Match of the Round
West Wallsend SFC 5-1 Cessnock City Hornets FC
West Wallsend SFC coach Bailey Cox was thrilled with his side’s dominant display in their 5-1 victory over Cessnock City Hornets at Johnston Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Bluebells opened the scoring when Josh Carroll hit the back of the net in the fifth minute.
The home side went into half-time with a 2-0 lead after Jake Bower doubled their advantage in the 35th minute with a brilliant header after getting onto the end of a perfect Tyler Rankmore cross following a brilliant team play that consisted of 15 passes.
The hosts were still ahead by two on the hour-mark before they scored two more in quick succession as Rankmore struck in the 63rd minute and skipper Bryson Cox made it 4-0 in the 66th.
Sam Marr then added a fifth in the 81st minute before Cessnock found a late consolation goal through Josh Maguire to make the final score 5-1.
West Wallsend’s coach Bailey Cox thought his side was in control for the full 90 minutes and deserved the three points.
“Overall, it was a pretty good performance,” Cox said.
“They did have a few blokes out though and the pitch was nearly unplayable. There were a lot of people slipping over.
“We were pretty comfortable the whole game, I thought. They had two shots at the end when we were already 4-0/5-0.
“We kept the ball on the deck and moved it well in the tough conditions, and we didn’t give them any time on the ball at all. We put a lot of pressure on them.”
Cessnock’s coach Brad Miles thought that West Wallsend adapted to the conditions better than his men did and admitted the Hornets were simply outclassed by the Bluebells.
“With all the rain and catch-ups on at the moment, we played on quite a wet, slippery pitch, but as footballers, you have to adjust to the conditions and Westy has done it better than we did,” Miles said.
“They’re a smart team and they outplayed and out-enthused us, and made better choices in the conditions.
“We do have a number of first graders unavailable at the moment, but no excuse, they were too good.
“BelSwans next week, it doesn't get any easier, but we will get to training, work hard and hopefully perform well next weekend.”
West Wallsend are now four games unbeaten, the most recent two being victories, and they are ranked third on the table after overtaking South Cardiff.
The Bluebells will face their toughest test so far this season on Wednesday night when they host league leaders Belmont Swansea United in a rescheduled round eight game at Johnston Park. It will be the first time this season those two teams will have met.
Cox’s men will then travel to Howe Park on Saturday for an away game against Singleton in round 19.
For Cessnock, the loss was their third in a four-game winless run and they remained in seventh place on the table. They are now seven points outside the top four and their next match will also see them challenge BelSwans when they tackle the league leaders on Saturday at Blacksmiths Oval.
South Cardiff FC 0-4 Thornton Redbacks FC
Thornton Redbacks stormed back into the top four with an emphatic 4-0 victory against South Cardiff FC at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night.
The Redbacks led 1-0 at the break as a 42nd-minute Albert Wetney strike was enough to separate the sides, and his brother Jack doubled their lead in the 74th minute.
Hayden Watson scored the goal of the game in the 85th minute when he charged onto a Jack Wetney cutback pass and fired a powerful strike from outside the 18-yard box into the top left corner.
Watson then put the game to bed in the 87th minute when he stepped up to the penalty spot and slotted home his spot kick to make the final score 4-0.
Redbacks co-coach Gerard Carey was impressed with what he saw from his side on the night and thought they fully deserved the three points.
“One word – discipline,” Carey said.
“It’s been lacking the past two games (a draw and a loss, both against Kahibah), but the boys all bought into it and it was a very disciplined performance.
“It’s the way we’re trying to get them to play. The basis of our game is on good, disciplined defence, and it paid off again.
“Up top, there’s a shape or a starting position, but we rely on the creativity of four or five players that we rotate during the game. Once we’ve got the ball in that front third it’s kind of ‘do what you do boys’. As much as they have been given freedom to express themselves, the past couple of weeks we’ve reminded them it is a team game and to get their head up and look for the occasional pass, which we did better this week.”
Thornton is now fourth after overtaking South Cardiff FC on goal difference following that win.
The Redbacks will host two games at Thornton Park this week as they welcome Singleton to town on Wednesday night in a rescheduled round 13 game and then Toronto Awaba in round 19 on Saturday.
South Cardiff will be back in action on Sunday when they host Wallsend at Ulinga Oval in the Match of the Round.
Wallsend FC 2-5 Kahibah FC
Round 18 kicked off at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Friday night where Kahibah FC outscored Wallsend FC 5-2 to extend their undefeated run to five games and remain in second place on the table.
Tyson Masters fired Kahibah into a 2-0 lead with goals in the 14th and 38th minutes.
But Wallsend hit back just before the break when Matt Williams made the score 2-1 in the 43rd minute.
The score remained 2-1 until 10 minutes into the second stanza when Masters completed his hat-trick.
Kahibah then found themselves in front 5-1 on the hour-mark after Dan Byrne added a quickfire double with goals in the 57th and 60th minutes.
Wallsend pulled one back in the 83rd minute when Cody Halpin scored his fifth goal of the campaign, but it was too little too late for the Red Devils as the score remained 5-2 when the full-time whistle sounded.
The win was Kahibah’s second in a row and their fourth in a run of five straight games unbeaten.
They are second on the table, just nine points behind league leaders Belmont Swansea United and four ahead of third-placed West Wallsend,
Kahibah play again this Wednesday when they travel to Lyall Peacock Field to face Toronto Awaba in a rescheduled round 13 match before they sit out on the weekend with the round 19 bye.
Wallsend has now lost 12 in a row and remains last. The Red Devils will travel to Ulinga Oval on Sunday to face South Cardiff in the Match of the Round.
Toronto Awaba FC v Singleton Strikers FC
The match was postponed due to wet weather.
Belmont Swansea United FC had the bye.