PHOTO: SPROULE SPORTS FOCUS

BEN HOMER  

Match of the Round

Lambton Jaffas 3 (Griffiths (p) 52’, Remington 56’, 62’) defeated Hamilton Olympic 2 (Goodchild 44’, 79’) at Arthur Edden Oval.

Lambton scored three goals in the second half against Hamilton for the second time this season as the Jaffas fought back from a first-half deficit to claim all three points in the ‘Match of the Round’ on Saturday afternoon.

Jaffas coach James Pascoe said post-match that his side rode their luck and added: “we are not doing cartwheels at the minute”. Pascoe hit the nail on the head, after a match where they could have been down by at least three goals at half-time.

Unlike their meeting in round one, Olympic didn’t come out all guns blazing and were composed and methodical and quickly gained the ascendancy.

Much of the opening half was played down Lambton’s defensive end as Kane Goodchild and Scott Smith threatened without creating any golden chances early.

Sean Pratt slid a shot wide with the outside of his boot midway through the half before hitting the post from close range moments late.

Pratt was in the thick of the action in the opening 45, and in the 32^nd minute, he was lucky to stay on the ground after diving in on Lambton’s Riley McNaughton.

Four minutes later, Pratt’s free-kick from the left edge curled onto the crossbar as another Olympic chance went begging.

In the 42^nd minute, another of Pratt’s free-kicks cannoned off the post, this time from the right edge swinging into the back post.

However, just two minutes later Olympic had their lead. Michael Session played a pass back to Liam O’Dell who let it run back to keeper Brad Swancott.

O’Dell soon realised Session’s pass didn’t have the pace to reach his keeper but reacted too late as Kane Goodchild came steaming through and tapped the ball past the onrushing Swancott and the diving O’Dell.

Hamilton led 1-0 at the break and in a similar style to their round one victory, James Pascoe’s half-time speech inspired his side in the second half.

It took a 51^st-minute quick free kick to open up Olympic’s defence. Pat Brown was fouled just outside the box and instead of waiting to set up the free-kick he played a short ball to Joel Griffiths.

Griffiths went one-on-one with Olympic keeper Tyler Warren who cut him down in the box. The veteran striker stepped up and converted the penalty to lock the match up.

In the blink of an eye, Lambton were in front as Luke Remington took on the Olympic defence and unleashed a left-foot strike from the left side of the box, which went across Warren, hit the post and went in.

Remington was at the double in the 63^rd minute when Dain Greentree set him up for a tap-in after Ben Hay curled in a pinpoint cross from the right edge.

Hamilton wouldn’t go anywhere though as Kain Goodchild scored one of the individual goals of the season. Goodchild picked up the ball just inside Lambton’s half and went on a weaving run to the box where he curled a stunning strike over Swancott and in to bridge the deficit to just one.

Then, if anyone thought Sean Pratt couldn’t hit the post again he proved them wrong, hitting the underside of the bar in the 88^th minute from a free kick from just outside the box on the right.

The free kick curled towards the back post, hit the crossbar and went down and Lambton scrambled it clear. The Jaffas holding firm to win 3-2 and win for the first time since 2014 in the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues Northern NSW competition.

“At halftime, nothing had to change apart from us moving the ball a little bit better and having a bit more self-belief with the ball,” Pascoe said after the win.

Pascoe added that his side was lucky but still have plenty of improvement left in them.

“We’ve got the foundations for a really good football side, we haven’t performed as one yet, I don’t think, with the ball, but, when we do people will know about it.”

A cleared dejected Olympic coach Michael Bolch said his side simply “paid the price” for switching off for ten minutes in the second half.

“I wouldn’t say I can’t believe how we lost the game, but, we did enough not to come away with the loss.”

“The boys were gutted at the end of the game.”

However, Bolch feels their best is still ahead of them with their side almost at full strength.

“Now, we have competition for sports which we haven’t had for the whole first round.

We play Adamstown next weekend and then we have a two-week break, then we have eight rounds left. I think that’s when you will see us playing out best football.”

 

Valentine Phoenix 3 (Paul 45’, Brown 76’, 80’) defeated Charlestown City Blues 1 (Ferguson 12’) at Cahill Oval. 

Valentine continued their strong form in the PS4 NPL Northern NSW, coming from a goal down to keep their undefeated record alive at Cahill Oval this season.

With a depleted side, the Phoenix dug deep, with young winger Dean Pettit making his starting debut and 20-year-old Reece Pettit debuting as Captain with Scott McGinley away in China.

