Busselton 3 Vs Margaret River 2

Men’s South/West Premier League
By Coach Gary Leigh
The River lost to the odd goal in five, away to already crowned League champions Busselton in a closely contested game last weekend.

In what we consider our only local derby of the season against a Busselton team who we matched in every compartment, but still now find themselves unbeaten in 43 league and cup games spanning nearly two seasons!

The River got off to a terrible start, conceding a soft goal in only the third minute of play, 0-1.

We could only clear the ball a short distance from a corner and then we squandered another couple of chances of clearing, before the Busselton attacker just got enough purchase on the ball to get it over the line.

We then got a foothold in the game and started to make some good chances for both of our forwards Lee Gaynor and Glenn Skyrme.

Mattinson’s Plumbing player of the match Danny Kaleta was having a great game in his new found position of centre back, holding the back line together and communicating well with Shogo Maida and Jon Richards.

Our passing game was at its best throughout the team, you could feel the confidence the players have in each other at the moment.

Half time loomed and the River was having the majority of possession at this stage in the game.

This paid off when Glenn got past his marker down the left wing and fed the ball through to Alex Costa, who with a perfect first touch made space for himself and slipped the ball past their advancing keeper, 1-1.

At the break I asked for much of the same as the first, with the addition of testing their keeper with a few more shots. Several players were feeling the pace of the game and I knew that changes would have to be made before long.

Busselton came hard at us in the opening minutes of the second half as we knew they would and scored again from a corner in the 60th minute, this time directly with a well taken header, 1-2.

But the River were far from finished, Glenn got onto a poor clearance and made no mistake with a rasping drive that found the back of the net, 2-2.

Ned Allington had to be replaced because of a back injury with Gordon Becker, who also suffered a head injury, but returned to the field of play.

Sam Parrott replaced Woody Hangartner who had covered every inch of the pitch and out was out on his feet.

We were in disarray, when Josiah Allington also required treatment with a blood rule and had to be taken off due to a heavy nose bleed.

We had lost our shape and to make matters even worse, while we were down to 10 men because of players having treatment on the side line, Busselton scored again, 2-3.

Tom Panarello replaced Josiah and with a full contingent of players we once again set about getting the game back onto level terms.

Brad Tweedle one of our younger players is showing a great attitude in his play and is one of the reasons why the River has such a good team sprit at the moment.

With the minutes ticking away a combination between Sam Parrott and Alex beat a couple of defenders in the Busselton penalty area but they just couldn’t find enough space to get a good shot on target.

A corner to the River in the dying moments saw the ball flicked onto Glenn who hit a fiercely volleyed shot that flew only millimetres over the Busselton crossbar.

We had been denied what no other club has been able to do this season, either beat or even draw with Busselton Soccer Club in the premier league.

We meet Busselton again this coming Friday night under lights in the final of the Pioneer Cup in Dalyellup.

With a couple of minor changes to our game plan there is no reason why, with a full contingent of players we cannot beat Busselton in this final.

The reserves also lost by one goal in a 5 – 4 thriller, with the lead changing several times, hat trick scorer Trevor Armener took out the player of the match award for the second time in as many weeks, well done.

River makes the final again!

South / West Pioneer Cup Semi Final
By Coach Gary Leigh
Both Semi Finals were played Friday night under lights at Churchill Park Busselton.

We faced Bunbury United and although being opposite ends of the ladder we were confident of getting a result against a United team that we had beaten only a couple of weeks earlier in an away league game.

The early signs were good for the River, both forwards Glenn Skyrme and Lee Gaynor looked lively and linked well with Josiah Allington left midfield.

With only 10 minutes gone, central midfielder Woody Hangartner split the United defence with a well weighted through ball for Glenn to run onto, shooting well, only to see the United keeper make a great save. Brad Tweedle followed up, squaring the ball back to Glenn to slot home, 1-0.

It was all River at this stage and it wasn’t long before the United off side trap was once again beaten, Glenn grabbing his and River’s second goal of the evening.

