Match of the Round
Edgeworth FC 1-0 New Lambton FC
Edgeworth won the battle of the Eagles at Jack McLaughlan Oval in the Match of the Round on Sunday when they downed New Lambton 1-0.
A Josh Rose strike in the 23rd minute was the difference as Peter McGuinness’ men earned a valuable three points.
Rose’s goal finished off a quality piece of build-up play that he himself started. The veteran showed his class when he won possession for Edgeworth a metre out from the goal line down the right edge, and then made a brilliant run into the box after the hosts had swung the ball left with some swift passing.
Rose got onto the end of a misguided Kevin Dagnet shot and guided the loose ball from the edge of the six-yard box into the bottom right corner.
The hosts took the one-goal lead into the break and had the perfect opportunity to double it in the 74th minute after striker Sascha Montefiore charged into the box with the ball at his feet and was fouled.
But his penalty kick was superbly saved by New Lambton goalkeeper Alex Bozinovski.
New Lambton pushed hard to find an equaliser but were held out by the hosts as Edgeworth claimed the three points.
McGuinness was pleased with his side’s effort during a tough match and commended a New Lambton outfit that pushed them all the way until the final whistle.
“I thought we held the ball quite well. We just could have made better decisions in the front third,” McGuinness said.
“I thought we defended well too.
“We knew that New Lambton would be tough and they proved that. They gave everything the whole way through the game. It was tight but it was good, a very tough game.
“It was an important three points to stay in touch too. It’s a tight comp this year.”
McGuinness rested Pat Wheeler, Jacob Pepper and Tom Curran this week to allow them to get over niggling injuries.
Edgeworth coach now hopes that the club’s brutal schedule over the past few months that included three 120-minute Australia Cup games is behind them and they can get everyone back on deck to keep pushing towards the finals.
New Lambton’s coach Tom Davies was disappointed with the result but certainly not with the way his men played.
“I’m super disappointed in not getting anything out of the game with the effort and work rate that the boys put in,” Davies said.
“To come out of that game with nothing, as I said, is quite disappointing, but I can’t fault our effort and application, it was super.
“The goal we conceded was a bit of a defensive error. We probably should have just cleared our lines.
“We had a couple of chances in that first half and I think the second half was reasonably even.
“We pushed them really hard in the last 15 minutes and made them work really hard for the win, so that’s a positive.”
The three points gained from the win saw Edgeworth remain in fifth place.
Edgeworth are the lowest-ranked of three teams on 31 points, which all trail second-placed Maitland by two points and ladder leaders Charlestown Azzurri by six points.
Edgeworth will travel to Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field this Saturday for an away game against Cooks Hill United.
New Lambton remained in 11th spot following the loss and they host Broadmeadow at Alder Park on Saturday.
Lambton Jaffas FC 8-0 Lake Macquarie City FC
Lambton Jaffas matched the largest winning margin of the 2023 campaign when they thumped Lake Macquarie City 8-0 at Arthur Edden Oval on Saturday.
Kale Bradbery opened and closed the scoring for the day, finishing the match with four goals to his name, as he helped guide his side to the big win.
Ben Hay bagged a double, with Reece Papas and Michael Kantarovski also netting a goal each.
Ben Kennedy kept a clean sheet at the other end of the pitch following a brilliant performance that included his eighth penalty save of the season from nine attempts.
Only Maitland has scored more than eight goals in a game this season after they defeated New Lambton 9-1 back in Round Two in March, a winning margin that the Jaffas matched on Saturday.
Bradbery opened the scoring in the 13th minute after the visitors were punished for giving Jaffas centre-back Josh Piddington far too much time on the halfway line. The veteran took full advantage as he walked the ball into Lakes territory and picked out Papas with a brilliant pass who then fired in a cross from out wide on the right, which Bradbery got onto at the near stick in the six-yard box to get the ball rolling.
A little over two minutes later, Lakes were punished again when Nikolai Topor-Stanley was given too much time to run the ball over halfway and played a classy pass into the path of Bradbery who was taken down in the box and then converted the ensuing penalty kick to make the score 2-0.
Hay created the next goal in the 24th minute when he cut inside from out wide on the right and fired a curling and dipping shot that was denied by the crossbar, but Papas had followed in and was rewarded with a tap in.
Bradbery thought he had his hat-trick in the 38th minute when he charged onto a Piddington through ball and scored into an empty net after going around goalkeeper Isaac Nyman, but he was denied by an offside flag.
