By Peter Stephenson
Australia Cup, Round 2 at Esther Park
Mooroolbark 2-4 Riversdale (after extra time)
Scorers:
Mooroolbark – Sean Perrin (45), Dushaan Atanasovski (90)
Riversdale – Luke Rogan (26), Noah Turudia (29), Oliver Zwalf (98), own goal (116)
Glorious sunshine greeted the two sides at the Kennel for Barkers soccer club’s earliest start to a season since 1995.
Solovyev was playing his 150th game. Dube returned to the Kennel following spells elsewhere and as usual, the first game of the season saw some debuts, with Scott, Higgins, Clark and Sankoh joining the club.
Barkers had the first chance on four minutes. A free kick for handball saw Clarke send a dipping shot over the bar. Soon, another free kick saw Tronconi send a looping header over. On the quarter hour, Nittoli sent a long shot past the far post in a lively start for the hosts.
Dales’ first chance came on 18 minutes from a free-kick on halfway. This found Rogan, who turned smartly on the edge of the box before shooting over. Barkers replied with Perrin curling a free-kick to the far post, where Tronconi nipped in to touch the ball just wide.
How suddenly the game then changed. Dales had a corner on the left which wasn’t cleared, and when Naumowicz elected to stay on his line, a looping cross found Rogan close to goal, and he scored from close range to make it 1-0 to Riversdale. Three minutes later, Naumowicz hesitated on the ball, allowing Turudia to nip in and score into the unguarded net – 2-0 Riversdale.
Dales were now playing confidently, but eventually Barkers began to settle and knock the ball around nicely. On the stroke of half-time, Perrin curled another menacing free-kick to the far side, which eluded everyone and went straight into the net. Half-time: Mooroolbark 1-2 Riversdale.
The second half began well for the hosts, with Scott somehow wriggling free from a tight spot in the corner to find Clark, who hit a low shot at Nick Goss in the Dales’ goal. Then Barkers hustled Dales off the ball and Sankoh had a look at goal, but his shot was comfortable for the keeper.
On 66 minutes Dales had a slick passing move down the left when Reno Damianou found Rogan, whose close-range shot was well parried by Naumowicz. Seven minutes later, the Barkers keeper made two great saves in succession while Dales had a penalty claim waved away. Dales then forced a series of dangerous corners which a desperate Barkers finally cleared.
With time running out, Atanasovski shot from the left, and a Dales defender was panicked into putting the ball into his own net – so it was 2-2 and extra-time beckoned.
Seven minutes into the first period, Dales’ Zachary Hutchison blasted a free-kick into the Barkers wall. It rebounded out to Zwalf, who hit an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to restore Dales’ lead at 3-2. Barkers almost replied immediately when Buglass went on a run, his low shot forcing Goss to parry, and the followup shot went wide. Just before the break, a shot from Turudia forced yet another good save from Naumowicz to keep Barkers in the tie.
In the first minute of the second period, Atanasovski curled the ball in for Buglass, who didn’t quite get on the end of it. On 112 minutes, Dales’ Andrew Damianou shot from the right, forcing Naumowicz to tip the ball over the bar. He then turned another shot round his post from Luca Micalessi. Alas – from the ensuing corner, Barkers managed to put the ball into their own net to send Riversdale, probably deservedly, into round three.
It’s a few weeks before the league season begins, so next for Barkers is a friendly at home to Eltham on 26 February, kick-offs at 1pm and 3pm.
Line-up: Mark Naumowicz, Dan Burrows, Brett Tronconi, Geordie Scott, Steve Nittoli, Nhlanhla Dube, Daniel Higgins, Edward Clark, Bryce Ziada, Sean Perrin, Maxim Solovyev. Subs used – Max Burrows, Michael Samardzija, Dushaan Atanasovski, Jack Buglass, Imran Sankoh.