Due to unforeseen circumstances prior to this match, Danny Kaleta and Jon Richards became our makeshift centre backs, but what a great combination it turned out to be, both complementing each other superbly throughout the game.

My advice before the game was to not foul in our defensive third of the pitch, especially around our penalty box and to stand up in the tackle, but this fell on deaf ears late in the first half.

With the passion running high, we conceded several free kicks to the opposition and a couple of corners, United converting one of those late in the half making the score-line 2 –1 at the break.

Alex Costa and Tom Panarello made a huge contribution towards the amount of possession that the River now had over their rivals.

Trying to defend a slender advantage of only one goal in a knock out cup tie can sometimes be a team’s undoing and when a penalty was awarded to United, I was starting to think about the game going to a penalty shot out.

Stewart McKay was a late inclusion in goals because of illness to our regular keeper and what a game he had, pulling off a penalty save, although the referee adjudged one of our players to have entered the penalty box before the penalty shot was taken, meaning the penalty had to be retaken.

The Margs contingent of the crowd held its breath for a second time, the United player then drilled the ball over the crossbar, to our relief, keeping the game at 2-1 still in River’s favour.

We had a let off and took full advantage of it.

A quickly taken free kick on the half way resulted in Sam Parrott having a one-on-one with the Bunbury keeper, who he beat with a well placed shot, but no, not again, the flag was up, the linesman had awarded off-side to our disbelief.

But behind play the Bunbury player who had been booked in the previous incident continued his decent and was sent from the pitch.

The River where now in full control, if not at times slightly over playing some attacking moves.

But the game was settled when Alex had a wonderful shot, all of 30 metres out, smashing the ball into the under side of the crossbar, “had it crossed the line”? It really didn’t matter, Sam could not be denied his goal, following up the shot and helping it into the net, 3-1.

Both full backs Ned Allington and Shogo Maida had brilliant games seeing off any chance of a Bunbury comeback.

The icing was put on the cake when Glenn got his hat trick and River’s forth with a great shot into the far corner from the edge of the penalty box, with 10 minutes remaining, 4-1.

The final whistle blew, we are in the Pioneer Cup Final for the second time in as many seasons and we will meet our local rivals, Busselton again.

The club song was sung with great enthusiasm and feeling.

For me this was the most complete game of football for Margaret River I have ever witnessed; it was impossible to pick one player of the match out of this squad.

Team spirit was very high all game and I had a contingent of 17 players to pick from; they are all stars this night for me, its games like this that make all the hard work and effort worth it.

We play Busselton in Dalyellup under lights on Friday 10th September,”they must have thought there would be Bunbury teams in it”!

In a repeat of what we hope will be a reversal of last season’s cup final result, its not going to be easy, facing Busselton, unbeaten in 40 games!

But if we play like we did in this game, then you never know, every dog has its day.

The reserves also had a great win at Eaton Town on Sunday, 6 – 0.

Brad Tweedle scoring a hat trick, Lee Gaynor 2 goals and Trevor Armener scoring a wonderful goal from a shot all of 35 metres out, great strike.

Clive Slater and Scott Phelps shared the player of the match awards.

“WE ARE THE RIVER, THE MARGARET RIVER”.

MR 0 v Collie Power 3

Men’s Premier League South/West
By coach Gary Leigh
This was a game in which, what could go wrong, did for Margaret River, but all credit has to given to Collie. Though not the prettiest football to watch on occasions, their direct approach certainly got them the result.

Although FMR matched Collie in possession and the amount of goal scoring chances, we have always struggled with finishing those chances.

But what is even more disappointing is that we didn’t hit the target all game and their keeper went home with clean gloves.

Two goals down at the interval we had to counteract the long ball from free kicks, which we did with some success, but another mix-up in defence allowed Collie to extend their lead further, 0-3.

The final nail in the coffin was yet another sending off for the River with 15 minutes remaining, our disciplinary record is not one to be admired.

On the positive side Brad Tweedle and Jon Richards played with passion all game and never threw in the towel.

Joint Mattinson Plumbing Player of the match award was presented to Josiah Allington and Sam Parrott.

