Match of the Round
South Cardiff 6-3 Belmont Swansea
A clinical South Cardiff attack defeated Belmont Swansea United 6-3 at Ulinga Oval on Saturday night.
The Gunners have started the season with all guns blazing scoring 15 goals from three matches.
Sam Modderno continued his stellar season with a brace while two goals from Tom Walker and goals from Jamie Subat and Vincent Asembo capped off a celebratory night in front of their home fans.
After a cagey start, South Cardiff coach Perry Mellon was jubilant how they improved as the match progressed.
"Intense start to the match. Belswans came out hard at us," Mellon said.
"We managed to weather the storm with Jacob Morgan making a couple of great saves to keep us in it before grabbing three goals on the counterattack before half-time through Sammy Modderno and Tom Walker.
"The boys dug deep second half while Belswans bombed numbers forward to get a result.
"We were clinical in front of goal with Mods and Subat scoring one each and Vincent Asembo off the bench scoring with the last kick of the game."
The win puts the Gunners in third place on seven points, two points adrift of Singleton Strikers in first place.
It was the first loss of the season for the reigning champions who will need to regroup for next week's clash against Toronto Awaba.
Toronto Awaba FC 3-3 Thornton Redbacks FC
In their best performance of the season so far Thornton Redbacks led three times but had to settle for a 3-3 draw against a resilient Toronto Stags on Saturday.
Thornton Redbacks coach Gary Wand was happy with his side’s performance at Lyall Peacock Field especially considering they had lost three players on the day of the match to illness and work commitments.
"We led three times with goals to Coby Jenkinson, Sam Rossi and Pat Wand but the heat took its toll and we had a couple [of players] in the last 10 minutes really struggling,” Wand said.
"Toronto finished strongly and we were happy to get our first point for the season.”
As the cliché goes, it was a game of two halves for Toronto Awaba coach Jarrod Hiles.
"We had a poor first half but stepped up to a strong Thornton team to take away a 3-3 draw," Hiles said.
"Zane Winslade came back from a week away to score a goal and dominate the midfield and Clancy Muddle worked up and down for a full 90 minutes from right back."
It was a missed opportunity for the Stags to go top of the league who trail Singleton by one point.
West Wallsend SFC 1-3 Cessnock City Hornets
Cessnock City Hornets chalked up their first win of the season defeating West Wallsend 3-1 at Johnston Park on Sunday afternoon.
There are no weak teams in this year's HIT106.9 Northern League competition and this could be one of the closest seasons for years.
Following narrow defeats in round one and three, Cessnock coach Brad Miles was happy to get back to winning ways.
"Boys played really well, stuck to the game plan and deserved the three points,” Miles said.
"Our goalie Max Hampton was outstanding and so was centre back Thomas Cunningham.”
Kahibah FC 7-0 Wallsend FC
Kahibah were rewarded for their attacking approach as everything came together in their 7-0 thrashing of Wallsend on Sunday.
The icing on the cake was a hat-trick for Jamie Hadlow and a dream debut for 18-year-old Luke Springett who bagged a goal and an assist at Kahibah Oval.
Kahibah coach Mat Moncrief was delighted to put on a show in front of the home crowd.
"We had a good day in what was tough conditions to start the game," Moncrief said.
"Pretty even first half and we finally put away on the stroke of half-time and we dominated with some good team goals in the second half.
"Jamie Hadlow found his scoring boots finishing with a hat-trick. Curtis Baggs and Levi Winter were huge for us in the wide areas.
"Honourable mention to one of our 18s from last year, Luke Springett came off the bench in first grade for the first time and got on the scoresheet and had an assist as well."
While Wallsend coach Michael Gatt took his hat off to Kahibah, he would prefer to erase the memory.
"Boys were played off the park in every way. Ball movement was slow and we just didn't get in the game at any point,” Gatt said.
"Definitely one to forget. We just need to get to training Tuesday regroup and ensure we are better.”
Singleton Strikers had the bye