Match of the Round
South Cardiff FC 2-0 Belmont Swansea United
South Cardiff returned to the winners’ circle in stunning fashion on Saturday night when they scored a 2-0 victory over league leaders Belmont Swansea United at Ulinga Oval to keep their top four hopes alive.
The Gunners entered the weekend chasing their first win in seven matches and also having been beaten 6-0 in their two previous encounters against BelSwans this year. But a solid first half performance saw them go into the half-time break locked at 0-0 with the top-ranked team and full of confidence they could get the job done.
Tom Walker brought the home crowd to their feet six minutes into the second half when he opened the scoring with a brilliant first-time volley from well outside the penalty area that flew into the bottom right corner.
BelSwans pushed hard to equalise but it was Southy who scored next when Brendon King doubled the home side’s lead in the 80th minute. They held on to win the match 2-0 and become just the second team to beat BelSwans in 2024.
Gunners’ coach Perry Mellon was proud of his men for getting the job done in tough conditions.
“I don’t know if it was a great game to watch in terms of a spectacle. The conditions were pretty ordinary,” Mellon said.
“It certainly wasn’t our best performance of the year but we were very structured and organised and we showed a bit of desire and fight.
“We also defended very well. That’s only the second game that BelSwans haven’t scored in all year so that was really pleasing.
“We ended up scoring two but we could have scored one or two more in the first half if we took our chances.
“We didn’t play them off the park footballing-wise but we won the scrap and won the battle and you’ve got to be proud of that. BelSwans are a really good side and we knew we’d need to get into the battle and outlast them, which is not easy to do but it was one of those nights where it happened for us.”
Belmont Swansea’s coach Mick Stafford thought his side were well and truly in the game despite struggling to overcome the wet and muddy conditions but said it just wasn’t their night.
“I honestly thought we really struggled to adapt to the poor conditions but I can’t fault the boys’ effort and application. They gave it their all,” Stafford said.
“Luck and a few other things just weren’t on our side.
“The pitch was very muddy, which didn’t help our style of play and we just didn’t adapt for the full 90 minutes.
“We created chances. We hit the bar and the post and had two goals disallowed. From that angle, we were right in the game but we didn’t have luck with things we’ve had luck on in the past. So you’ve just got to cop that on the chin and move on.
“The football wasn’t the greatest but the facility didn’t accommodate for that. It was an arm wrestle and to Southy’s credit, once they got their first goal they dug in and worked super hard to get a win.”
The victory saw South Cardiff jump Thornton Redbacks into fifth spot and finish the weekend two points outside the top four. They are just three points behind third-placed Toronto Awaba, who they will meet at Lyall Peacock Oval on Saturday.
BelSwans’ loss was their second of the season but they are still sitting well out in front in first position. They are 15 points clear of second-placed Kahibah, who they will challenge in a rescheduled round 20 top-of-the-table clash at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Wednesday night.
Kahibah FC 1-1 Toronto Awaba FC
Round 22 kicked off at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Friday night with a highly-anticipated second-versus-third clash between Kahibah and Toronto Awaba. It finished all square as the two sides contested a 1-1 draw.
The platform was laid for a competitive game following a scoreless first 45 minutes and the deadlock was finally broken on the hour-mark when Nick Roberts scored from distance to put the Stags ahead 1-0.
Dan Byrne levelled it up at 1-1 just under 15 minutes later when he charged onto a Riley Ferguson cutback and fired a shot into the top-left corner.
That was the way it remained as neither side was able to find a winner in the final 15 minutes of the contest.
The result saw Kahibah remain in second place and Toronto Awaba stay in third as they both edged a point closer to league leaders Belmont Swansea following their loss against South Cardiff.
Kahibah will meet BelSwans in a rescheduled round 20 top-of-the-table clash at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Wednesday night as they look to close the gap even further, while Toronto Awaba’s next fixture is in round 23 on Saturday against South Cardiff.
Singleton Strikers FC 3-0 Thornton Redbacks FC
Singleton’s late-season resurgence continued on Saturday afternoon at Howe Park where they scored their third win in four games as they downed Thornton Redbacks 3-0.
The Strikers went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead after Jack Clare opened the scoring with his first goal of the season in the 38th minute. They doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when Jackson Cox got onto the end of a cross from the right at the near stick and headed the ball into the bottom right corner.
Jake Barner made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute as he volleyed home from close range after Thornton failed to deal with a long ball knocked into the box from Shawn Honeysett. That was the way it remained at full-time as Singleton kept their fifth clean sheet of the season.
Strikers’ club captain Hayden Nichol described his side’s performance as disciplined.
“I think we were pretty good,” Nichol said.
“We held the ball well and we created enough chances.
“We were a lot more patient. We’ve had two games against Thornton this year, so we fully understood what we do and what they do and how best to combat that and we did that. We stayed patient and didn’t rush things, stayed disciplined and scored the goals that we needed to.”
The victory saw Singleton climb into sixth place as they overtook the Redbacks. They are now just four points outside the top four and they will look to close that gap when they travel to The Gardens to challenge Wallsend on Sunday.
Thornton’s loss was their sixth on the trot and it does not get any easier for them this Sunday when they travel to Blacksmiths Oval to challenge leaders Belmont Swansea.
Wallsend FC v Cessnock City Hornets FC
The match was postponed due to wet weather.
West Wallsend SFC had the bye.