The reserves succumbed to late a equalizer in their 1-1 draw with Collie after dominating long periods of this game, Trevor Armener winning the player of the match.

Blackwood 1 v Margaret River 4

South/West Pioneer Cup Men’s round 2
By Coach Gary Leigh
This is a knock out cup and is the only time in the season when premier league teams can be drawn against teams from division 1, pitting their skills against one and other in competition.

The sun shone brightly making our bus trip over to Balingup, via Nannup one to be remembered, especially for our overseas contingent who got a sight seeing tour as well as a game of football.

River took a early lead in the opening minutes through Alex Costa and again shortly after Glenn Skyrme made it 2-0, which should have opened the flood gates, but the more chances the River missed the more Blackwood’s confidence grew.

Then a mix up in the River defence allowed a one on one with John Malpas who was unable to prevent the Blackwood striker reducing the defect to one goal, 1-2.

River again restored their 2 goal buffer when player of the match winner Alex scored again after a great move involving Lee Gaynor with a couple of wall passes, 1-3.

At halftime I requested that Brad Tweedle take on the Blackwood defence more often with his dribbling skills.

Shortly after the break Brad did just that when he cut a swath through the centre of the Blackwood defence and finished superbly, 1-4.

Blackwood often defended with 9 outfield players and was in damage control for the rest of the game.

But River found it hard to break down this form of defence and often rushed their goal scoring chances.

However all credit has to given to the Blackwood keeper who made several great saves, playing a blinder and keeping them in touch all game.

Many thanks to Paul Harney for stepping in at the last moment and driving the bus, he also had a steady game in defence when he came on and showed that he has lost none of his skills.

Next Sunday we are back to our premier league games with a home match against Collie Power, reserves at 1.00 and league at 3.00 kick offs.

Bunbury United 1 v Margaret River 2

Men’s South West Premier League
By Coach Gary Leigh
You know what you are up against when you enter the Bunbury Club rooms and see all the championship flags upon the walls. Its impressive if not to say a bit intimidating for the away club.

With the wind behind us the River started the stronger and quickly got into their free flowing passing game and looked the more likely to score.

We deserved a goal and we got it after 15 minutes from a set play, when Jon Richards curled a corner kick straight into the Bunbury goal, with a Bunbury defender back tracking, he could only help the ball over the line, heading up onto his crossbar but the ball had already crossed the line, 1-0.

The River was hungry for more goals and took the game further to United.

Lee Gaynor and Alex Costa where combining well, dissecting the Bunbury defence on many occasions giving Glenn Skyrme and Danny Kaleta goal scoring chances to extend our advantage.

A cross into the Bunbury penalty area was only cleared 20 meters out from goal, which Redar Saber latched onto first time and smashed the ball into Bunbury net to put the River two goals up at the break.

As I told the team in my half time talk, a two goal lead can often give a team a false sense of security, we have either got to extend our lead further or soak up the pressure early on and hit them on the counter attack.

We took to the field and attempted to continue has we had played the first half, but United had stepped up a gear and where winning most midfield battles.

A couple of positional changes were introduced in the attempt to keep our two goal lead and hit them on the break, which nearly came off when both Ned Allington and Richards went close to extending our lead.

Johnny Malpas was called upon to make a couple of saves but could do nothing about a shot that rebounded off the goal post back into the path of an oncoming Bunbury attacker, who made no mistake from 6 meters out, with 10 minutes remaining, 2-1.

The River defence held firm with both full backs Sam Parrott and Gordon Becker defusing any further Bunbury forays into the River’s half.

Brad Tweddle put his 65 kg –ringing wet- body on the line with a crunching tackle in the dying moments of this game that summed up the attitude of the entire FMR squad this day.

I could not separate Lee or Redar who both had great games and share the Player of the Match Award.

A special mention must be made to all the reserves team players for the River; with out whom this league win could not have been possible.

Thursday night after training our squad looked to have no more than 16 players for both teams, meaning a least 6 players having to play two games.

The likes of Harrison Wilson playing with an injury and Scott Guthie-Phelps playing on his way home from the airport all helped to secure this win and does not go unnoticed.

