Men's HMRI Charity Shield
Broadmeadow Magic 2-1 Cooks Hill United
Cooks Hill united coach Jamie Dunning was pleased with his side’s performance despite the 2-1 loss to Broadmeadow Magic in the Men’s HMRI Charity Shield on Friday night.
Both sides started the match at a frenetic pace, with Magic firing several long-range shots deep into the opposing half and asked plenty of questions of the Cooks Hill defence inside the first ten minutes.
But it would be Cookers who would break through first. Absorbing Magic’s early pressure before Zaik Luck scored the first goal of the year through a beautiful curving strike into the back of the net.
The lead would be short-lived, when one minute later a miscommunication between Cooks Hill goalkeeper Daniel Eisenhauer and his defensive line allowed Luis Lara Delgardo to swoop in on the error and equalised for Magic.
The two goals proved a nerve-settler for both sides as the rain started to come down, with Broadmeadow reverting to their trademark aggressive attacking style which saw James Cresnar shown a yellow card.
But Magic stayed in the hunt thanks to several brilliant saves from Jeremiah Cleur, who enjoyed a strong opening half.
Inside the final five minutes, Magic’s pressure paid off when Jack Simmons scored from a long-range effort, giving Magic a 2-1 lead going into half-time.
Broadmeadow would come flying out of the gates in the second half, with replacement Jarred Baker having two chances to score in as many minutes.
But an offside ruling and a cross failing to find its target meant the score remained 2-1.
As Cooks Hill emptied their bench midway through the second half, momentum evened out.
Cookers Kai Bradley asked questions of Magic’s defence, while Baker missed a third shot on target as Broadmeadow struggled to put the match away.
Despite Cooks Hill threatening on several occasions and matching it with the champions, the side struggled to dominate momentum, Keanu Moore proving a major factor for Broadmeadow in his man-of-the-match performance.
Cookers managed two corners in the final ten minutes to try and find an equaliser, but ultimately, the side ran out of time as the score remained 2-1 when the full-time whistle blew.
“I’m pleased with the way we performed, especially in the first half,” Dunning said.
“We had lots of the ball, but they’ve got a little bit more quality than us at the moment but [I’m] very pleased with where we are at and [we] gave them a really good test.
“We took a bit of a hiding from the Jets Youth a few weeks ago, it was a bit of a reality check.
“But we’ve moved on, and tonight we’ve taken another step forward. Hopefully that’s good signs for us, for a lot of the second half a lot of the plays were in their half.
“[Now] it’s just about putting all those plans together. Next week is important for us, tonight has shown the boys that they can keep [at it] with the best team in the league. I’m very happy with where we are at, and we’ll give it a good go next week.”
For Broadmeadow Magic coach Jim Cresnar, the fixture came as a valuable chance to see where his side was, the team coming into the game with shorter preseason and having several younger players step up.
While he expected his side would have plenty of rust to shake off, Magic’s head coach was pleased with what he saw.
“I thought at times we’d done really well, and at times we needed to tidy up a few things,” Cresnar said.
“In front of goal, there was plenty of opportunities to score, they are some of the things we need to make sure we get right.
“[This fixture] gives us a good opportunity because you have got to have a balance between whether you play full strength or give those up-and-coming players an opportunity. That’s something we balanced out today.
“[Keanu Moore] is a great pick up. I watched him play at Blacktown [City], his work ethic is exceptional defensive and attacking-wise, he’s a good player to have in your squad.
“Overall, we’re progressing really well in terms of where we are and where we should be.”