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.

Goal feast in tied, unusual match

Men’s Premier League South/West
By coach, Gary Leigh
As the score line suggests this was a goal feast; what it doesn’t reflect is the drama that surrounded this match.

The River made all the early running and completely dominated in midfield, the one touch football was a sight to behold.

The defence also were playing well with Jon Richards calling the game from the back.

River took the lead when Glenn Skyme shot stuck the crossbar and rebounded to Sam Parrott to slot home from close range.

Margaret River were awarded a free kick inside their own half. Redar Saber lined up to take the kick and he let fly the most amazing shot I have ever witnessed. The ball flew past their keeper from all of 60 meters, but was ruled out by the referee because he awarded an indirect free kick which required touching by another player for to the goal to stand.

The River made it 2-0 shortly before half time, when Glenn scored also from close range.

Australind pressed hard before the break and forced 3 consecutive corners, but the River held firm to take the 2-0 lead into the break.

River made it 3-0 shortly after the restart of play, when Josiah Allington flicked a header in from a short corner at the near post.

At 3-0 up with 35 minutes remaining the confidence should be sky high, but although we have been scoring regularly we have also been conceding on a regular basis and when Australind reduced the deficit to 3-1 the nerves started to show.

Australind scored again 3-2 and the River looked a completely different team from the first half. We stop passing and were kicking the ball long out of defence, giving up possession.

Then a touch of magic literally from Alex Costa when he deflected a shot from Shogo Maida with a back flick into the corner of Australind’s net, 4-2.

Australind again reduced River’s lead from a free kick which was taken twice because the referee failed to notice the quickly taken kick, which our defence intercepted. This gave Australind a second chance which they took via the crossbar and deflected in, 4-3.

Woody Hangartner looked to have settled the result when he coolly curved a shot into the bottom corner to make it 5-3 with only 10 minutes of normal time remaining.

Australind were then awarded a penalty for tripping their attacker by Johnny Malpas our keeping when both players become entangled on the ground with the ball between the keeper’s legs, Australind converted, 5-4.

The referee added a further 6 extra minutes of injury time from somewhere, this helped Australind again to score and level the game at 5 all in this amazing match.

Player of the Match was a most difficult choice; it could have been any of 5 or 6 players that had exceptional games on this day. But I decided to share the award between Ted Brander in defence and Glenn Skyrme in attack.

The reserves also squandered a 2-0 lead to be beaten 3-2 in a closely fought game.

Player of the match went to Gordon Becker in his first game back.

I would also like to give Ned Allington a special mention for his great game in the reserves and his efforts in league match.