Match of the Round
South Cardiff FC 1-3 Singleton Strikers FC
Singleton Strikers coach Doug West was pleased with his side’s efforts after a 3-1 win over South Cardiff at Ulinga Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Singleton entered the clash aware that they were no longer a chance of a top-four finish this season, but pushed to get the job done away from home.
The Strikers opened the scoring when Joel Barner found the back of the net from point-blank range after Jackson Skinner has sent a free kick from just behind the halfway line into the box and the ball was squared to Barner for a tap-in.
South Cardiff won a penalty three minutes later when Alex Phillips was brought down illegally in the box.
Brendon King made no mistake with his spot kick to equalise for the Gunners as he gave the crowd something to cheer about on old boys’ day.
Singleton hit the lead again in the 41st minute when a pass across goal was turned into the net for an own goal by South Cardiff’s Angus Read.
The Strikers doubled their lead two minutes later when Jackson Cox flicked a header into the path of Cal Hungerford and the striker blasted his one-on-one strike past the advancing Gunners gloveman Jacob Morgan.
The visitors took their 3-1 lead into the half-time break and that was the way the score remained when the full-time whistle sounded after neither side could find the back of the net in the second stanza.
West was quite content with the manner in which his side won the contest.
“The rain early in the morning helped soften up the field and took away a lot of the bounce, and the field was definitely better than I anticipated,” West said.
“I think the game was very open. It was quite a fast game and it was end-to-end. Both teams probably didn’t have the structure they’d planned on having early on.
“Southy created a lot of chances from dead balls in the first half and Jackson Bartlett (Singleton’s goalkeeper) was quite busy, and he stepped up.
“I think the way we set up to play, and the energy and intensity we were applying in certain areas where we were putting the ball, was good.
“I thought the engagement from Joel Barner, Jake Barner and Jackson Cox really led to our goals. We had chances that we converted and we made the most of our opportunities.
“There was probably a wind factor that played into both halves. We were against the wind in the second half and there was a lot of direct ball that Southy were playing into our back third, and it took some time and patience to get out of our third.
“We were camped for a while defending, but we managed the game out in that second half.”
South Cardiff’s coach Perry Mellon said it was disappointing to lose on Old Boys’ Day, which he estimated the Gunners have now done on six occasions in the past eight seasons. He thought the two Singleton goals just before half-time killed the game off.
“We played the same as we have the whole season, really,” Mellon said.
“There were just too many individual errors at poor times.
“Our keeper didn’t make a save all day and we conceded three goals. That’s how it’s going for us at the moment.
“In the first half-an-hour, we were pretty good and created a few chances, but we didn’t create anything in the second half. Neither team did in the second half to be honest. It was a pretty drab game in the second half. I think the two goals before half-time killed the game off.”
Singleton had entered the weekend still a chance of finishing fourth, but those hopes were dashed when West Wallsend beat Belmont Swansea on Saturday and they are now locked in to finish fifth.
The Strikers will host their final game of the season this Saturday when they welcome Toronto Awaba to Howe Park on Old Boys’ Day.
South Cardiff’s loss on Sunday meant they are guaranteed to finish in the bottom four, and they will be playing to remain sixth this Saturday when they travel to Thornton Park to challenge the Redbacks.
Thornton Redbacks FC 1-7 Kahibah FC
Kahibah FC coach Mat Moncrieff was thrilled for his side to secure their biggest victory of the season after a 7-1 win over Thornton Redbacks at Thornton Park on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors gained the upper hand in the race for second place when they blew Thornton out of the water on their Old Boys’ Day.
Tyson Masters shot up to third on the golden boot tally as the Kahibah striker scored a hat-trick to finish the weekend with 17 goals for the season.
It took him less than two minutes to score his first of the day as he charged onto a Riley Ferguson through ball and netted a one-on-one strike.
Daniel Keelan doubled Kahibah’s lead in the 12th minute and Masters scored his second in the 27th to make the score 3-0.
It was 4-0 at the half-time break after Dan Byrne’s 44th-minute goal gave the visitors a comfortable advantage.
Thornton struck first in the second stanza when substitute Sean Nyakudya pulled one back for the Redbacks in the 63rd minute.
Any hopes of a miraculous Thornton comeback on their old boys’ day evaporated in the 69th minute when Masters completed his hat-trick to go ahead of Toronto Awaba’s Jarrod Purcell on the leading goal-scorers list,
Byrne and Ferguson both netted in the final 10 minutes of the contest to make the final score 7-1.
Moncrieff was delighted to secure such a significant result in their quest to lock down second position on the table.
“It’s the first time we’ve had close to our best 11 in probably 10 weeks, to be honest,” Moncrieff said.
“Riley Ferguson has been injured and hasn’t played for a long time and Jaidyn Kianou
has been overseas for a while. They were back into the first-grade team and did well.
“We put it all together pretty quickly. We scored pretty early and dominated the whole game.
“It was a bit disappointing to concede one, but other than that it was a really good performance.”
Kahibah’s win saw them move to 41 points and overtake the previously second-placed Toronto Awaba (40).
Moncrieff’s men can wrap up the second spot if they get the job done in their final game of the regular season when they host Wallsend this Saturday at Kahibah Oval.
Thornton is now eighth and will host their last game of the campaign on Saturday at Thornton Park against South Cardiff.
Toronto Awaba FC 0-1 Cessnock City Hornets FC
Cessnock City Hornets extended their unbeaten run to five games when they scored a 1-0 away win against Toronto Awaba FC at Lyall Peacock Oval on Saturday afternoon, which saw them climb the table.
A Jacob Bender strike in the 13th minute was the difference as the visitors took a 1-0 lead into half-time and then defended it for 45 more minutes in the second half.
The three points earned saw Cessnock leap Thornton to move into seventh spot, and they can finish sixth if they win at least one of their two remaining games.
For Toronto Awaba, it was a day to forget as they received an abundance of cards and finished the match with nine players on the park after Clancy Muddle and Reece Green were sent off.
The loss saw them slip from second to third and leaves them in danger of dropping to fourth in the final round of the season this Saturday.
Cessnock have two more games left to play as they travel to The Gardens on Tuesday night to challenge Wallsend in a rescheduled round 22 clash before hosting West Wallsend at Turner Park in the final round of the campaign on Saturday.
Toronto Awaba will be looking to bounce back in round 27 when they travel to Howe Park to take on the Singleton Strikers.
West Wallsend SFC 3-1 Belmont Swansea United FC
West Wallsend SFC made an emphatic statement on home soil at Johnston Park on Saturday afternoon when they defeated premiers Belmont Swansea United 3-1 to boost their promotion hopes.
The Bluebells had lost three of their past four games heading into round 26 but they came out firing and opened the scoring through Sam Marr in the seventh minute.
Tyler Rankmore doubled the home side’s lead in the 29th minute before Spencer Clarke headed the Bluebells out to a 3-0 lead in the 33rd minute.
BelSwans were determined to produce a comeback and finish their premiership-winning season in victorious fashion.
They clawed one back in the 59th minute when Ethan Hall hit the back of the net.
But West Wallsend was able to maintain their two-goal advantage until the final whistle sounded and finished the match with 3-1 winners.
The victory saw Westy secure a top-four finish and also gave them a chance to finish third, which they can achieve if they win away against Cessnock at Turner Park this Saturday.
Belmont Swansea has the bye in round 27 and has finished the season as premiers with 56 points following 18 wins, two draws and just four losses. They have a goal difference of 62 after scoring 85 and conceding 23.
Wallsend FC had the bye.