Momentary lapses let Dynamos prevail

South/west Men’s Premier League Football
Bunbury Dynamos 4 v Margaret River 3
By coach Gary Leigh
In a frustrating afternoon for River fans we lost to the odd goal in seven after once again dominating large portions of this match away at Bunbury.

We are developing into a fine passing team, which is opening up the opposition defences on many occasions.

River took the lead midway through the first half when a poor clearance by the Dynamos keeper fell to player of the match Alex Costa, who controlled the ball and fired a shot past their keeper, 1-0.

Dynamos then equalized in what seemed a fairly tame attack down the left wing which left both our defender and keeper sprawling on the ground in a vain attempt in stopping the shot, 1-1.

Shogo Maida showed true spirit with his tackling and overlapping from his left back position. I heard one comment which sums up this guy, “he just seems to float across the surface”.

The scores were level at the interval; I didn’t change anything and only had compliments for all team members and thought that we would take all 3 points if we kept playing the way we had first half.

We started slowly after the break and soon conceded a second sloppy goal, 1-2. This once again sparked the River into action with shots from Simon Corke and Josiah Allington both going close.

We then won a direct free kick 20 metres out, this week Glenn Skyme made the diverting run and Alex swung the ball left footed into the Dynamos bottom right hand corner, 2-2 and a great celebration to boot.

The River then switched off, a through ball which should have been dealt with comfortably by our keeper John Malpas eluded him and left a simple goal for the Dynamos to again take the lead, 2-3.

We then completely imploded with an ill-disciplined tackle, when Jon Richards lived up to his nickname “the butcher” gave away a penalty which they converted giving the Dynamos a 4-2 lead.

With only minutes remaining a great jinking run by Tom Pararello dribbled past a couple of Dynamos defenders and chipped the ball over their keeper to reduce the deficit to only one goal.

Losing by only one goal after scoring 3 left me with the feeling of what might have been.

Sam Parrott the youngest member of the first team squad had a superb game once again; he fits in well in the midfield and has the support of many a skillful player around him.

On a day, which produced some beautiful football from all of the River players, we all felt hard done by, but we must remember that this is game of 90-100 minutes and it only takes a moment or two of lost concentration that can destroy it.

The reserves after winning their two opening games of the season came down to earth with a large bump after receiving a football lesson from the Dynamos reserve team 10-0!

I must make a special mention to all the Dynamos players and staff, especially their canteen who always look after us and make us welcome, we thank you.

We have a bye next week but have a home game against Australind the following week May 9th. Training as usual 6.00 pm at Nippers Oval Tuesdays and Thursdays until further notice.

River beaten by a coat of paint

Premier League Football South/West Men’s
Margaret River 0 v Bunbury United 2
By coach Gary Leigh
If a result ever gave a false account of a game, then this was one.

On paper this looks like a fairly comfortable win for Bunbury Utd, but what it doesn’t explain is how many times the River hit the “woodwork” and squandered some great chances of scoring.

In a fast and furious opening stage of this game Margaret River made most of the running in front of one of the biggest home crowds that I seen at our Western Oval footie ground.

The first time we hit the opponent’s crossbar was when Simon Corke (under pressure at right) in his first game back for FMR took a direct free-kick from all of 30 metres out, the ball struck the bar with enormous power, which ricocheted back into play for Bunbury to clear to safety.

Alex Costa then had a couple of shot’s from midfield the second of which struck the Bunbury goal keeper with great force and rebounded to Glenn Skyrme who was following up Alex’s shot, but he could not keep his shot down.

Then against the run of play Bunbury’s right sided midfielder found space on the edge of our penalty area and coolly placed the ball over John Malpas our keeper, to give Bunbury the advantage at half time, 0-1.

My main instruction at the break was to keep the ball on the ground when attacking, because of the height advantage the Bunbury defence had over our forwards.

Shogo Maida and Josiah Allington worked well down the left hand side of the pitch for River and opened the Bunbury defence on several occasions.

