Match of the Round
Newcastle Olympic FC 0-1 Charlestown Azzurri FC
Charlestown Azzurri coach James Pascoe believed his side’s overall performance was disappointing despite winning 1-0 over Newcastle Olympic at Darling Street Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Azzurri battled to overcome injuries to key players and uncomfortable heat to extend their winning streak to three games as they took down Olympic.
The visitors lost defender Taylor Regan and midfielder Tyran Cousins within five minutes of one another midway through the first half.
But the Blues went into the break ahead 1-0 after Reece McManus climbed over Steven Theacos in stoppage time to get onto a Barney Irvine-Rundle cross from the left and head his side into the lead.
Neither side could find the back of the net in the second stanza as Azzurri held on to claim the three points.
Pascoe was displeased with the overall quality of the match from both clubs.
“A low-quality game from two teams who are capable of much better,” Pascoe said.
“Very hot conditions. Both teams looked a little bit slack in the conditions.
“We’ll take the win absolutely. It’s still early days to iron out the kinks, but I’d hoped for us to be much better with the football and control games much better than we did today.”
Pascoe was at Darling Street Oval a week earlier when Olympic came from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw against Weston, and the Charlestown boss thought his men fell into the same trap the Bears did.
“We spoke during the week about the fact that Weston, I think, didn’t handle the last 10 minutes very well. They pretty much just hacked things clear and they didn’t try to link up with each other,” Pascoe said.
“We fell into the same trap. I think we were very tired after we had to make two changes in the first half, which meant I could only use the one substitution window in the second half, but we just got stuck into protection mode a little bit too much.
“On reflection though you understand that. It was hot and we were up 1-0, so we didn’t need to score again. We just needed to not concede. But you do invite pressure when you do that.
“I understand why it was like that today, but I’d like to see us do it better in the future.”
The loss was Olympic’s first of the season following a win and a draw across the opening two rounds.
The hosts entered the game without key striker Roy O’Donovan, who succumbed to a back injury during the week, and Zach Thomas, Jye Rodway and Jack Read-Jones all pulled out on gameday.
Coach Paul DeVitis said that despite missing those players, his side needed to be far better than what they were, especially in the first half.
“We were pretty disappointed in the first half performance from a football aspect,” DeVitis said.
“We weren’t keeping the ball and we weren’t playing it into the midfield how we would like to, but part of that was Charlestown were quite good at putting pressure on us and setting up.
“The second half was much better. We had the ascendancy pretty much the whole half and they found it hard to play against us. Very similar to last week against Weston.
“But going in behind against Charlestown, who are well known for being a team who can keep a lead, was always going to be hard.
“We almost did enough to get an equaliser, but ultimately it was disappointing today.
“The players we have out are high quality, but we’re good enough to be playing without three or four players and still win games. We’re just starting games a bit too weak at the moment.”
Olympic are now sixth and will be looking to bounce back when they travel away for the first time on Saturday night to challenge Valentine at Croudace Bay Complex.
League leaders Charlestown will be hoping to make it four from four when they play away at Magic Park against Broadmeadow on Sunday afternoon.
Edgeworth FC 0-0 Lambton Jaffas FC
Lambton Jaffas’ coach David Tanchevski demanded resilience in the lead-up to round three, and that is exactly what his side delivered as they held Edgeworth FC to a 0-0 stalemate at Jack McLaughlan Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Coming off a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Broadmeadow Magic, the Jaffas could have been forgiven for leaking a goal or two as they lined up against the Eagles without defenders Jimmy Oates and Tom Waller and then lost Matt Buettner early in the contest to injury, which forced a backline reshuffle.
But Lambton held strong and even had two clear chances to win the match in injury time.
“We would have taken that [result] at the start of the game after last week’s performance,” Tanchevski said.
“I thought the reaction was really good from the boys and we could have won it in the last five minutes there. We had a few good chances.
“It was a tough day for both teams in the heat, which didn’t help.
“The main thing for us was to get our defensive shape right. We changed our defensive shape, and I thought the boys held it really well and really limited Edgeworth’s opportunities.
“We had a couple of standout performances from guys, but the effort from the team as a whole was really good.”
Edgeworth’s coach Peter McGuinness agreed that it was a tough game for both sides in what he described as extreme heat.
“I thought we had some good moments in the game, which would have been nice to capitalise on,” he said.
The two sides will now go in search of their second wins of the season this weekend as the fourth-placed Eagles travel to Alder Park on Saturday afternoon to challenge New Lambton before the eighth-placed Jaffas host Adamstown on Sunday afternoon at Arthur Edden Oval.
Adamstown Rosebud FC 3-4 Maitland FC
A seven-goal spectacle kicked off the round at Adamstown Oval on Friday night as Maitland FC held on to prevail 4-3 against Adamstown Rosebud and secure their first victory of the campaign.
The home side opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Riley Aunger drove a powerful strike through a bunch of bodies in the box to open his account for his new club.
