Match of the Round
Toronto Awaba FC v Kahibah FC
The match was postponed due to wet weather.
Cessnock City Hornets FC 4-2 Wallsend FC
There was only one match played across a wet weekend and it took place at Turner Park on Sunday afternoon where Cessnock City Hornets scored a 4-2 victory on home soil against Wallsend.
The Red Devils were initially scheduled to host the game at The Gardens but the fixture was relocated and the two clubs have agreed to play their round 22 match in July at The Gardens instead of Turner Park.
The change in venue looked to have worked in Wallsend’s favour early on as the Red Devils established a 2-0 lead.
Matt Williams scored the two goals with the first in the ninth minute when a floated free kick to the back stick was headed back across goal by Will Stevenson to Williams who made no mistake. The second goal came off the back of a swift Wallsend counter attack.
Cessnock hit back in the 17th minute when their leading goal-scorer Zac Kronholm hit the back of the net.
The Hornets were level on the half-hour mark when Jacob Bender made the score 2-2 after turning in a corner kick.
The score remained deadlocked until the 85th minute when Kronholm scored his second of the day to put the hosts in front for the first time in the game.
Kronholm completed his hat-trick in the 89th minute when he converted from the penalty spot after a Vaughn Pagac foul in the penalty area resulted in the youngster being sent off.
The 4-2 victory for Cessnock saw them move to 12 points on the table. They remained in seventh place but are now one point outside the top four and two points behind second-placed side Thornton.
The Hornets’ coach Brad Miles thought his side’s performance in the opening 20 minutes was poor, but was proud of the way they fought back to earn the result on a day they were without several key players through injury including Josh Maguire, Blake McDonnell and Lachlan Rogers.
“The first 20 minutes we were terrible to tell the truth,” Miles said.
“They scored two early goals and we looked like we hadn’t come out of the sheds. We were very lethargic, which I think is just a workload thing.
“Once the boys got in the groove, they were very good. They just had to get back to what they do best and they did that, and the goals come.
“I’m proud of them. I wasn’t cranky at half-time, we just had a little chat about sticking to our processes and doing what we do best. The energy lifted after half-time and our second half was really good.”
For Wallsend, the defeat was their ninth on the trot. Their coach Chris Gallagher thought that his side played well enough to earn a point but conceded they did not do enough to get a result in the end.
“In patches, I thought we played really well,” Gallagher said.
“We hit the post in the first half which would have made it 3-1, and in the second half, we came out and had an early chance but just couldn’t get it over the line. On another day it probably goes in.
“It’s the story of our season; we don’t take our chances and the other team go ahead and take their chances.
“To be honest, I think a draw would have been a fair result though.
“We created a number of chances and the effort was there again. We didn’t shut down in the 70th minute for the first time in a long time. We kept trying to play.
“We moved the ball quite well in patches but we just got caught on the counter.”
Wallsend will now turn their attention to their round 14 fixture on Sunday, which will see them travel to Howe Park to challenge Singleton Strikers.
Cessnock have the bye in round 14 but they will be in action on Wednesday night when they host Adamstown Rosebud at Turner Park in an Australia Cup contest.
Thornton Redbacks FC v Singleton Strikers FC
The match was postponed due to wet weather.
Belmont Swansea United FC v South Cardiff FC
The match was postponed due to wet weather.
West Wallsend SFC had the bye.