Hamilton Olympic FC 5 defeated Weston Workers FC 1
Sunday 2 August 2.30pm
Darling Street Oval
Match of the Round

Hamilton kept their minor premiership hopes alive and put Weston under pressure to make the finals with a 5-1 demolition in the Northern NSW PlayStation® 4 National Premier Leagues (PS4 NPL) match of the round at Darling Street Oval on Sunday.

Pat Brown scored a hat-trick for Hamilton, producing three left-foot finishes on counterattacks or turnovers deep in Weston territory.

Brown opened the scoring in the sixth minute and Matt Swan scored with a clever left-foot shot across his body in the 16th. Kane Goodchild then scored off a long ball which caught the Bears defence out of position in the 23rd minute.

Brown scored in the 65th and 72nd to make it 5-0 before Garry McDermott gave Weston their goal in the 74th.

The win keeps second-placed Hamilton (33 points) three points behind leaders Edgeworth (36) with games against Charlestown and Maitland to finish the regular season.

Weston dropped from third to fourth on 29 points, just three points ahead of Broadmeadow, who they host in round 17. The Bears finish the home and away season against Edgeworth.

Hamilton coach Mick Bolch was proud of his side were able to back up their 7-0 win over the Jets Youth in round 16 and.

‘‘We spoke as a group on Friday night about being consistent,’’ Bolch said.

‘‘It’s no good winning 7-0 one week the going out and not performing the next week.’’

Bolch said their was great competition for spots in his team, which has recovered from a four-game winless streak that came before the win over the Jets Youth.

‘‘We’ve been pressing really hard all year and it knocks the body up,’’ Bolch said.

‘‘Those four weeks, we were flat, so we’ve spoken about how we freshen up and get out of that.

‘‘I think we’re out of that little plateau now and hopefully everything has started again running into the finals.’’

Bears coach Trevor Morris was disappointed about his team’s defence and said Hamilton ‘‘had the hunger, desire and desperation to protect their goals’’.

Morris said his side came through unscathed except for ‘‘damaged pride’’.

‘‘When you’re having a bad day, the ball doesn’t bounce your way, decisions go against you and everything goes wrong, so hopefully that’s our last bad one of the year and we can roll our sleeves up and bounce back,’’ he said.

Morris said Zac Sneddon (suspension), Rob Macbeth and Jason Cowburn (both work commitments) would return for the final two games of the regular season.

 

Edgeworth FC 2 defeated South Cardiff FC 0
Friday 31 July 7:30pm
Jack McLaughlan Oval

Edgeworth left it until the final five minutes to overpower a spirited South Cardiff side 2-0 at Jack McLaughlan Oval on Friday night.

Dylan Holz showed pace and poise to finish a breakaway in the 86th minute and Bren Hammel hit a crisp, curling free kick inside the left post in the 88th to convert a mountain of pressure from the Eagles.

The victory kept Edgeworth (36) three points clear at the top of the table and gave them another confidence boost ahead of their FFA Cup round of 32 match against A-League side Melbourne City at Magic Park on Tuesday night.

Edgeworth coach Damian Zane was pleased his side came through the match injury free.

‘‘The first half, there wasn’t too much in it,’’ Zane said.

‘‘Southy were quite good but in the last 10 minutes I noticed we were starting to get on top.

‘‘I said to the boys at half-time that if we keep the speed of the game up, they won’t be able to go with us, and that was pretty true.’’

Gunners coach Greg Asquith was happy with the fighting effort but conceded the Eagles were just too good.

South Cardiff remain last on nine points, now three points behind Maitland and four behind Charlestown and the Jets Youth. They need at least four points from games Adamstown and Lambton Jaffas in the final two rounds to have any chance of avoiding relegation.

‘‘Edgy got a bit of momentum in the second half and the reality is they are at the top for a reason,’’ Asquith said.

‘‘We made it difficult for them and we had a couple of half chances but we need to be clinical against the top teams.

‘‘Defensively we did well and I couldn’t fault the effort, but they are a very good side, and certainly the best we’ve played.

‘‘But if we continue to perform like that the next couple of weeks, we can get results.

Edgeworth finish the season against Newcastle Jets Youth and Weston.

 

Adamstown Rosebud FC 0 defeated by Lambton Jaffas FC 6
Sunday 2 August 2.30pm
Adamstown Oval

Lambton jumped back into third place and ended Adamstown’s semi-final hopes with a clinical 6-0 away win.

Alex Palozzi and John Majurovski scored doubles in the comfortable victory, which moved the Jaffas to 31 points with matches against Maitland and South Cardiff to come.

Adamstown remain sixth on 22 points, seven points off the top four, with games against  South Cardiff and the Jets Youth remaining.

The Jaffas led 3-0 at halftime after Luke Remington set up Majurovski for the opener, Riley McNaughton scored with a long-range strike and Jobe Wheelhouse showed great skill close to goal to find space and the back of the net.

