By Peter Stephenson
A sunny cold Kennel was the venue as Barkers (7th) hosted Doncaster (11th), looking to build on a well-earned point at Bayside. Coach Paul Burrows named an unchanged side from that game.
On 7 minutes, Barkers had a big let-off when a shot from Luca Perna managed to hit both posts without crossing the line. Barkers capitalised on this luck with a goal from the most unexpected of sources.
John-Paul Cooper played a corner short on the left, it was played into the box, where Max Burrows, lurking in the 6-yard area, got a touch to the far post, where the ball struck Ahren Angulo and went into the net. Given that Newton’s third law of motion states that action and reaction are equal and opposite, his first-ever goal was a 2-yard screamer.
Four minutes later, Liam Seaye had a throw-in on the right. From this, Jerome Valadon and Ross Clark combined to send a ball into the near post, where Geordie Scott executed a beautiful volley to give keeper Gabriel Vallese no chance and put Barkers 2-0 up.
Barkers were now well on top, but just before the break, Rovers forced 3 corners, which Mark Naumowicz dealt with comfortably. Rovers persisted, however, and played the ball down the left to Daniel Piazza. He crossed to the far post, where a towering header from Stefan Cardamone found the net to make it 2-1. Things then took a bizarre turn.
Unbeknownst to all of us, defender Angulo, who hadn’t scored in 41 games but had already found the net today, secretly topped up his myki, allowing him to once more cross the halfway line. Barely a minute after Donny’s goal, Barkers had a corner on the right. Cooper delivered an inviting ball to the far post, where Brett Tronconi rose like a salmon to head home for 3-1. Except it wasn’t Tronconi, and the extraordinary truth dawned, that Angulo had scored a second – at least he knew something about this one.
Half-time: Mooroolbark 3-1 Doncaster Rovers, but we had been here before, 2-0 up against Hampton before snatching a draw from the jaws of victory, so no time for complacency.
But there was little cause for concern in the second half, as Naumowicz was on his game and was able to snuff out any Rovers threats. With 20 minutes left, a long Rovers clearance found James Karmis. He turned smartly and hit a shot on target, but Naumowicz was well behind it. At the other end, captain Scott was in no mood to be outscored by his defence…. So it was that Christian Porcaro played a long ball down the left wing, and Donny made the fatal error of standing off Scott. This was an open invitation for him to pick his spot, and as the ball sat up, he duly struck a beauty into the far corner of the net for 4-1.
Donny kept going, and Karmis forced a point-blank stop from Naumowicz. This cake, though, needed a cherry. Enter supersub Aaron Porcaro. Scott squared the ball from left midfield to Cooper, who put an incisive pass through a stretched defence for A.Porcaro. He looked to have taken the ball wide, but drew the keeper and subtly chipped over him into the net for number 5, for his own first Barkers goal. Full-time: Barkers 5-1 Doncaster Rovers.
This was just the tonic Barkers needed, but next is the annual trip to Berwick – always tense, rarely predictable.
