The sun was out at Cranbourne’s Comets stadium, as Barkers (fifth) visited Casey Comets (fourth). With three games to go, both sides still entertained slim hopes of promotion. Barkers made two changes to the side that lost 1-2 to Skye, with James Barber and Chris Potter replacing Ross Clark and Tristan Walker.
On four minutes, a long throw in the right from Sean Perrin fell to John-Paul Cooper. He shook off a marker and hit a curling shot against the far post, where Ryan Smith couldn’t quite latch on to the rebound. Comets replied on 11 minutes when Brodie Varas hit a low, hard ball in from the left, which Vladi Velikin got down well to hold. Two minutes later, another Comets attack saw Ray Markley clear off the line.
On the half hour, a Comets throw on the left found the tricky Gonzalo Piccone, who wriggled past one man, then hit a low shot on target, but Velikin got down well at his near post and saved. Then a good Barkers move saw Potter hit a ball from the left wing to Danny Aye. He held the ball up and played a through ball for Christian Porcaro, but keeper Kile Kennedy just beat him to the ball.
Eight minutes before the break, Comets’ Piccone was almost clear, but a good tackle from Perrin saved the day. Then a bit of luck for the visitors. Barkers played through the middle to Aye, who played a delicate flick through to Marcus Watson. The flag stayed down, and Watson, although not seeming to get a clean contact, did enough to send a grubber of a shot past Kennedy for the opening goal. Half-time: Comets 0-1 Barkers in a fairly even game.
Three minutes into the second half, Mario Rivera was pulled down when almost through on goal, and the Comets offender was sent off. The free-kick was taken by Aye, but went over. Despite Barkers being a man up, J-P.Cooper was getting some rough treatment from the hosts without winning any free kicks, while the Comets were going to ground easily. This wasn’t enough for the Comets’ defence, though, who began arguing with each other.
Then, mayhem. On 63 minutes, Potter was unceremoniously driven to the ground. Markley reacted furiously, then was surrounded by Comets players. When the referee had finished dealing with the incident, two players from each side were sent off, leaving Barkers with nine versus eight.
Barkers, meanwhile, had made three single substitutions, meaning they could make no more. End result – Watson and Porcaro had to stay on the field, although both were clearly injured.
Comets equalised in the 95th minute, Potter headed over in the 98th, and that was that. Full-time 1-1, and neither side can now go up.
There’s a lot more that could be said about this game, which wasn’t even overly physical, but discretion is the better part of valour, and one is not allowed to publicly criticise officials. Next is Barkers’ final away game, at Chisholm United.