Majurovski converted a penalty after Remington was fouled to make it 4-0 before Palozzi came off the bench and scored a double. His first was off a ball from Michael Bridges and his second was a long-range shot.

Jaffas coach David Tanchevski was proud of the performance, which followed his side’s 2-0 loss to the Eagles. It was the team’s first defeat since they played Edgeworth in the first round of games.

‘‘We just played well,’’ Tanchevski said.

‘‘We talked about doing the simple things well again after the loss to Edgeworth.

‘‘I said to the boys, ‘we’ve had our loss and now we need to bounce back from it’, and it’s just what the boys did.’’

Adamstown coach Graham Law said ‘‘that’s the best performance we’ve come up against this season’’.

‘‘It was just one of those games.

‘‘Big players turn up at big games, and theirs turned up when it mattered and collectively we didn’t.

‘‘We had one or two chances at key times, but there’s no complaints from us. They were clinical.’’

Law, though, believed his squad would bounce back and said ‘‘he wouldn’t be surprised if they win their final two games’’.

The loss was the last match for Adamstown’s Nick Hills, who joined the club mid-season but is returning to college in the US.

 

Charlestown City Blues FC 1 drew with Maitland FC 1
Sunday 2 August 2.30pm
Lisle Carr Oval

Charlestown coach Shane Pryce was glad to walk away with a point despite Maitland producing an equaliser with just four minutes remaining in a 1-1 draw.

The Blues led 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining after Ben Hughes scored from a free kick.

Joel Wood put Maitland on level terms with a header.

Both sides were desperate for three points to skip clear of last-placed relegation South Cardiff, but the stalemate means they remain under threat.

Charlestown are four points ahead of South Cardiff and have a catch-up game against the Jets Youth on Wednesday then matches against Hamilton and Broadmeadow. Maitland are three points ahead of the Gunners and take on Lambton Jaffas and Hamilton in the last two rounds.

Pryce said Maitland dominated the second half after an even first 45 minutes at Lisle Carr Oval and praised the effort his goalkeeper Paul Bitz.

‘‘Paul had an absolute blinder,’’ Pryce said.

‘‘He saved at least three or four one-on-one chances and in one of them he pulled off a double save.

‘‘Maitland would say they had the majority of chances and that’s fair enough.

‘‘I’m happy with the point.’’

Maitland coach Reece Thompson said it was a ‘‘game of missed opportunities’’ for his side but they played well.

‘‘It was an even first half but second half, the amount of chances we had, it was just ridiculous,’’ Thompson said.

 

Broadmeadow Magic FC 5 defeated Newcastle Jets Youth 2
Sunday 2 August 2.30pm
Magic Park

Peter Haynes and Kale Bradbery scored two goals each as Broadmeadow defeated the Newcastle Jets Youth 5-2 at Magic Park to improve their finals chances.

The Jets went ahead early through Braedyn Crowley, who scored off a scramble from a corner kick.

Broadmeadow responded with goals from competition leading goal-scorer Bradbery and Dino Fajkovic which put Magic ahead 2-1 at half-time.

Ben Hay equalised with a deflected shot for the Jets midway through the second half before Magic piled on three goals in the last 15 minutes.

Haynes struck goals either side of Bradbery’s second and finished the scoring with a 60-metre shot which lobbed Jets Youth keeper Jesse Cook.

Magic co-coach Robert Virgili was relieved to walk away with the three points after his side struggled to back-up from the 3-1 FFA Cup loss to Heidelberg United last Wednesday night at Magic Park.

The win lifted Magic to 26 points, three points behind fourth-placed Weston who they play this week. Broadmeadow have the superior for and against by 13 goals.

‘‘It was tough conditions with the wind but the boys had some good opportunities early before they scored off a corner,’’ Virgili said.

‘‘The game was end to end in the first half and both sides had chances.

‘‘In the second half you could see our boys were tiring after the game on Wednesday night, but once we got our noses in front, we lifted again and it came down to us taking our chances late.’’

The Jets Youth were trying to bounce back from a 7-0 loss to Hamilton and had a squad bolstered by the return of Nick Cowburn and Josh Barresi for 60 minutes each.

Andrew Pawiak, Micheal Kantarovski, Reece Papas and Braedyn Crowley also backed up from the Jets’ Northern NSW tour last week.

Coach Peter McGuinness lamented a missed opportunity with about 20 minutes remaining, when the score was 2-all, but said ‘‘lapses in concentration and basic fundamental errors cost us’’.

‘‘We conceded goals from bad turnovers and bad positioning,’’ McGuinness said.

‘‘There were some phases of play where we played OK, but never for 90 minutes to be able to dominate and win a game.

‘‘What we are serving up at the moment is not going to win games of football.’’

Broadmeadow finished with 10 men after Michael Finlayson earned a second yellow card in the final two minutes.

Broadmeadow play Weston and Charlestown in the last two rounds. The Jets Youth meet Charlestown on Wednesday night then Edgeworth and Adamstown to finish the year.