Match of the Round
South Cardiff FC 3-3 Wallsend FC
Wallsend FC coach Chris Gallagher was thrilled for his side to snap their losing streak after they came from behind to secure a crucial 3-3 draw with South Cardiff FC at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Sunday night.
The score was locked at 2-2 just before injury time arrived when South Cardiff’s leading goal-scorer Brendon King found the back of the net from the penalty spot to put his side ahead.
But the Red Devils were determined to find an equaliser and they managed to do so when Will Cheney scored with the final kick of the game following a goal-mouth scrap after Cooper Gallard had whipped a corner into the box.
Earlier in the match, Elijah Nyman put the Gunners ahead with a fifth-minute strike.
But it was Wallsend that led at half-time after Ethan Kulupach squared it up in the 10th minute and his teammate Cody Halpin made the score 2-1 in the 41st minute.
Jay Troyer locked the game up at 2-2 with a strike on the hour mark and it remained that way until late when King and Cheney brought the crowd to their feet in a dramatic ending to the contest.
The result saw Wallsend end a 12-game losing streak and Gallagher could not have been any prouder of his men.
“It was a pretty decent finish to the game,” Gallagher said.
“Southy scored that late penalty and I was thinking ‘oh no, de ja vu’, but the boys didn’t give up and they went on to win a late corner and score an equaliser.
“We played really well. They were doing what we expected. They have plenty of speed out wide and they’d get into the pocket and get the ball down the line and cut it to someone in the box. Thankfully it didn’t come off as many times as they would have liked, and we defended much better than we have over the past 13 weeks.
“The boys did really well. We combined well for long periods of the game.”
South Cardiff’s coach Perry Mellon said that his side currently looks like a team that has forgotten how to win, but they will continue to battle their way through it to return to winning ways.
“We were not great to be honest. Wallsend should have been up by three at half-time,” Mellon said.
“In the second half though, we were probably more dominant and we had two or three good chances to score.
“We didn’t deserve to win. I think a draw was probably fair. Both teams could have won but neither showed enough quality to win it.”
The results across the six games in first grade and reserve grade that the two clubs have played against each other this year saw South Cardiff retain the Gallagher Shield, which the clubs compete for each year in memory of Chris’ late younger brother Peter Gallagher, who passed away from brain cancer in 2012. Peter played for both Wallsend and South Cardiff.
The first grade draw on Sunday saw the Gunners miss out on an opportunity to finish the weekend in the top four as they were forced to settle for fifth, while Wallsend is still at the bottom of the table.
The two sides will be in action on Wednesday night in rescheduled round 14 matches when Wallsend travel to Howe Park to challenge Singleton and South Cardiff welcome Toronto Awaba to Ulinga Oval.
Thornton Redbacks FC 1-6 Toronto Awaba FC
Toronto Awaba FC coach Jarrad Hiles was pleased with his side’s performance after they scored their biggest win of the year at Thornton Park on Saturday afternoon when they rolled Thornton Redbacks 6-1.
The sixth-placed Stags opened the scoring in the first minute when Harry Relf netted in his 50th game.
New-look strike duo Damon Green and Jarrod Purcell put Toronto 3-0 ahead soon after as Purcell struck in the ninth minute and Green got on the scoresheet in the 13th.
The visitors were in front by four in the 16th minute when a Green strike deflected off a Thornton defender on its way into the back of the net,
Green then netted his second goal in the 41st minute to send his side into the half-time break with a 5-0 advantage.
Thornton struck back seven minutes after play restarted when they won a penalty and Logan Watson put it away.
But Purcell restored Toronto Awaba’s five-goal lead when he got onto the end of a Kade Howland cross and headed home the side’s sixth goal of the contest in the 58th minute.
The 6-1 scoreline was the way it remained until full-time and Hiles was pleased with the way his men were able to break down a solid defensive team.
“I thought we played well,” Hiles said.
“They set up with their blocks, Thornton, so they can be hard to break down, and the pitch is a bit narrower up there, but we were able to break them down.
“When we were calm and patient on the ball, we could play those little combinations through the middle and get it to the guys out wide or get runs in behind. That’s our strength when we combine and bounce the ball around.
“I think the game was over by the 20-minute mark, but Thornton had some good chances early on too. We had four shots on goal and were up 4-0, and they’d had three shots and didn’t get anything out of it, so it could have been a different story.”
The two sides will be in action again mid-week in rescheduled round 14 matches. Thornton hosts league leaders Belmont Swansea on Tuesday night and Toronto Awaba travel to challenge South Cardiff at Ulinga Oval.
Singleton Strikers FC 1-1 West Wallsend SFC
Singleton Strikers hosted their Ladies Day at Howe Park on Saturday saw the home side finish all square with West Wallsend SFC as the two sides contested a 1-1 draw.
West Wallsend opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Sam Marshall found the back of the net in his starting debut,
The visitors had the chance to double their lead several minutes later when they earned a penalty, but Jake Bower’s spot kick missed the target.
Westy had a few more chances to go further ahead but the hosts weathered the storm Before they equalised in the 31st minute.
Lachlan Nichol charged into the box onto a ball knocked in by his brother Hayden from a free kick and headed it past Blake Redman from a tight angle.
The two sides went into the break locked at 1-1, and that was the way the score remained when the final whistle blew.
That result saw West Wallsend remain in third spot while Singleton climbed into seventh as they overtook Cessnock on for and against difference.
The two sides will line up in rescheduled round 14 games on Wednesday night when Singleton welcomes Wallsend to Howe Park and the Bluebells travel to Kahibah Oval to tackle Kahibah.
Belmont Swansea United FC 2-0 Cessnock City Hornets FC
Belmont Swansea United are edging closer to automatic promotion following a 2-0 win against Cessnock City Hornets at Blacksmiths Oval on Saturday.
The win has seen BelSwans go 10 points clear at the top of the table
BelSwans struck early when Matt Hall opened the scoring in the eighth minute before the competition’s golden boot race leader Kane Woolston netted his 20th of the season in the 19th minute to double the home side’s advantage.
Woolston’s header extended his remarkable run of consecutive headed goals to nine.
Cessnock pushed hard to get a goal back, but the league leaders were too good as they kept their fourth clean sheet on the trot and won the match 2-0.
BelSwans had gone into the weekend seven points clear of second and Kahibah sitting out with the bye meant that Mick Stafford’s men finished 10 points out in front.
They can extend the lead to 13 this Tuesday when they play a rescheduled round 14 match away from home against Thornton Redbacks.
BelSwans will then meet Kahibah in a top-of-the-table clash in round 20 on Sunday at Kahibah Oval.
Cessnock have the round 14 bye, with their next game on Saturday when they host Singleton at Turner Park.
Kahibah FC had the bye.