The lethal left-footer thought he had another three minutes later, but a cracking volley from just outside the area was disallowed after Aunger was ruled to have handled the ball when controlling it.
Magpies’ skipper Braedyn Crowley then stunned Rosebud with two clinical one-on-one strikes in the 16th and 18th minutes to put the visitors ahead.
Maitland was up 3-1 at the break after Tyrell Paulson scored a headed effort in the 36th minute.
But the away side lost Crowley to injury at half-time and his presence was missed during the second stanza.
Adamstown pulled one back in the 64th minute when Taj Buck put the ball on a platter for Ryan Rooke, who volleyed home from a yard out.
But Maitland restored their two-goal advantage almost four minutes later when Aden Raftery blasted a stunning volley from distance into the bottom-right corner.
The hosts refused to give up and were rewarded for their persistence in the 75th minute when Aunger netted his second to make it 4-3, but that was the way it remained as Maitland held on to claim the three points.
The Magpies are now seventh and are away again this Saturday when they travel to Rockwell Automation Park to challenge Weston, while Adamstown is ninth and will be away against Lambton Jaffas at Arthur Edden Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Weston Bears FC 4-0 Cooks Hill United FC
Weston Bears marked their first home game of the season with their first win as they powered their way to a 4-0 victory against Cooks Hill United at Rockwell Automation Park on Saturday evening.
The Bears led 1-0 at the half-time break after Chris Hatfield won and converted a penalty in the 35th minute.
Blake Archbold then scored his third goal in as many games in the 53rd minute to double the home side’s lead.
Aaron Niyonkuru was introduced off the bench four minutes later and scored his first goal of the season in the 80th minute when he was slipped in behind by Ryan Blackburn and calmly slotted his one-on-one shot.
Hatfield then completed the scoring eight minutes later as he stormed into the box onto a Burke Fahling pass and unleashed a powerful strike past Daniel Eisenhauer to make the final score 4-0.
The clean sheet was the Bears’ first of the campaign and the big win saw them climb into fifth spot.
They will return to Rockwell Automation Park this Saturday evening when they host fellow round three winners Maitland.
Cooks Hill dropped to 10th following the four-goal loss and will look to bounce back when they travel to Blacksmiths Oval this Friday night to battle the undefeated Belmont Swansea United.
Valentine FC 2-2 Belmont Swansea United FC
A Belmont Swansea United goal of the season contender broke Valentine FC’s hearts at Croudace Bay Complex on Saturday night as a sensational overhead kick denied the Phoenix their first win of the campaign.
Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2025, Valentine took a 1-0 lead into half-time after Carter Smith scored his third in as many games for his new club when he found the top-right corner with a stunner from distance in the 28th minute.
Valentine doubled their lead in the 68th minute when Japanese visa player Hiroumi Ikeda headed home from close range off a corner.
But the hosts could only hold onto that two-goal advantage for 76 seconds before Quinton Phillips-Tapsell charged onto a Joe Kable cutback and opened BelSwans’ account.
Kane Woolston then brought the crowd to its feet in the 84th minute with a goal that will be talked about for years to come. It made the score 2-2, which was the way it remained at full-time.
BelSwans’ coach Mick Stafford said he was proud of his men for finding a way to battle back to secure a point and keep their unbeaten start to their maiden NPL campaign intact.
Belmont are now third and will go in search of their second win on Friday night when they kick off round four at Blacksmiths Oval against Cooks Hill.
Eleventh-placed Valentine will return to Croudace Bay Complex this weekend when they host Newcastle Olympic in the match of the round on Saturday night.
New Lambton FC 3-5 Broadmeadow Magic FC
New Lambton FC boss Shane Pryce got the fight and hunger he was looking for from his men, but the defending champions were ultimately too good as Broadmeadow Magic prevailed 5-3 at Alder Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles shocked Magic in the 10th minute as they hit the lead when Kent Harrison charged onto a Zach Verhoven ball in behind and squared it into Tom O’Connor.
That goal was New Lambton’s first of the season and it had them in front until the 29th minute when Broadmeadow’s Seo Ram Lee netted from close range after getting onto the end of a Jack Simmons cutback.
The two sides looked set to go into the break level before Jarred Baker scored one and set up another late in the half as a Simmons strike almost three minutes into stoppage time made it 3-1 to the visitors.
The score remained that way until the 80th minute when a powerful Jackson McClymont volley brought the hosts back within a goal.
But it only took Broadmeadow 27 seconds to score after kicking off as James Cresnar powered a strike into the bottom-left corner off the back of another Baker assist to make it 4-2.
The two sides traded top-class goals in injury time as Simmons put Magic ahead 5-2 with a thunderbolt from the edge of the area before New Lambton’s Caleb Reed drove home a powerful strike from the left edge to make the final score 5-3.
Broadmeadow are now second on the table after securing their second consecutive win and will host league leaders Charlestown this Sunday at Magic Park.
New Lambton is still winless and last on the table. They are back at home in round four when they welcome Edgeworth FC.