Photo: Sproule Sports Focus

Ben Homer

Match of the Round

Maitland Magpies 3 (Broadley 21’, 79’, Heffernan (p) 41’) Weston Workers Bears 0

Rockwell Automation Park

Sunday May 21, 2.30pm

Maitland grabbed their first win in the Coalfields Derby of the PlayStation®4 NPL Northern NSW since promotion in 2014 and kept their undefeated start to the season going in a scrappy win over the Bears in Weston.

Maitland dominated most of the early exchanges, as former Magpies turned Weston keeper Benn Kelly made some outstanding saves in the opening half. But it was Kelly who would turn from hero to villain moments later when he fouled Matt Thompson in the box.

Maitland skipper Blake Thompson stepped up and thumped his penalty straight at Kelly, whose save ricocheted to Ryan Broadley charging into the box. Broadley then slotted his shot with his right foot into an open net.

Things turned for Maitland, late in the first half, as Brock Oakley was given his marching orders after receiving his second yellow card.

But that setback didn’t affect Maitland, as they continued to ask questions of Weston’s defence. Ryan Broadley going one-on-one with Kelly, before being fouled by Weston’s keeper in the box. A penalty was the only result, as somehow Kelly escaped without a yellow, which would have been his second if given.

Dean Heffernan stepped up and finished calmly, as he slotted into the bottom right corner with his left boot.

Broadley completed his doubled late on in the contest, after a through ball from Matt Thompson found him once again one-on-one with Kelly and Broadley stabbed it past Weston’s number one.

Maitland coach Steve Piggott thought it was a tough match to watch.

“I thought it was a frustrating match to watch as a spectator and coach. There was a lot of stop-start and free kicks. But you probably get that in a derby.”

“In the end, I thought in the first half, we created a lot of chances where we were one v one. We were a bit hasty with some of our decisions in the final third. I thought we could have had two or three in the first half.”

But overall, Piggott was very pleased to get the 3 points after playing most of the match with ten men.

“In the end, when you go down to ten and have to change your shape to 4-4-1 and you have to sit behind the ball and your team does that for 45 minutes, as a coach you have to be happy and proud that they’ve shown that discipline.”

Trevor Morris was bitterly disappointed with his side’s showing in the derby.

“We had a game plan and after ten minutes it went out the window. We were second best all day, our inability to pass the ball and get into the pockets and make space for your teammate really hurt us badly.”

“Our pass in the final third and our option in the final third is something we have lacked all year. We need to work hard on that. Defensively we were pretty good and are hard to break down, but it’s just that passing of the ball and the movement to support each other is disappointing.”

Next weekend Weston meet the Rosebud at Adamstown Oval in a bottom of the table clash, while Maitland meet Edgeworth at home.

 

Lambton Jaffas 5 (Remington 42’, 60’, 90+3’, Wood 69’, Majurovski 78’) defeated Adamstown Rosebud 0 at Arthur Edden Oval

Saturday, May 21, 2.30pm

The Lambton Jaffas grabbed just their second win of the season against the struggling Adamstown Rosebud on Saturday afternoon.

Luke Remington starred for the home side as he netted a hat-trick in the Jaffas win.

Remington scored the Jaffas first of the afternoon late in the first half, when Jobe Wheelhouse sent in a cross from the right edge which was headed down by John Majurovski at the back post. Adamstown keeper Paul Bitz made a great low save, which sat up for Remington to volley into the roof of the net.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Pete McPherson chipped a pinpoint ball over the top of Adamstown’s backline, before Remington once again finished brilliantly with his left, hitting his shot over Bitz into the top right corner.

Joel Wood then grabbed his second of the season, when he intercepted an Owen Littlewood pass on near halfway. Wood went one-on-one with Bitz and it didn’t disappoint, rolling it past him to give the Jaffas a 3-0 advantage.

Wood then turned provider, with a cross from the left edge of the box finding an unmarked John Majurovski at the back post to net the home side’s fourth of the afternoon.

Remington finished off his hat-trick in the dying embers of the second half, when a John Majurovski pass found him cutting into the box on the left, before Remington rolled his shot across Bitz into the bottom right corner.

Lambton coach James Pascoe wasn’t over the moon with the performance but was happy to get the three points.

“We weren’t overly impressive in the first half at all and in the second we converted the chances we should convert. It wasn’t a performance I’m doing cartwheels about, that’s for sure. There is still plenty of work to do. But having said that we had a couple of injuries in the first half to Rhys Tippett and Kevin Davidson and had to re-shuffle the line-up.”

Pascoe was very pleased with Joel Wood’s showing.