However the match didn’t start well for the Phoenix, Valentine’s set piece woes continued in the match as Charlestown opened the scoring. Rene Ferguson pounced on a Josh Maguire corner to make it 1-0 after 12 minutes.

In what was a hammer blow for the Blues right before half-time Matt Paul scored a stunner after Daniel Minors long range shot deflected off Josh Carroll and back to Paul, who stuck out a left boot. The ball ballooned up and over Charlestown keeper Nathan Archbold to make in 1-1 in the 45^th minute.

The sides were locked up at the break, and it took a special from Jalon Brown to break the deadlock. Brown received the ball inside his own half, sprinted down the field, burning past defenders and shot on his left foot across Archbold, off the post and in to make it 2-1.

Brown iced the match four minutes later after Alex Tserepas played him in down the right edge. Brown cut down the left, inside the box and prodded home to ensure Valentine would make it two wins in a row.

Phoenix coach Darren Sills said the performance was “pretty good considering we had five out”. However, he was disappointed to concede another goal from a set piece.

“Again, conceding from a set piece. That’s 10 out of 13 goals from set pieces. I’m sick of working on, I’m sick of harping on it. But, that’s what we do, just a little lapse.”

“Credit to them, they came out all guns blazing and they did really well in the first half. We were lucky to score a Matty Paul goal a minute before half-time.”

Next weekend Valentine play Lakes in the local derby as they look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to their rivals in round two, while Charlestown faces Maitland at Cooks Square Park.

 

Newcastle Jets Youth 3 (Jennings 64’, Parris 66’, Carroll 68’) defeated Adamstown Rosebud 2 (Read 78’, Hunter 80’) at Adamstown Oval.

The Newcastle Jets Youth made it two wins in a row at Adamstown Oval, as they climbed off the bottom of the ladder in a 3-2 win against the Rosebud’s.

The match was deadlocked at the break, before coming to life in the second 45 minutes. The Jets scored three goals in four minutes and Adamstown two in two, during a thrilling second half.

Both sides created chances in the first half, but, just couldn’t break the deadlock as they headed to the sheds at 0-0.

After the break, it was much of the same until the Jets came to life in the 64^th minute.

The Jets began their three-goal blitz when Cody Carroll dispossessed Cameron Holzheimer and played in Leroy Jennings down the left edge. Jennings stepped inside Rosebud defender Michael Williams with ease and slotted under keeper Riley Hill to make it 1-0.

The Jets doubled their lead in the 66^th after Finn Parris deflected home a long-range shot from substitute Kaleb Cox. Cox shot from outside the box, and Parris got a boot to it, on purpose, deflecting it inside the far post.

The Jets third was the best of the lot, in the 67^th minute. Jennings darted down the right and crossed infield to Cameron Joice who back-heeled inside to Cox.

Cox’s shot was well blocked by Stuart Musialik, but, unfortunately for the Rosebud’s skipper, the ball deflected off him and into the path of Cody Carroll who volleyed the Jets Youth into a 3-0 advantage.

Adamstown refused to give in and pushed for a goal and they soon had one via the penalty spot. Chris Berlin’s shot hit the arm of Regan Lundy in the box and referee Aaron Strickland pointed to the spot. Alex Read stepped up and powered home his seventh of the campaign.

The second-half goal fest continued in the 80^th minute as Dayne Pawlik’s corner found the head of former Jets Youth man Mitch Hunter whose header dipped inside the back post to set up a grandstand finish.

Adamstown were unable to find a winner and were left to rue another tight loss.

Rosebud coach Pete McGuinness was “bitterly disappointed” with the result, saying his side played well in some passages, however, gave themselves a “mountain to climb” when they conceded three quick goals in the second half.

McGuinness was pleased with how his side finished and felt they could have easily snatched a point last in the contest.

Jets Youth coach Clayton Zane said it was “nice to win” but described the performance as “not pretty.”

“We dropped away at the end, and it wasn’t a particularly pretty game, it wasn’t one for the neutrals.

“We were more than comfortable at 3-0 up. The game was done and dusted, and then it wasn’t so much a back four problem again, the whole team just switched off thinking the job was done. We just failed to manage the game.”

The Jets have won’t play for another three weeks, with the bye next weekend followed by the Westfield FFA Cup break, while Adamstown meet Hamilton Olympic at Darling Street.