The reserves went down 4-2 in a closely contended game, Ned Allington winning the Player of the Match.

Next Sunday we are away again this time in Balingup, playing Blackwood in the second round of the Pioneer Cup.

Margaret River 2 v Bunbury Dynamos 4

Men’s South West Premier League
By coach Gary Leigh
Margaret River’s unbeaten run of 5 games was brought to an end by third placed Bunbury Dynamos at the weekend.

Margaret River started brightly and took a deserved lead after 10 minutes, when Danny Kaleta met a cross from Brad Tweddle on the right wing, 1-0.

The game took an abrupt ‘U’ turn when Woody Hangartner was shown a straight red card for pushing, prior to a corner kick, meaning that Margaret River had to play out the remaining 80 minutes with only 10 players.

Margaret River were punished further when Dynamos equalized within 2 minutes of the sending off, 1-1.

Lee Gaynor and Brad were brought back into midfield and Alex Costa left up front as our loan striker.

Margaret River settled back into a good rhythm of play, but succumbed to second goal shortly before the interval, 1-2.

A couple of fine adjustments were made at the break, Margaret River took to the pitch with more belief and it showed in our possession of the ball. It was hard to distinguish which team had the ten men.

This possession brought about our equalizer, when Alex held the ball up well and made space for himself on the edge of the Dynamos penalty area and fired the ball into the bottom right hand corner, 2-2.

The 10 men began to tire, 4 of which had already played half a game in the reserve grade due to lack of players.

Dynamo got their third goal with 15 minutes remaining and scored again shortly afterwards through an “own goal” that gave them a 2 goal advantage with only minutes left.

The River were thrown a life line when a Dynamo defender was penalised for hand ball and a penalty awarded, their keeper made a great save from Glenn Skyrme spot kick and the game finished 4-2 to Dynamo.

The team played extremely well, our passing out of defence was brilliant on occasions.

One move, started by Shogo Maida and Redar Saber involved 6 players straight up the middle of the pitch and nearly eventuated in a goal, it was one of the seasons best passages of play.

Player of the Match Award was presented to Gordon Becker for his solid game in defence as right back, he was also one of the players required to play for the reserves.

Our next game is away to Bunbury United this coming Sunday, training as usual Tuesdays and Thursdays on Gloucester Park at 6.00 pm.

MR robbed in dying minutes for a draw

By Stuart McKay
The skies clear for another glorious day of football on Sunday. Margaret River hosted Dalyellup in a clash in 5th versed 6th spot on the SW Times on the men’s premier league table.

The game was always going to be a test of depth for the Margaret River players, as two players from Margaret Rivers back line were absent.

With MR’s usual keeper John Malpas injured Stuart McKay limped into goals for the second week intent on keeping a clean sheet.

Shogo Maida replaced Jon (the butcher) Richards as sweeper and Danny Kaleta became our number one (hit man and man marker) on Dalyellup 6’8”inches center forward that left Gordon Becker and Ned Allington right and left backs. Only one element was missing from the back line and that was height.

Any doubts the MR keeper may have being out done in the air were short lived. The whole back line played out of their boots and grew 6inches from their toes.

The midfield engine room needed its tappets topping up after the first half. A creative flair and composure of the midfield was pure quality. Combined with the wingers of Jay Allington and Woody Hangartner both making great runs up and down the mark.

Now much of this MR hype was reflected back at them by pump and pressure on the ball by Dalyellup.

Dalyellup’s forward line was switching all over the park; it took a few minutes for the new back line to get settled Dalyellup were unable to capitalise on these lapses in the defence, especially when a midfielder was crossed the ball to his feet directly in front in goal only to launch it over the crossbar, much to the relief of the bellowing crowd and MR keeper.

That was probably the best chance of a goal in first half for both teams with both keepers kept keenly on their toes in many occasions.

Some controversy occurred 30 minutes into the game when Lee Gaynor was one on one with the last man in defence and was chopped down just outside the 18yard box. Mandatory red card was bill boarded amongst the crowd as the ref reached for his yellow pocket.