“Joel was really good this afternoon. He worked really hard and found lots of space between Adamstown’s defensive line and was nice and positive with the ball. He was excellent today.”

Adamstown coach Graham Law was upbeat about his side’s showing at Lambton.

“They scored right before half-time and before that we missed three one-on-ones with their keeper. We just need to put something away. We came in the sheds and I gave the boys a wrap.”

“They were playing really well and then we came out in the second half and Thom Lino, who has been incredible for us in the last few weeks, was one-on-one with the keeper again. That first goal today for us today was so important for the boys’ confidence, and we had three one-on-ones and couldn’t finish it.”

Next weekend Lambton meet the Jets Youth at Arthur Edden Oval, while Adamstown return home to meet a Weston side who will be equally desperate as them to get the three points.

 

Hamilton Olympic 5 (Goodchild 5’, 19’, 50’, Bailey 38’, Brown 76’ ) defeated Newcastle Jets Youth 0

Darling Street Oval

Saturday May 21, 2.30pm

Hamilton Olympic kept their undefeated run going in Round 7 of the PlayStation 4 NPL Northern NSW competition, with a big victory over the Newcastle Jets Youth side.

In a match where both sides created plenty of chances; it was Hamilton Olympic who finished better at home, with Kane Goodchild the star on the day, bagging his second hat-trick of the season in the win.

Goodchild’s first came inside the opening 5 minutes when he controlled the ball at the top of the eighteen yard box before stabbing a shot which found its way inside Jets’ keeper Pierce Clark’s right hand post.

Goodchild’s second was given to him on a platter as a defensive mix-up saw Tyson Jackson head the ball into the path of Hamilton’s font man, who ran into the box before sliding a shot across Clark and into the bottom left corner.

Jacob Bailey scored Hamilton’s third and final goal in the first half, when an on-target Daniel Bird shot from an acute angle on the left was parried by Clark straight to the waiting Bailey who tapped it over the line for one of the easiest goals he would have scored.

In the second half, Peirce Clark made some great saves to keep Hamilton at bay, while Finn Paris and Krisitan Brymora continued to pose threats to the Hamilton backline.

But, it was Goodchild who popped up to complete his hat-trick when he headed home from point blank range to make it 4-0, after a weaving run from Simon Mooney before a pinpoint cross that found the head of Hamilton’s front man.

Pat Brown, fresh from coming off the bench then finished off the victory for Olympic when he cut down the left edge of the box and hit his shot across Clark and into the bottom right corner to make it 5-0.

Mick Bolch was glowing in praise of Tom Davies, who played his 50^th match for Olympic and it will be his last in 2016 as he takes a gap year trip to Europe.

“He, along with Kyle Hodges, have been our standout defenders all year. When we put him on James Virgili last week against Broadmeadow, it virtually changed the game. It doesn’t matter where you play him, he gives 110%. He will be hard to replace.”

Jets Youth coach Clayton Zane, thought his side performed well against the competition frontrunners.

“It’s just individual errors which have been a bit costly, but its stuff we are working on and we had some really good patches out there today. We created a lot of opportunities today, more than what we have for the rest of the season.”

“It was never going to be enough to win it, because against men we are just not going to convert as many chances as what we would in the National Youth League. But today, going forward, I thought it was excellent. We created opportunities and got into good positions, just the final execution let us down sometimes.”

Hamilton travel to Valentine next Saturday to meet the Phoenix, while the Jets also play on Saturday against the Jaffas.

 

Broadmeadow Magic 3 (Bradbury 3’, S.Paul 37’, Virgili 77’) Valentine Phoenix 3 (Olzomer 53’, 58’, M.Paul 70’)

Magic Park

Sunday May 21, 2.30pm

Broadmeadow Magic were held to an exciting three all draw at Magic Park on Sunday afternoon in what was a confidence boosting performance for the Phoenix.

Broadmeadow charged out of the blocks, as they did last weekend against Hamilton, with Kale Bradbury scoring the opener. Dino Fajkovic played a lovely through ball down the right to James Virgili who cut back a cross for Bradbury to finish from close range.

Shane Paul scored the Magic’s second eight minutes before half time when Peter Haynes flicked on a goal kick with his neck to Paul who went one-on-one with Valentine keeper Beyhan Irmako and hit his right foot shot across the keeper into the left corner.

Brenton Olzomer then got Valentine back into the match after a lovely cross from Chris Brown which Olzomer back-heeled past Nick Hartnett in the Magic goals.

Valentine were back level just five minutes later, when Olzomer grabbed his second after he headed over Hartnett.

