By Peter Stephenson
A cold Thursday night at Montroses’s Keith Hume Fraser Reserve saw Barkerettes (second) face bottom side Lilydale Montrose United in round seven of Women’s State 3S.
Barkerettes would go top if they won, pending Gippsland’s result.
Amy D’Ortnzio was making a record 214th appearance, and Chelsea Quil was debuting.
The hosts did us a quick favour.
Just 95 seconds in, Lisa Walsh hit a corner from the left, and a defender executed a perfect header into the far corner of her own net to make it 1-0 Barkers.
The pitch was much like Endeavour’s (that is, a tad muddy).
Quill must have ruffled some feathers in the home side because at some point she received an elbow for her troubles – not a bad start for her debut, and yet another graduate from Liam Ryan’s under 17 squad.
It was mostly one way traffic in Barkers’ favour, and D’Ortenzio came close on 33 minutes when she shot over.
Three minutes later, newly-discovered scoring sensation Kelly Butera hit a shot on target which the keeper failed to hold and it was 2-0.
Five minutes into the second half, Alizah Jones had the ball in the United penalty area and was tripped – penalty!
Walsh stepped up smashed the ball over Melanie Kloster to make it 3-0.
Just on the hour, Barkers put together a beautiful passing move involving half the side and found D’Ortenzio in a position to shoot.
You know the rest, nice finish, 4-0, move on.
With 12 minutes remaining, Butera smacked a lovely shot into the bottom corner of the net and it was 5-0.
Top of the league once more.
Over to you Gippsland.
Next for Barkerettes is a home game against Chisholm United on Friday night.
Barkers lose at home to Berwick
A dull Saturday at the Kennel seemed to keep the crowds away as Barkers (second) hosted Berwick (10th) in round 11 of State 2 SE.
Recent results suggested that this would be straightforward, but this is a very tight league and teams have been dropped points in the most unexpected of games.
Brett Tronconi was equalling the club appearance record of 258, and Sean Perrin was playing his 150th.
Barkers attacked from the off but couldn’t break through.
Then on seven minutes, Berwick stunned the hosts.
A long ball over the top was missed by a defender and ran to Angelo Rovegno Agama, who was left with the simple task of slotting the ball past Mark Naumowicz for 1-0 Berwick.
Two minutes later a Berwick shot was parried away by Naumowicz at full stretch.
Then on 15 minutes Berwick broke through the Barkers defence again, shooting from an acute angle, but Naumowicz got a hand to it and the ball was cleared.
A minute later, Berwick had a throw-in on the right and worked the ball in to Joshua Scarlett on the edge of the box.
He rifled the ball home giving Naumowicz no chance and all of a sudden Barkers found themselves 0-2 down.
Only now did Barkers respond.
On 23 minutes a Liam Seaye corner on the left came out to Paul McEvoy.
He turned and found Marcus Watson who hit a ball in from the right which the keeper collected. Then a quick ball in from the left saw Watson volley wide.
On 33 minutes, John-Paul Cooper found Maxim Solovyev on the left. He crossed for Watson, who skewed his shot wide.
Ten minutes before the break, McEvoy crossed from the left towards Watson.
With the keeper advancing, Watson cleverly headed over him to find the net and halve the deficit to 2-1.
Half-time: Mooroolbark 1-2 Berwick City.
The second half began brightly for Barkers, and the pivotal moments came early on.
A free-kick played into the Berwick box saw Solovyev have a golden chance to equalise, but his volley went over.
On the hour the game was effectively lost and won.
Cooper fed Watson, whose deft touch left Solovyev in on goal, but he shot over from close range. Berwick broke upfield and had a shot saved, but Matthew Morgan followed up to make it 3-1 – Barkers had a big hill to climb now.
The introduction of Jack Buglass made a difference.
On 77 minutes he took on the Berwick defence and burst through, squaring for Solovyev, who found Watson, who stuck the ball home for his 13th of the season and 2-3.
The luckless Solovyev had a shot deflected wide, and McEvoy hit the bar, but it was to be Berwick’s day and they held on for the win.
Hugely disappointing from Barkers, but this league is very tight and at halfway we are only 4 points off the pace.
The reserves went ahead for the third week in a row, but each time they have lost 2-3.
Goals from Van Thawng and Jack Buglass.
In other games, Men’s over 35s lost 2-6 at Langwarrin Frogs, and in junior boys, the under 14s won 5-1 at home to Knox City.
In Female Football Week, all the junior girls’ sides emulated the senior women by winning – under 17/18 4-1 v Ashburton United, under 15 2-1 v Glen Eira, and under 12 12-1 v Monbulk Rangers.
Next week, the women are at home to Chisholm United (Esther Park, Friday 7.30pm) and the men visit Hampton East Brighton (Dendy Park, Brighton East, Saturday 1pm/3pm).
See you down the Kennel!
