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BEN HOMER

Match of the Round
Maitland Magpies 7 (M.Thompson 4’, (p) 6’, (p) 45+1’, (p) 62’, Clarke 26’, Martin 72’, (p) 75’) defeated Broadmeadow Magic 0 at Magic Park. 

Maitland delivered a hammer blow to Broadmeadow’s confidence and title hopes as they put seven past a hapless Magic side in the ‘Match of the Round’ on Sunday afternoon.

Matt Thompson scored four including three penalties for his highest individual goal tally since joining the Magpies in 2015.

It didn’t take long for Thompson to open the scoring as he was played in on goal by fellow goal-scorer Ryan Clarke. Clarke threaded the pass through to Thompson who rolled it across Magic keeper Niko Giantsopoulos to make it 1-0.

Just two minutes later and Thompson was on the double after Josh Dutton-Black was tugged to ground by Jeremy Wilson – who was making his starting debut for Broadmeadow – and referee Stephen Laurie pointed to the spot. Thompson stepped up and fired into the bottom right corner.

Magic had their best period after the opening two-goal blitz, and they had an argument for a penalty as James Virgili was tugged off the ball by Liam Thornton in the box, but, Laurie waved their appeals away.

The afternoon went from bad to worse for the home side in the 19^th minute went Matt Hoole – on his return to the starting side – was given his marching orders after a reckless challenge on Dutton-Black.

From that point, Maitland piled on the goals. In the 26^th minute, Matt Thompson played in Clarke at the back post and he finished calmly before Thompson sealed a hat-trick by half-time when Jon Griffiths cut down Ryan Broadley in the box and Thompson stepped up to convert the penalty – which he did.

The Magpies headed into half-time with a 4-0 advantage and set about increasing that when they returned. Magic gave away their third penalty of the match when Dutton-Black was brought down by Giantsopoulos in the box. Thompson slotted his fourth from the ensuing penalty.

Substitute Ben Martin got in on the act in the 72^nd minute, when he controlled and slotted from close range after a Jordan Elphick cross found him in the box. Martin had his second three minutes later when Ryan Broadley was felled in the box and the striker stepped up to make it 7-0 and this is how the match would finish.

Maitland coach Phil Dando described the result as “incredible” and thought that his side deserved the victory despite the four penalties and red card.

“They’ll say you had four penalties and a sending off and got lucky, but, they lost their discipline, a lot of free-kicks to us, we got in the penalty area a lot of times so, therefore, things are going to happen and when the penalties were given we had men in positions who would have received a pass to put it in the back of the net anyway.”

Dando was also happy to make it three PlayStation®4 NPL clean sheets in a row.

“We’ve now got our defensive woes sorted out, where we let four in against Valentine and two against Hamilton so we have had three clean sheets in a row in the league, so that’ll breed as well and we’ll get confidence out of that,” Dando concluded.

 

Valentine Phoenix 1 (J.Brown 12’) Hamilton Olympic 1 (G.Brown 86’) at Cahill Oval.

Valentine missed an opportunity to leapfrog the Lambton Jaffas and take the outright lead in the PS4 NPL Northern NSW after a late goal from Grant Brown ensured a share of the points with Hamilton Olympic.

Olympic controlled the opening 20 minutes of the match but found themselves behind after Valentine’s Jalon Brown pounced on an under-hit back pass from Hamilton centre-back Marcus Duncan.

It was Brown’s fourth of the season and his third goal in three matches.

From the 20^th minute, it was the Phoenix who looked more likely creating some half-chances but were unable to finish them off as they headed to the sheds with a 1-0 lead.

Valentine continued to create opportunities when they returned from the break, Jalon Brown and Josh Murray both had one-on-one chances to double the advantage but it was Hamilton back-up goalkeeper Tyler Warren who kept them at bay, with first choice Danny Ireland out with a virus.

In the end, it was the Phoenix’s inability to make their chances count which ultimately came back to bite them. Valentine failed to deal with an Olympic free-kick and Hamilton’s Brown – Grant – finished through traffic to lock the match up in the 86^th minute.

Olympic midfielder Tommy Spencer had a late chance to win the match, hitting the post in the final frantic moments as Hamilton searched for the winner, but, neither side could find the decisive goal and finished level at 1-1.

Valentine assistant Sam Griffin was gutted with the result, describing it as “two points lost”.

“For mine, we were the better side and we were in front for long enough and created the chances to put ourselves top of the table.

“If we score a second we sort of kill the game off and don’t give them a sniff, but, we don’t take our chances and there is always an incentive for them to get back in.”

Despite the result, Griffin said the majority of the performance was outstanding.

“It is disappointing, but, the performance was top rate. I don’t think we had a weakness anywhere on the field, again, we’ve conceding from a set piece, which is a concern, but other than that we were watertight.”

In the opposing dugout, it was a frustrating afternoon for Olympic coach Michael Bolch.

“We were lucky to get a point, in the end, we were poor with the ball all day,” Bolch said post-match.

“They set up very well to play on their ground. It is a very big uneven pitch. They set up very well to play counterattacking football on it and thrive on the pressure they put on to create turnovers.”

However, Bolch wouldn’t blame the uneven Cahill Oval pitch for his side’s struggle to get the ball out of their defensive third.

“I’m not blaming the pitch, both teams play on the same pitch,” Bolch concluded.

 

Edgeworth Eagles 2 (Holz 25’, 63’) defeated Weston 1 (Buswell 29’) at Rockwell Automation Park. 

Dylan Holz scored a brace as Edgeworth made it three consecutive wins in the PS4 NPL Northern NSW on Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles now sit in fourth – just three points off top spot – while Weston sit 9^th, and are still yet to claim victory this season.