Then River were awarded another direct free-kick, Alex made deceptive run for Glenn (at right) to strike a beautiful curved shot which had all the crowd jumping for joy, but somehow the ball hit the inside of post where it meets the bar and deflected along the line to safety once again for Bunbury. “I think we need to put one less coat of paint on the goals next season”.

Bunbury where out of energy and River mounted wave attack after attack, Redar Saber made a scintillating run up the middle of the pitch leaving 4 or 5 Bunbury players in his wake, but River could still not find that equalizer they so deserved.

Kel Murray was having a fine game in River defence his speed and courageousness in his tackling is amazing, he wins our player of the match award, thanks to Neil Mattinson for sponsorship.

With only minutes of play left Bunbury broke free and beat our off side trap, their forward rounded John and placed the ball into net and broke the hearts of River and gave Bunbury an unassailable lead, 0-2.

The River can take a lot of positives away from this game; we competed in every area with last season league champions and can hold our heads high.

Our Reserves had a great 3-1 victory over Bunbury Utd. With Brad Tweedle grabbing 2 superb goals and Simon Corke netting from the penalty spot after Trevor Arenmer was failed.

[At left: Alex Costa.}

Harrison Wilson wins the Eagle Boys Pizza player of the match in his first game back the River; he is maturing into a wonderful player.

A special mention goes to Jack Constantine also one of our younger players for a great game in defence for the reserves. Jack received a facial injury in the previous game, he showed great courage in this match, well played.

Click images for bigger views. Images courtesy Ikon Design.

River reveals promise in season opener

Men’s Premier League Football South/West
Dalyellup 3 v Margaret River 3
By coach, Gary Leigh
If Margaret River were offered one point for a draw before this, our opening game of the season in Bunbury, I would have taken it with both hands. But with the amount of possession the River had and chances we made I feel its 2 points dropped.

River dominated the opening stages of play with chances for Ned Allington and Glenn Skyrme both going close to scoring.

Against the run of play Dalyellup where awarded a penalty to the surprise of both teams, when a River player was penalised for pushing in a pack of at least 6 players attempting to met the cross from a corner.

Dalyellup converted the penalty 0–1.

River continued to play flowing football with Alex Costa in the midst of everything in midfield.

Tom Panarello shot from outside the 18 yard box the ball took a massive deflection off a Dalyellup defender which spun over their keeper to level the score at 1-1.

Redar Saber was having a solid game in the heart of our defence and had his work cut out containing Dalyellup’s man mountain of a forward, which he did successfully.

As half time neared what seemed to be a simple stop for our keeper found its way into our net to give Dalyellup a 2-1 advantage at the break.

Nine times out of ten mistakes by outfield players go unnoticed but when a keeper makes one there’s nowhere to hide, that’s the pressure of being the last line of defence.

Margaret River still made most of the running at the start of the second half and Glenn scored from close range to once again level the score, 2-2.

Although River where controlling most of the midfield exchanges Dalyellup’s forwards still posed a threat, Kel Murray now had the job of containing their centre forward, which he did well through his pace.

Tom Pararello beat 4 Dalyellup players in the opponent’s 18 yard box only to see his shot rebound off their crossbar to safety.

But once again with only 5 minutes remaining a goalmouth mix up and lack of talk allowed Dalyellup to take the lead for the third time, 2-3.

Most teams with only a couple of minutes left would have thrown the “towel in” but as with our reserves game, including myself who came back from 5-3 down to win 7-5 in the last 15 minutes, we equalised again, 3-3 through Glenn Skyrme with his second goal of the day.

With the size of squad and the amount of injuries we suffered, including 3 facial injuries in the reserves game, you should all be very proud of yourself for the commitment shown by all.

Eagle Boy’s man of the match awards go to both Adrian Nathanielsz and Nick Versteegen -for his 2 goals- in the reserves and Glenn Skyrme for the league game.

I would also like to thank the likes of Sam Parrott Brad Tweedel and Ned Allington, all younger members of our squad for playing almost 2 games this day.

Training is at 6.00pm every Tuesday and Thursday at Gloucester Park Oval, all welcome.