The free kick by Alex Costa went wide. The score at half time reflected a very close contest and anyone’s game for the second half. Half time score 0 – 0.

The intensity of the game somehow jumped up to another level as the coach’s half time talk injected fresh adrenelin into all 22 players on the park. The crowd was loving it! It was Dalyellup that had early chances with goalkeeper mistakes in the air. Fortunately for FMR cleaned up by the ever-reliable sweeper Shogo Maida.

FMR hit back with rebound football that allowed several corners, the first was the old combo or Woody Hagartner and Danny Kaleta, with the latter just missing the header home.

The game was drifting like a lost ship at sea. Uncertainty wafted in the doldrums of a nil all draw. From nowhere the crowd witnessed a cannonball emerge from the MR keeper to find a screaming Alex Costa who ran onto it and chipped over the Dalyellup keeper. The crowd erupted in bellows of joy as MR took the lead.

With 20 mins still remaining Dalyellup had plenty of time to peg one back. It seemed however that Dalyellup was sinking because MR dominated the play only to be denied by the keeper or woodwork several times.

With 2 mins to go Dalyellup was rewarded a corner kick. The ball floats across a four set wave of MR heads only to be hit by a double up ‘that rockets the ball past the keeper and man on the back post. Final score 1 all.

Brilliant game to watch, play and write about MR. Thanks to Mattinson Plumbing for sponsoring best player, its always hard to pick and I will share it with the players!
Bring that competitive spirit next week lads!

River swamps Hay Park

With World Cup fever well under way Margaret River’s multinational team took to the field on Sunday afternoon intent on progressing to the next round of the SWSA Pioneer Cup.

Standing in their way, Hay Park United, a team that recently won the their last 3 games convincingly.

From kickoff River looked sharp, passing and running with the ball with the confidence of a team that has played together for years.

It was obvious our Brazilian import Alex Costa was surely missed last week in Collie because combined with Sam Parrot and one of our British lads Simon Corke in the midfield River was flowing full strength with confidence and possession.

The crowd could sense it was only moments away from a River goal. What started from the backline with Jon Richards clearing to Woody Hangartner on the wing who gives to Glenn Skyrme (at left) outside the 18 yrd box.

Glenn seems to just rush past two defenders like a breeze on water and fire in a low shot to the corner of the goal. Score is 1-0.

Hay Park were determined to peg the difference back even but the defence of Margaret River was rock solid.

In fact the defensive attack of Shogo Maida overlapping with Jay Allington on the right wing to cross the ball from deep in Hay Park’s defensive half was nothing short of the play of the day.

It was met by Sam Parrott who calmly slotted the second for River.

With the rules of this cup game allowing for both teams to have rolling interchange MRiver was making the most of its 5 substitutes.

Our super sub Danny Kaleta made a huge impact in the midfield as soon as he went on and resulting in the second goal from his tough and strong play. MRiver went to the half time break knowing the game was far from over.

The second half saw little change to the intensity that was being played by both teams.

However Hay Park to its credit had more chances than the first half and kept Jon Malpas on his toes in goals.

At one point in the game a powerful shot from just outside the box having to be deflected over the crossbar.

Lee Gaynor (at left) from Ireland was stitching potato sacks from his oppostion with boundless runs in the forward line.

Our third goal came when what seemed to be a bad tackle on Alex Costa turned out to be hand ball in the penalty area. Simon Corke stepped up to kick an unconvincing penalty goal and a comfortable 3-0 scoreline.

Several injuries allowed more subs in Gordo and Harrison to come on. Gordo replacing Woody who was sublime in defence until forced off with injury.

Harrison was unlucky not to score a fourth goal after lobbing the keeper only to hit the crossbar and bounce back to the keeper. The final score was 3-0 to MRiver. Best on ground for River was Sam Parrott.

This week we play Hay Park again in Bunbury. All spectators welcome. Bus leaves 11.00am front of Aquatic Centre.

Margaret River 3 Vs Eaton Town 1

Men’s South/West Premier League
By coach Gary Leigh
Don’t rub your eyes; yes Margs had a home win, after trailing 1-0 a great fight back earned them a well deserved win.