But Lambton made the score 4-0 just 35 seconds later when Papas played a ball in behind the defence for Hay to run onto out wide on the right, and the winger opened up his body and found the bottom left corner with a curling left-footed strike.
Lake Macquarie had the perfect chance to pull a goal back from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after Pat Bond fouled Josh Maguire in the box.
But Kennedy saved Tomasz Kowalski’s strike with his legs and then Piddington cleared the ball away from danger as it was spinning back towards goal.
Jaffas coach David Tanchevski had introduced four players from the bench by the 64th minute but the new combinations did not slow his side down as they went ahead 5-0 in the 69th minute.
Bailey Newton was one of the players brought on and showed hunger to win possession in the Lakes penalty area before passing inside to an unmarked Hay, who went past three players and fired a shot into the back of the net.
Another substitute found the net himself two minutes later when Kantarovski dispossessed a Lake Macquarie City defender in the penalty area and then found the bottom left corner from close range to make the score 6-0.
Bradbery completed his hat-trick in the 89th minute when he too found the bottom left corner from close range after pouncing on a Lake Macquarie defensive error, making the final score 8-0.
The Jaffas are now unbeaten in five matches, moving to third on the table. They return to Arthur Edden Oval this Saturday when they host Adamstown Rosebud.
Lakes are still last on the table and face another tough away trip this weekend when they head out to Maitland on Sunday.
Cooks Hill United FC 4-0 Charlestown Azzurri FC
Cooks Hill United secured one of the wins of the season on Saturday at the Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field when they defeated competition heavyweights Charlestown Azzurri 4-0.
Azzurri went into the weekend on top of the table with a six-point advantage, having only conceded 13 goals in 16 games in 2023, but were shell-shocked as they were outplayed by the side sitting ninth.
It was Cooks Hill that looked as though they should have been the team ranked first as they produced a classy performance in both attack and defence, one that coach Chris Zorocich was extremely proud of.
“I’m really happy,” Zorocich said.
“Defensively we were excellent when we needed to be. There were a couple of tackles and blocks of shots at crucial times, and for me, they’re just as good as the goals that we scored.
“We defended from the front. We’re trying to play a good brand of football. We could easily just sit back and park the bus and try to counterattack teams but we haven’t done that, we’ve tried to defend from the front.
“Sometimes in previous games we’ve got caught out but that’s the learning process. I think against Charlestown we proved that when you do it correctly and do it well, you can keep a clean sheet.
“Up front, we were super positive. We scored a couple of good goals.
“Obviously the sending offs for Charlestown made the last period of the game difficult for them, we were just keeping possession, but we were 3-0 up before the sending offs so it shows that we were doing something right.”
The hosts opened the scoring in the 41st minute after a brilliant play down the left edge put Zaik Luck in the space he needed to whip in a cross, to an unmarked Carter Smith who managed to just get his volleyed shot over the line despite being cleared by Azzurri centre-back Taylor Regan.
There was certainly no doubt about the next goal when a Cooks Hill cross was headed away from goal by the visitors, only for it to fall to Joel Clissold who blasted a volley from just outside the 18-yard box into the back of the net.
The hosts took a 2-0 lead into the break and then added to their advantage 11 minutes into the second half when Smith doubled his own tally. Brock Beveridge stuck the ball from outside the 18-yeard-box beat Azzurri goalkeeper Nathan Archbold but hit the crossbar, allowing Smith to hit the back of the net.
Azzurri were reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute when their right back Callum Bower was shown a straight red card for an incident that occurred as his side waited for an attacking corner to be sent in.
Five minutes later Azzurri were then forced to play the remainder of the game with nine men when skipper Nigel Boogard received a second yellow card.
Cooks Hill scored immediately after Boogard had departed from a free kick just outside the area, as Liam Spurway curled a shot into the bottom left corner.
The win was Cooks Hill’s second in a row and their fifth of the year as they climbed above Valentine into eighth place. They were forced to settle for ninth though after Valentine won away at Weston the next day.
The loss was Azzurri’s fourth of the year and their six-point lead at the top of the table was cut to four as they remain on 37 points and Maitland won to move into second on 33. James Pascoe’s men play away from home against Weston on Sunday.
Adamstown Rosebud FC 2-1 Newcastle Olympic FC
Adamstown Rosebud got themselves back in the winner’s circle after they scored a 2-1 home ground victory against Newcastle Olympic at Adamstown Oval on Saturday.
