompson and shoot low into the goal to hand Cockburn the lead in the 87^th.

Desperate to equalise, Mandurah pushed forward, spending a majority of the final minutes in the Cockburn half.

Cockburn captain Euen Grant received his second yellow for a shirt pull, leaving Cockburn to hold out with 9 players for the remainder of the half.

Desperate defence saw them cling to the lead and rebound from last week’s heavy defeat.

 Mandurah, despite showing improvement, has only garnered 2 points in their first 8 matches, leaving them 4 points adrift of 13^th placed Subiaco. They have an opportunity to cut that gap to one point when they play Subiaco away next week.

 

 

Mandurah City 0

Cockburn City 1 (Murray 87).

Sunday, April 8, 2017

Securitas Protect Stadium

Kick-off: 3:00 pm.

Referee: Nico Hoyle                                 

Assistant Referees:  Anthony Walsh, Callum Haddow.

Mandurah City: 1. Bradley EIFFE, 2.Oliver MCGEE, 3. Jeffrey BRIGHT 4. Matthew STARES, 6. Oscar THOMPSON (Mitchell FIRTH 89), 7. Jack EADES, 8. Andrew BROWN, 9.Sean TROUP (17. Oriol FERNANDEZ 46), 10. Jordan RHODES, 11. Ryan FRANCIS, 14.Alexander GRAYSON (16.Joseph O’BRIEN 85).

Substitutes not used: 5. Mark MCLAUGHLIN, 21. Cyril SHARROCK.

Yellow Cards: Rhodes 78.

Red Cards: nil.

 

Cockburn City: 1.Luke RADONICH, 2.Joshua KUSER, 3.Daniel DOLS, 4.Euen GRANT ©, 6.Reuben TRISTAO, 7. Ali GHOLAMI, 8.Cameron EDWARDS, 11.Harry O’BRIEN, 14.Liam MURRAY, 16.Calvin WHITNEY.

Substitutes not used: 9. Losene DULLETT, 12. Kenel MOUITHYS, 13. Blake ADAMS 15. Damien ROBINSON.

Yellow Cards: Grant 79.

Red Cards: Kuser 58, Grant 92.