SOCCER
LANGWARRIN and Skye United are the only two local clubs remaining in the 2024 Dockerty Cup after last week’s fourth preliminary round. Both Peninsula Strikers and Chelsea have been knocked out of the competition which doubles as Victoria’s qualification tournament for the Australia Cup.
Skye’s fate will be known soon as it plays its round four tie against Dandenong Thunder on Wednesday 10 April.
Langwarrin, Strikers and Chelsea all used their Cup ties to give full senior debuts to a host of young players.
Langy defeated Doveton 3-1 at Lawton Park last Thursday night in a home tie for the Doves who agreed to switch the venue.
Jacob Brito put Langwarrin ahead after four minutes when he cut inside from the right then played a one-two with Juan Ramos before going past a defender and striking a low shot into the bottom corner from inside the area.
Langy controlled the contest with goalkeeper Griffen Bambach stopping any threats from Doveton and the Lawton Park outfit went further ahead in the 35th minute when Brito’s corner to the near post was headed home by Kameel Khan.
But Doveton hit back right on half-time when a bad back pass to Bambach was intercepted and Luka Slavica made it 2-1. In the 63rd minute Brito was brought down inside the box and a penalty awarded. With regular penalty taker Tom Youngs not playing Brito took the attempted conversion only for Doveton keeper Tom Avdoulos to effect a fine save.
But six minutes later Rahul Suresh gave Langy a two-goal cushion which proved too much for Doveton. The average age of Langwarrin’s back four was 19 and two of the club’s under-18s came on as substitutes in the second half.
Peninsula Strikers went down 1-0 to East Bentleigh at Centenary Park on Saturday. East Bentleigh was relegated to State 5 East last season but an influx of players from Chisholm United has made it one of the promotion favourites this season. And the visitors confronted the youngest senior team ever fielded by Strikers’ head coach Scott Morrison with an average age of just 20.
Strikers’ Noah Musso had the first good chance of the contest when through on goal but he could only get a faint touch on the ball with East Bentleigh keeper Dylan Clifford well off his line. In the 21st minute pacy Strikers winger Campbell Steedman robbed Athanasios Panagiotou only to shoot wide. Nine minutes later East Bentleigh struck the decisive blow.
Central striker Juho Kim and winger Josh Oresti had pace to burn for the visitors and the latter peeled off opponent Jordy May before taking a touch then drilling a well-struck low shot across Strikers’ keeper Nathan Brown and inside the far post. In the 35th minute Musso jinked past two defenders only to have his shot blocked and seconds later a Steedman cross from the left was marginally behind Riley Anderton who could have had a tap-in. Musso, Steedman and Anderton had further chances in the second half but couldn’t convert while the visitors also missed a couple of good opportunities to put the contest out of Strikers’ reach.
After the match Morrison was keen to highlight the positives. “The result wasn’t what we wanted and at times the way we played was disappointing but we still created a lot and had enough chances to win comfortably,” he said. “But it was positive in terms of the club as we had numerous boys who made their senior debuts and we got minutes into guys such as Jaiden (Madafferi) which is important. “We had six boys who have been in the reserves start the game and a 17- and 18-year-old. “We’re in a pretty good situation where we’ve got experienced players like ‘Buzza’ (Wayne Gordon), Stevie (Elliott) and ‘Macca’ (Andy McIntyre) who can teach these guys and keep driving them at training and that can really help them a lot.”
Chelsea lost 5-1 away to NPL club Moreland City last Thursday night. The scoreline doesn’t tell the tale of the local club’s performance against a side that plays six leagues higher. Chelsea opened the scoring after 23 minutes when star striker James Stinson was brought down inside the area following a long ball downfield from Chelsea keeper Rhys Davies. Stinson converted from the spot and the minnows from State 4 led 1-0. But Moreland levelled after a contentious penalty decision converted by Apai Ukuno and in the last minute of the half Michael Tzoutzidis scored to give a relieved home side a 2-1 lead at the break.
This Cup tie was still up for grabs during the second half when Moreland made five substitutions bringing on some first team players and it eventually overran the visitors scoring three times in the last 15 minutes. “Don’t take the score for granted because they were a wee bit worried for periods in the game and at the end I was happy with our performance and so were our players,” Chelsea gaffer Gus Macleod said.
In other news the grandstand at Centenary Park is set for a major upgrade. Peninsula Strikers president Adrian Scialpi confirmed that the outer area will be fenced off on Monday 8 April and requests for quotes are due back to Frankston council by 20 April.
Work on what will be a two-stage project is expected to start during May and finish just before the season’s end.
“The grandstand will be similar to what it is now in height and depth but we’re looking to have internal cladding and filling in the sides to give added protection from the weather,” Scialpi said. “Stage 2 of the development will be new tiered seating that will be a lot higher than the current seating and council has indicated that it will be individual seating in our club colours.”
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
Friday 5 April, 8.30pm:
Frankston Pines v Dandenong South, Monterey Reserve
Chelsea v Lyndale Utd, Edithvale Recreation Reserve
Saturday 6 April, 3pm:
Eltham v Mornington, Eltham North Reserve
Peninsula Strikers v Knox City, Centenary Park
Mooroolbark v Skye Utd, Esther Park
Somerville Eagles v Mentone, Westernport Secondary College
Baxter v Springvale City, Baxter Park
Mount Martha v Seaford Utd, Civic Reserve
Saturday 6 April, 5pm:
Barton Utd v Aspendale, Barton Recreation Reserve
Saturday 6 April, 6pm:
Rosebud v Mount Eliza, Olympic Park
Monday 8 April, 8.30pm
Kingston City v Langwarrin
First published in the Mornington News – 2nd April 2024