Adamstown opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Joel Hogan scored directly from a corner kick as he curled a left-footed cross in from the right that beat everybody and found the side-netting just inside the left post.
Olympic equalised two-and-a-half minutes into injury time in the first half when Joe Langlois put Nathan Toby in behind down the left edge and the former Rosebud found the back of the net from a tight angle.
That goal sent the sides into the break locked at 1-1, and it was Adamstown that struck first in the second stanza.
Dane Lawther found the bottom right corner from the penalty spot in the 70th minute after Zachary Griffen was taken down off the ball in the box as Ryan Rooke whipped in a free kick.
Olympic were forced to play with 10 men for the remainder of the contest after goalkeeper Adam Pearce was sent off before play had restarted.
Rosebud thought they had equalised in the 74th minute when the ball hit the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out due to an offside in the build-up.
Adamstown saw out the rest of the game to win 2-1 as they scored their fourth win of the campaign.
Rosebud remains 10th on the ladder and will travel to Arthur Edden Oval to meet Lambton Jaffas this Saturday.
Olympic’s loss dealt a major blow to their finals hopes as they slipped seven points outside top five with just five rounds left. They remain in seventh place and will host Valentine at Darling Street Oval this Saturday.
Broadmeadow Magic FC 0-1 Maitland FC
Maitland Magpies flew into second spot on the ladder on Sunday when they stretched their impressive winning streak to eight games with a 1-0 victory at Magic Park against Broadmeadow.
A first-half Braedyn Crowley goal was the difference as the Magpies climbed the table above Lambton and Weston.
Mick Bolch’s men went into the weekend in third spot, but the Magpies’ win lifted them to 33 points and second on the table. They are now just four points back from league-leaders Charlestown Azzurri.
Crowley opened the scoring in the 18th minute when he found the bottom left corner from the edge of the six-yard box after charging into the penalty area, in behind the Magic defence.
The visitors took the lead into the half-time break and held out the hosts in the second stanza.
Magic almost equalised in the 54th minute when Bailey Wells found Riley Smith unmarked in the box, but Smith’s first-time strike hit the outside of the post and rolled away for a goal kick.
Broadmeadow had two more late chances but were denied by in-form Maitland goalkeeper Taylor Pate who saved an 87th-minute Smith penalty kick before pulling off the stop of the day to keep out a magnificent Wells volley two minutes into injury time.
The loss sees Magic slip out of the top five as they dropped from fourth to sixth.
Magic will be hoping to climb back up the ladder this Saturday when they play away at Alder Park against New Lambton.
Meanwhile, the high-flying Magpies will go in search of a ninth consecutive victory this Sunday when they host Lake Macquarie City at Cook Square Park.
Weston Workers FC 2-3 Valentine FC
Valentine have kept their finals hopes alive when they scored a 3-2 away win over Weston at Rockwell Automation Park on Sunday.
The visitors went into the break with a 2-0 lead, which was the way the score remained before they added a third in the 84th minute.
The Bears hit back with a goal in the 88th minute and another 30 seconds out from injury time, but Valentine held on and survived five minutes of added time to claim all three points.
Valentine’s player-coach Adam Hughes had called on his side to be more clinical in front of goal following their 0-0 stalemate against New Lambton eight days earlier.
Hughes’ side responded in style in the 15th minute when Riley Aunger sent a long ball from out wide on halfway into the 18-yard box for Nicholas Martinelli to run onto, and the striker volleyed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 1-0.
The visitors doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when a swift attack put Martinelli in space down the left edge. His strike from outside the box was deflected but fell to Tom Duggan who spun and volleyed the bouncing ball just inside the right post.
Valentine took the 2-0 lead into the break and then added to their advantage late in the game when Duggan scored again, finding himself one-on-one with Weston’s Jacob Dundas on the halfway line, moving past him before burying a shot past Gerard Roebuck.
The Bears hit back three-and-a-half minutes later when Yuta Konagaya beat two defenders and charged into the box before striking the ball across Lewis Alvarez and into the bottom right corner.
The goals kept coming when Weston’s Ben Clouten scored a tap in at the back stick when he got onto the end of an Aaron Niyonkuru strike the was going wide of the right post.
But it was too little, too late for the home side as Valentine secured the victory.
The win saw Adam Hughes’ men reclaim eighth place after they were overtaken by Cooks Hill a day earlier. They are nine points outside the top five with five games remaining.
Weston’s loss sees them fall from second to fourth after they were overtaken by Maitland and Lambton and will host Charlestown Azzurri on Sunday.