The opening goal came in the 24^th minute for the Eagles when Kieran Sanders curled a cross to the back post for Holz to volley across Kane Runge in the Weston goal and open the scoring.

But, the home side were quick to reply and just five minutes later they had restored parity. Cooper Buswell cleaning up the crumbs after Jake Millsteed’s initial shot was parried away by Edgeworth goalkeeper Nate Cavaliere.

The sides headed to the sheds locked at 1-1 and midway through the second half Edgeworth took back the lead.

Aaron McLoughlin curled in a diagonal cross from deep on the left edge and Runge and defender Jordan Jackson blocked each other – the attempted clearance coming off Jackson’s head – and fell to Holz who finished into an empty net to make it 2-1 and that was how it would end.

Eagles coach Damian Zane said after a solid week of training they were a bit disappointing.

“It was a superb week of training and we came out and it was a bit lacklustre. It was just one of those days our touches and that weren’t good, in the first half our intensity was poor.

“You can see in the first minute of the second half a massive change in just the tempo and look our touches didn’t get much better, but, we did enough to win.”

Despite the lacklustre performance, Zane said he felt his side got a lift out of not performing their best and still claiming the three points.

“I think the boys got a lift that, that is how it has been in the past. We don’t always play our best but our intensity is always there and we get a win, so I think it was good that the boys saw we weren’t at our best but we worked hard and got the win.”

Weston coach Steve Piggott thought the experience was the difference at the end of the day.

“They’ve just got enough quality and they have been together a long time and they know how each other tick. They are a good side doing their job, that’s the difference in the end.

We weren’t poor in any way, we tried to be positive all day. We just didn’t have the answers in the end to find that equalising goal,” Piggott said.

“Sometimes you’re up against a good side and are your expectations too great? People said to me ‘can you beat Edgeworth’? We probably could, but we would have to do everything right.

“We are learning and I’m not unhappy with the performance.”

 

Lake Macquarie Roosters 3 (Toohey 11’, Green 43’, S.Walker 65’) drew with Newcastle Jets Youth 3 (Jennings 55’, Brymora 81’, Vaika 88’) at Macquarie Field.

The Newcastle Jets Youth produced a spirited second half fight-back to pull a point out of the fire against Lake Macquarie.

Down 2-0 at the break and 3-1 midway through the second half, the young Jets fought back to claim a share of the points.

The Roosters opened the scoring in the 11^th minute when Matt Toohey headed home a corner with the assistance of the post before Blake Green slotted home his third of the season – from a tight angle on the right – just before half-time to make it 2-0.

After the break, Finn Parris found space down the wide right-hand edge and cut back a cross to Leroy Jennings who tapped in to reduce the deficit.

Lakes restored their two-goal advantage when Tom Sparre cut a ball to Sam Walker who side-footed home to make it 3-1 in the 65^th minute.

Kristian Brymora cut the deficit in half for the Jets in the 81^st minute. Jennings played a ball to Brymora who slotted into the bottom corner.

For the second time in three weeks, the Jets Youth equalised in the final moments of the match after Cameron Joice’s free kick thumped into the bar and Solomon Vaika scrambled it over the line to level it up at the final score of 3-3.

Roosters coach Anthony Richards said the result was a fair reflection of the match, even though the Jets scored two late goals.

“In the end, if the game went for another five minutes I reckon they would have got us. They finished a lot stronger and even when we were leading 2-0 we weren’t playing well at all,” Richard said.

But, Richards said his side showed plenty of heart.

“The effort was there and the defence was great and desperate but football wise it wasn’t one of our better performances. I’ll never knock the effort, we had guys absolutely knackered at the end of the game.”

Jets Youth coach Clayton Zane said his side lacked confidence.

“Our confidence is just dented at the moment. We have to go a couple of goals down before we react.”

But, Zane felt it was a solid performance.

“We’re not playing bad, we had a good week last week, I was really happy with the boys.

“This game was another one where we just needed to concede before we start to believe in ourselves and then when the pressure is off and we go a goal down they start playing without any fear then and sometimes it is too late.”

 

Charlestown City Blues 2 (Casciaroli 3’, 60’) drew with Adamstown Rosebud 2 (Horsley 5’, Tannock 89’) at Lise Carr Oval. 

It may not have been the most eye-catching performance from Adamstown and Charlestown on Sunday, but two young sides showed plenty of grit and determination as they shared the points in round nine of the PS4 NPL Northern NSW.

Blues recruit Dan Casciaroli scored a double for his side, but it wasn’t enough to take all three points as a late Justin Tannock strike forced a draw.

Daniel Casciaroli opened the scoring in just the third minute for the Blues when his free kick from the edge of the box found its way through a plethora of defenders on route to the back of the net.

Adamstown were quick to reply though as Charlie Horsley finished off an Aaron Niyonkuru cross to make it 1-1 in the 5^th minute.

The score remained 1-1 until the break and it was Casciaroli who put Charlestown back in front after the Rosebuds turned the ball over at the back.

The midfielder pounced, striking a shot from the edge of the box inside the far post to give the home side the lead.

Just as it seemed as though Charlestown would claim all three points, Justin Tannock popped up to equalise for Adamstown.

After a collision in the box between players including Alex Read and Blues keeper Nathan Archbold, the ball fell to Tannock who finished in the 89^th minute to ensure the visitors grabbed a share of the points. 

Adamstown coach Pete McGuinness felt the game wasn’t one of the best he has watched.

“I really do think it was a very, very unattractive game of football from both teams, very scrappy. It wasn’t a good game. Neither team could hold possession for any length of time and build up any sort of attack.”

However, McGuinness felt the scoreline reflected the match.

“I don’t think they were any better than us or we were any better than them to fair,” McGuinness concluded.