By Peter Stephenson
Barkers (fifth) played their only night game of the season as they hosted North Caulfield (seventh) at Esther Park.
With five games to go, promotion was almost impossible. The only real issue for Barkers was to make sure they didn’t flirt with the other end of the ladder. Encouragingly, Steve Nittoli was back after an injury lay-off.
After only 10 minutes, we saw what we had missed. NC gave away a needless throw-in in their own half. John-Paul Cooper took it to Geordie Scott, who played the ball back. Cooper put the ball into the box, it wasn’t cleared, and Nittoli chested the ball before hitting a brilliant volley into the top corner to give Barkers an early lead.
In a good start for Barkers, Dan Burrows then sent the ball down the right wing for Scott to chase. Under pressure, he hit a shot across goal which went narrowly wide. On 18 minutes, Scott was fouled on the corner of the penalty area. Burrows squared the free-kick to Scott, who hit a low shot wide.
It was an open game, with NC’s Jude Jankelowitz finding space regularly. On the half hour, a NC corner from the left saw Zach Goodman have a shot blocked. Then Barkers conceded a free kick on the edge of the box, which Michail Schneider curled over.
Just after that, Barkers’ luck was in. A clumsy challenge sent Maxim Solovyev to the ground in the penalty area. The referee took a bit of thinking time before pointing to the spot, and for the second week running, Scott scored a penalty. The weekly fishing moment came 10 minutes before the break when a corner saw Brett Tronconi leap like a salmon to head over. Half-time saw Barkers 2-0 up and well in control.
NC came out firing in the second half and sent a volley just over on 47 minutes. This was a brief interlude, though, as Barkers again assumed control. First Paul McEvoy crossed from the right and Scott almost fooled keeper Daniel Shandler with a clever flick. Then Solovyev found Scott, who sent Cooper on the overlap. Cooper crossed for Scott, who just failed to connect with an inviting ball.
Just after the hour, Cooper went on a solo run and hit an angled shot. Then Scott had a shot saved at point-blank range. Now, though, it was keeper Mark Naumowicz’s turn to get busy, as he got down low to save two long range shots.
Barkers had a number of chances to put the game to bed, but were regularly thwarted by Shandler. Sure enough, with four minutes left, the ball was played through to Schneider on the edge of the box, who turned smartly and hit a low shot past Naumowicz to make it 2-1. A late rally by NC gave Barkers some nervous moments, but they held on for the win. Barkers can still go either up or down, but realistically neither is likely to happen.
The earlier game saw the reserves take the lead through James Barber’s persistence and opportunism, but they were pegged back to a final score of 1-1. Men’s Over 35 lost 0-8 to Croydon Ranges, and junior winners were Boys’ Under 15 (3-1 v Collingwood City), Girls’ Under 15 (4-2 v Chelsea) and Girls’ Under 12 (7-2 v Collingwood City).
Next week, the women host Endeavour United (Esther Park, Friday 8.30pm) and the men travel to Hampton East Brighton (Dendy Park, Saturday 3pm). See you down the Kennel!