 

Photo: Sproule Sports Focus

Edgeworth Eagles 3 (Cawley 6’, 58’, Taylor 45’) defeated Broadmeadow Magic 0 at Magic Park. 

Sunday afternoon saw the Eagles defeat Magic in an ‘easy’ win at Magic Park in round 12 of the PS4 NPL Northern NSW.

“I don’t think we’ve ever played Magic and contained them so well,” Eagles coach Damian Zane said after his side sucked the life out of Broadmeadow.

The win was the Eagles sixth in a row and returned them to the top of the table after Lambton leapfrogged them a day earlier.

For Magic, it was a difficult afternoon, with the Eagles resembling more of a python as they suffocated Broadmeadow’s ball movement and constricted any space in the front third for Magic to exploit.

After Adam Cawley’s goal in the 6^th minute led the visitors to never look back from then on in the match. Kieran Sander played Cawley in down the heart of Magic’s defence and the youngster finished nicely for his first PS4 NPL goal in Edgeworth colours.

Edgeworth continued to probe and create chances, as Brody Tayor went close on a couple of occasions before he finally got the goal he deserved.

In the 45^th minute, keeper Nate Cavaliere picked out Kieran Sanders with a pinpoint long ball. Sanders darted into the box, held up the ball, and squared to his striker who guided home with precision.

Edgeworth took their 2-0 lead to the sheds and Magic returned in the second half with more intensity the Eagles remained in control.

Broadmeadow coach Ruben Zadkovich brought off Matt Hoole and Dino Fajkovic at half-time and thrust youngsters Charlie Cox and Jacob Dowse into the fray and it seemed to energise the home side.

However, in the 58^th minute, Cawley’s second took any spark out of Broadmeadow. Brody Taylor turned provider as he played in Cawley who angled down the right side of the box. Cawley then prodded the ball past keeper Niko Giantsopoulos.

The final half-hour was a dour affair as Edgeworth ground out an impressive 3-0 victory and extend their unbeaten run against Broadmeadow to eight matches.

“They were exceptional,” Zane said.

“The one negative is that we didn’t go on with it, but, you can’t fault the players. If you’d said to me you were going to win 3-0 at Magic Park and it could be more if we knuckle down, I would have said, no, no, that’s right we’ll just take the three.”

Zane said he had seen the performance coming before the match.

“To be honest it was quite comfortable. I had seen in the warm-up we were here to play. When we warm up well and intense we take that into games.”

The Eagles face-off in a top of the table clash next weekend against Lambton, while Magic will want to turn around their poor run of form against Weston.

 

Lake Macquarie Roosters 2 (Walker 71’, Green 90+2’) defeated Weston Bears 0 at Macquarie Field. 

The scriptwriters got it perfect on Sunday afternoon as Sam Walker, in his 100^th match for the Roosters scored a cracking goal to lead the home side to victory – their first in five matches.

Blake Green joined Walker on the scoresheet in the dying moments as Lakes moved up to 5^th on the ladder.

It was always going to be a tight afternoon; the sides couldn’t be separated when they met in round one and it was deadlocked for much of the contest.

Neither could break through in the opening half and headed to the break level. It seemed the match would end at 0-0 until, as he always seems to do when the Roosters need him, Sam Walker stepped up.

Walker controlled the bouncing ball after it was cleared up field by the Roosters before unleashing a volley from 35 metres which dipped up and over Bears keeper Kane Runge and into the back of the net.

Just a minute later though and Lakes were down to ten men. Josh West was given a second yellow for a poor challenge on Zac Jokinen and the Roosters were forced to dig deep for the final 20 minutes.

The Roosters fans could be forgiven for thinking it was going to be another heartbreaking ending, as has been the case in recent weeks.ton pushed for the equaliser, however, couldn’t find it and Lakes sealed the match on the counter-attack. Tom Walker played in Blake Green who raced downfield went one-on-one with Runge to make it 2-0 and ensure all three points were staying with Lakes.

“The last couple of weeks with the endings that we have had, the Marley and Me type endings where the dog normally dies, but, this week the dog lived. We were able to keep the dog alive which was great,” Lakes coach Anthony Richards said post-match.

Richards also paid tribute to Sam Walker.

“Playing your 100^th game for a club is a special day. He’ll remember today when he is 50 years old watching the next crop of Roosters running around and he’ll be able to sit there and say, “yeah I remember my hundredth game” and he deserved it. He did really well.”

Lakes meet Valentine in the local derby next Saturday, while Weston host Magic at Rockwell Automation Park.