Canadian Ted Brander captained the Margaret River team in his last appearance for the club after his two-year spell with us before heading home, he will always be a part of this club and I think Margaret River will always be part of him.

As in most of our previous league games this season we dominated from the kick-off and created several good chances to open the scoring.

The Eaton keeper made a couple of great saves from one-on-ones with Sam Parott and Alex Costa to keep the game scoreless to the disbelief of the vocal crowd at the break.

Eaton scored from a direct free-kick shortly after the re-start when the ball was allowed to bounce in our penalty area and we were punished, 0-1.

A change in formation, when River’s prolific goal scorer Glenn Skyrme was introduced into the game to give our attack three forwards in an attempt to claw our way back into the game.

This formation also gave Lee Gaynor, in his first game back for the River since last season, more room on the right wing to attack the Eaton defence.

But the equalizer came from another source, when Simon Corke in midfield hit a wonderful strike along the ground from all of 25 metres out from goal, leaving the Eaton keeper sprawling on the ground in a vain attempt to stop the shot, 1-1.

River were now back in control of the game and a second goal seemed likely, what we hadn’t bargained for was a double sending off, when Alex and an Eaton defender got their marching orders, in what, up until then had been a fairly incident free and fair game.

This setback only spurred the River on, with 20 minutes remaining Lee controlled and turned, his shot finding the back of Eaton’s net form the edge of the penalty area, 2-1.

It was now Eaton’s turn to pile on the pressure, Redar Saber and Kel Murray both tackled like their lives depended upon it, but unlike previous weeks our defence held strong.

Our keeper John Malpas was required to make a couple of saves near the end.

But with the game just about over Sam and substitute Gordon Becker combined well, which produced a fine chip over a defender for that man Glenn to notch another goal for the River and seal a long awaited win at home, 3-1.

It’s great to get that monkey off our backs, maybe now we can go on with this and finish teams off, which we have deserved to, on so many past occasions.

Player of the match was a close run thing again, with Simon just edging out Ted and Josiah Allington for the award.

The reserves went down fighting in another high scoring game this season 5-4.

Player of the match was Jack Constantine.

River’s next home match is next week against top of the table Busselton in a league match.

We exit the Cup with 10 goal thriller

Men’s South/West Cup
By coach Gary Leigh
For the second week on the trot Football Margaret River were involved in another 10 goal thriller, only this time we were on the receiving end of a 7-3 score line.

Playing away in Busselton against our local rivals, with them placed firmly at the top of the South/West Premier League ladder was always going to be a difficult encounter.

What made my job and the team chances of winning even harder was not being made aware of players not being available only minutes before kick-off and a couple of players thinking the start time was 3pm as per league games.

Subsequently we started the game with 3 players that had already played full games in the reserves match with no substitutes on the bench.

These issues threw my plans into disarray and this disorganisation was partly the reason that we conceded four early goals.

Shogo Maida was switched to middle of defence; this gave our back line a more solid look about it and Simon Corke began to weave his magic in midfield.

The River gradually got more and more into the game and at one stage, with the score at 5-3, Alex Costa nearly notched his second of the day at the near post, which would have made the last 30 minutes very interesting.

Tom Panarello hit a superb volley from 30 metres out and Redar Saber’s shot from distance both brought wonderful saves from the young Busselton goalie, but we could not reduce the deficit any further.

A couple of late goals for Busselton, one being a penalty “again”, put paid to any chance of us taking any further part in this cup competition.

Once again the opposition gave us credit for the way we played the game and our skill level, “its nice, but I would like a not-so-thrilling 1-0 or 2-1 victory occasionally”.

Glenn Skyrme took his chances well and scored a couple of goals.

But today there was one guy that stood out from the crowd, Ned Allington one of those players that had already played a great game for the reserves, wins my player of the match award. Even cramping up on a couple of occasions, he had the most remarkable game I have ever seen this young lad play.

The reserves also lost in a close game 2-0. Adrian Nathanieisz and Gordon Becker both had great games and helped out for the league team, thanks.