The end to end nature of the match continued when Kale Bradbury was fouled in the box and Peter Haynes stepped up from the penalty spot. But this one wouldn’t go to the script for Haynes as Beyhan Irmako pulled off two incredible saves, first from the penalty and then diving on the loose pull with Haynes bearing down on him.

Magic were ruing that missed penalty moments later, when a cross from Josh Murray was not dealt with by Magic’s defence and Matt Paul volleyed home from point blank range. Valentine were incredibly in front after 70 minutes.

But Broadmeadow wouldn’t lie down, as Kale Bradbury ran down the left edge, courtesy of a Shane Paul pass, stuttered into the box and cut his pass back to James Virgili who thumped his right foot shot into the bottom left corner to level things up once more.

Magic co-coach Bobby Naumov was disappointed that his side didn’t convert their chances.

“If you are going off chances it could have been ten nil, but if are going off the quality of the game we just weren’t good enough. We just lost our way and bit and got a bit scrappy. I think we just have to be a lot better than what we were.”

“The bottom line is that we have to be better than that.”

For Valentine, assistance coach Sam Griffin was delighted with the end result, but was slightly disappointed his side couldn’t hold on for the win.

“To come back from 2-0 down and be up 3-2 with about ten to go, we thought we were on track for a big win, but it wasn’t to be. They scored two pretty soft goals from mistakes we made and we probably didn’t create much in the way of chances in the first half.

“But, at the feeling in the sheds at halftime was they we were on top. Even though we were down 2-0 we felt that we could and should get a result from the game.”

“When we scored the third goal, Darren [Sills] said ‘go for the throat.’ The attitude was that we got ourselves to that position by attacking and we didn’t want to change that. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”

Next week, Valentine play top of the table Hamilton Olympic, while Broadmeadow meet Charlestown at Lisle Carr Oval.

 

Edgeworth Eagles 6 (Taylor 38’, 66’ Moore 53’, 70’, Hammel 86’, Moriyasu 90+1’) Charlestown City Blues 1 (Kjiln 54’)

Jack McLaughlan Oval

Sunday May 21, 2.45pm

The Edgeworth Eagles inflicted Charlestown’s first defeat of the season in a big way, when they returned home to Jack McLaughlan Oval in Round 7.

The first half was a tight affair and it took until the 38^th minute for the first goal of the game, when Edgeworth’s Dylan Holz played a ball across the face of the box to Keanu Moore, who played in Brody Taylor on the left. Taylor then hit a first time right foot shot into the bottom right corner, past keeper Nathan Archbold.

The second half started well for the Eagles, when Daniel Minors played a well weighted ball through Charlestown’s defence to find Keanu Moore who didn’t miss from close range.

But, Charlestown’s reply was almost instantaneous as Rene Ferguson cut back a cross from the left onto the head of Andy Kjiln waiting at the back post, who powered his header into an empty net as Eagles keeper Jim Fogarty was waiting at the near post for the cross.

Brody Taylor then restored Edgeworth’s two goal lead, when Keanu Moore found him on the left. Taylor then cut into the box and hit a powerful shot under Archbold, the ferocity of the shot was too much for him to keep out.

Keanu Moore didn’t want to miss out on the goals, as he grabbed his second, after Pat Wheeler found him in the middle park and Moore did the rest. Zig-Zagging through Charlestown’s defence before hitting a beautiful left footed strike into the right hand corner, Archbold was unable to get near the shot as it dipped over him and in.

Things got worse for Charlestown and for keeper Archbold soon after, when he dwelled on the ball for too long outside his box. Bren Hammel turned about a stole position before passing the ball into an empty net to make it 5-1.

To further rub salt into Charlestown’s wounds, Keigo Moriyasu stepped up for another one of his special free kicks. This one stationed just outside the box on the right – much like the one he scored against the Jets in Round 3. Moriyasu stepped up a powered it into the top left corner, to push the lead out to 6-1.

Even with the big score line, Edgeworth’s coach Damian Zane didn’t think his side were at their best.

“I don’t think we were at our best. That’s what Charlestown have done well all year. They don’t let teams play to their full ability and disrupt you. We just didn’t get enough width in our attack in the first half and I said to the boys at halftime ‘if we can lift another 20% or so in effort then I think we can have an enjoyable afternoon. I think we’ll get and second and then hopefully a third goal.’”

Zane’s halftime thoughts came true as the Eagles piled on the goals.

Next weekend doesn’t get any easier for Charlestown as they return home to face Broadmeadow Magic. For Edgeworth they play Maitland in what shapes as a mouth-watering contest at Cooks Square Park next Sunday.