Lambton Jaffas ended Lake Macquarie’s undefeated start to the season with a dominant display in the ‘Match of the Round’ on Sunday afternoon.
Lambton Jaffas 4 (Griffiths 20’, Brown 29’, Hay 34’, Remington 72’) defeated Lake Macquarie Roosters 0 at Macquarie Field.
Joel Griffiths, Pat Brown, Ben Hay and Luke Remington all got on the scoresheet for the Jaffas as they shot to the top of the table after five rounds.
Lambton controlled much of the early possession and were rewarded in the 20th minute after Ridge Marpu weaved his way down the right edge squared a ball for Griffiths who with his back to goal spun and fired a left-foot shot into the post which ricocheted in for a 1-0 lead.
Less than ten minutes later and the Jaffas had their second. Michael Kantarovski’s shot deflected off the Lakes defence and fell to Pat Brown who finished from a tight angle on the right.
The Roosters were all but out of the game in the 35th minute when Ben Hay struck with a brilliant near-post header. Dain Greentree put his cross on a dime for Hay who made no mistake to make it 3-0.
Lambton headed to the shed with a 3-0 lead and the second half developed into a lacklustre affair with neither side creating too many chances of note. That was until out of nowhere the ball fell to Luke Remington who shot from outside the box on his left boot and he picked out the right corner to make it 4-0.
Valentine Phoenix 2 (C.Brown 18’, J.Brown 55’) defeated Adamstown Rosebud 0 at Cahill Oval.
Valentine ended their four-match losing run at Cahill Oval with a confidence-boosting 2-0 victory over Adamstown. The win was Valentine’s first back to back victories in the top grade since being promoted in 2015 and makes it three wins for the Phoenix in 2017.
The home side opened the scoring in the 18th minute as Chris Brown scored his second of the season. Alex Faulkner whipped in a pinpoint cross to Brown at the back post who headed home for the lead.
The Phoenix headed to the sheds with a 1-0 advantage and doubled it soon after the resumption. US import Jalon Brown got off the mark for the season weaving past defenders and thumping his shot home in the 55th minute.
Ten minutes later and Brown was at it again with an amazing run. He was felled by the Rosebud’s defence and the penalty was awarded. Brown stepped up as he looked to grab his second of the afternoon, however, Adamstown keeper Paul Bitz guessed right and made the save to keep the visitors in the match.
Hamilton Olympic 4 (Smith 16’, 69’, Spencer 25’, Bird 57’) defeated Jets Youth 1 (Parris 62’) at Darling Street Oval.
The Jets Youth may have ended a six-hour goalless run against Hamilton Olympic but it came as a mere consolation as they leaked four goals for the fourth straight match as Olympic ran rampant on Saturday night.
It leaves the Jets bottom of the table with just a point from the opening month of football.
Olympic took just 16 minutes to get the scoring underway, with Grant Brown cutting a precision from the left edge onto the head of Scott Smith who powered the header home.
Ten minutes later and Olympic had doubled their lead. It came after Leo Bertos cannoned two powerful shots which were well blocked by the Jets defence, but they couldn’t clear their lines. The ball deflected to Tommy Spencer who controlled, turned and thumped home from point-blank range to make it 2-0.
With a 2-0 lead at half-time Olympic continued their dominance in the second half. Tommy Spencer threaded a pass through for Daniel Bird who ran through the heart of the Jets defence and slotted past keeper Pierce Clark.
Edgeworth Eagles 0 drew with Maitland Magpies 0 at Jack McLaughlan Oval.
Edgeworth played out just their fourth regular season draw under coach Damian Zane, as the Eagles were held by Maitland at Jack McLaughlan Oval on Saturday night.
The Eagles were denied two goals in the opening half due to offsides and another via a brilliant save from Matt Trott after Brody Taylor’s shot bobbled off the bumpy surface.
In the 8th minute, Brody Taylor’s through ball to Adam Cawley looked to have given Edgeworth the lead, as Cawley raced one-on-one with Trott and chipped Maitland’s goalkeeper intelligently. But, it was rubbed out after Cawley was judged to be offside.
Taylor was then denied in the 25th minute after a Bren Hammel free kick was nodded on by Dom Bizzarri to Taylor at the back post who powered the header home. But once more the Assistant’s flag was raised to deny the home side.
Maitland had a chance to win the match in the second half, but Jordan Elphick put his shot too wide from close range.
Charlestown City Blues 1 (Maguire 84’) defeated Broadmeadow Magic 0 at Lisle Carr Oval.
Charlestown continued their mini-resurgence in the last two weeks with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Broadmeadow on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues started the stronger on a warm afternoon at Lisle Carr Oval creating the better of the chances in a scoreless first half.
In the second half though Broadmeadow got themselves into the game and began to test Charlestown’s keeper, Nathan Archbold.
But, it was the final ten minutes where the game took a significant twist. Rene Ferguson darted down the left edge and cut infield where he went one-on-one with Magic keeper Nico Giantsopolous. Giantsopolous clipped Ferguson on the edge of the box and Broadmeadow’s keeper was handed a red card.
Broadmeadow had used up all three of their substitutions so Peter Haynes took over the goalkeeping duties for the final minutes.
Josh Maguire proved to be the hero from the ensuring free-kick. From just outside the box to the left of goal Maguire curled the free kick into the right corner, the ball thumping down off the bar and in to give Charlestown the lead.
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