Although the reserves game was played in sunshine, the clouds gathered and by the time the senior game kicked off the players had to endure a hailstorm and a thunderstorm. This was perhaps an omen of what was to come for Barkers (second) as they visited Doncaster Rovers (sixth) in the penultimate round of State 2 South-East.
Although Barkers were in the box seat to secure the second promotion spot, a pack of five other clubs were breathing down their necks with the same aim, so a win was essential.
It was difficult to assess play through the gloom, but on seven minutes Rovers’ George Thodis got to the byline on the right and crossed for Antonis Vasileiou, but he was off-balance as he headed wide.
Four minutes later, Barkers’ Liam Seaye hustled Rovers into an error, then sent the ball through for Geordie Scott, whose snapshot forced home keeper Lucas Orlando to tip the ball wide. Three minutes later Seaye was at it again, passing to Maxim Solovyev. Solovyev found Scott, who again shot from distance, this time putting the ball wide.
Rovers replied on the quarter hour when Thodis went past Sean Perrin and crossed for Vasileiou. His shot was blocked and deflected out for a corner. The corner came in from the left and found the head of Leigh Petridis, who headed down and comfortably into the hands of Barkers’ keeper Mark Naumowicz.
Barkers’ best chance so far came on 18 minutes when a good long ball found Eddie Clark in space on the left. He rifled a shot towards goal which was deflected onto the crossbar. It was now becoming clear that Rovers were targeting Jack Buglass for rough treatment, which was largely ignored by the referee until just before the end of the game. Despite this, on 23 minutes he did manage to get one shot in which Orlando had to tip over. The ensuing corner was delivered from the right to the far post, where Brett Tronconi almost connected.
The game was very stop-start with lots of free-kicks, and Barkers came close to unlocking the Rovers defence several times, but the final ball was usually lacking. This proved costly right on half-time as Rovers won a free-kick in a central position about 30 yards out. Rovers’ Steve McRae stepped up and hit a great shot beyond Naumowicz to give Rovers a 1-0 half-time lead, somewhat against the run of play.
The second half was barely 10 minutes old before Rovers began frustrating Barkers with time wasting tactics. Then just before the hour mark, a great ball from Scott found Seaye free, but he was chased down and his shot under pressure was straight at Orlando. Then calamity once more for Barkers following yet another cynical foul on Buglass. On 67 minutes Rovers broke on the left and played the ball into the Barkers box, where some scrappy play finally saw the ball fall to Vasileou near the far post, and he hit the ball into the net from close range to put Rovers 2-0 up. Cue even more time wasting from Rovers.
Barkers had nothing to lose and poured forward. On 75 minutes they won a free kick just outside the Rovers penalty area, but the kick was cleared out to Bryce Ziada, who volleyed well over. Three minutes later Barkers crossed from the left to the far post, where Perrin headed home to reduce the arrears to 2-1 – could Barkers rescue a point?
Well they certainly tried. With eight minutes left Scott was clear, but was brought down by a defender with only the keeper to beat, earning a red card. Disappointingly, the free-kick was hit over the bar by Paul McEvoy, and as time ran out, further chances fell to Scott, Sam Klepac and Ziada, but it was not to be.
A thoroughly miserable day for Barkers. Rovers ended with eight yellows and a red card and displayed some rather unsavoury behaviour when leaving the pitch, but Barkers will be more concerned about dropping points for the second game in succession.
Barkers are now third, a point behind Old Scotch. Collingwood are confirmed as champions but incredibly, going into the last round, five teams are vying for the second promotion spot. The simplest outcome for Barkers would be if they were to win their home game against North Caulfield (date as yet unknown) and hope Old Scotch somehow fail to beat bottom side Monbulk.
