By Tonci Prusac

A drama filled second half between Ballarat Red Devils and Pascoe Vale was prematurely cut short in the 67th minute, when the referee called the game off after Pascoe Vale’s Luca Santilli was knocked out on landing following a heavy on-field collision with Danny O'Donnell. 

At the time of the unfortunate incident, the Red Devils were leading 2-0, courtesy of two headed goals by in-form striker Paul Harvey in the 58th and 61st minute respectively.

The Red Devils went into today's clash with Pascoe Vale, looking to cap off a massive week for football in Ballarat with the announcement during the week, that Morshead Park would be hosting the upcoming FFA Cup clash between the newly-rebranded Melbourne City and Sydney FC.

The first half was fairly even, and while there were no goals scored there were plenty of physical contests and near misses from both sides.

But the game came to life with a flurry of incidents, starting in the 52nd minute.

That’s when a bone crunching collision, literally, between Ballarat’s Liam Harding and Pascoe Vale goalkeeper Stefaan Sardelic, saw the latter come off second best.

Play was halted as players from both sides expressed concern that Sardelic had possibly broken his leg. 

He was forced off the ground by stretcher, to be replaced by 17-year-old ‘keeper, Yarrein Sozer.

The teenager was immediately called into action, as play restarted with a powerfully taken Ballarat free kick from just outside the box.

Sozer managed to successfully palm the thunderbolt over the crossbar.

However less than two minutes later, he couldn’t do anything about Harvey’s pin-point header from a precise cross by Romein.

Three minutes on, Harvey scored in identical fashion, this time latching on to a perfectly weighted corner kick by Liam Harding.

The Red Devils were cruising along comfortably, until just six minutes later, at the other end of the field, O'Donnell and substitute Luca Santilli contested a 50-50 ball in mid air. 

When Santilli fell to the ground, his head hit the surface and in the process lost consciousness.

As Santilli lay motionless on the ground, he indicated he couldn’t feel his legs, which prompted officials to immediately summon an ambulance. 

By the time the paramedics had arrived, well over 20 minutes had elapsed, during which time referee Bruno D’Aniello blew his whistle to signify a premature end to proceedings.

After the match, it was revealed by Pascoe Vale coach, Vitale Ferrante, that Luca Santilli may have also broken his wrist in the fall that eventually stopped the game.

“I’m disappointed the game didn’t finish, but we lost lost our ‘keeper with a suspected broken leg and now young Luca has been taken to hospital. At the end of the day, all that matters is that the kid’s OK,” Ferrante said. 

“As far as the game is concerned, in the second half Ballarat was up for it and they scored because we gave away two cheap goals. I was happy with our effort but certainly not our performance.” 

His counterpart, Ballarat coach James Robinson, was also disappointed, especially taking into account his team’s comfortable lead right up until the game was called off.

“What can you do? I’m very disappointed the game didn’t finish, but it was an uncontrollable situation,” said Robinson.

“But in the end, nothing else matters more than the players’ safety. We were doing well when the accident happened, the boy (Santilli) needed to be tended to right away and hopefully he is going to be alright.

“I won’t say that the game was physical, rather both teams were very committed. There was certainly no malice from either side. Just an unfortunate incident.” 

All eyes now turn to Round 19 action, when Ballarat will travel to Galvin Park on Sunday to take on fellow strugglers Werribee City, while Pascoe Vale heads down to Dandenong Thunder on Saturday night. 

MATCH DETAILS:

Ballarat Red Devils 2 (Harvey 58’, 61’) Pascoe Vale 0 - Match Abandoned after 67 minutes - at Morshead Park. [HT: 0-0] 

Ballarat Red Devils: 1. Aaron ROMEIN, 19. Daniel FIRTH, 18. Daniel O'DONNEL, 4. David KING (25. Steven THOMPSON 51’), 16. Charles KING, 9. Sean HARDING, 6. Liam HARDING, 17. Shaun ROMEIN, 11. Nelson SALVATORE, 31. Simon MURPHY, 10. Paul HARVEY. 

Substitutes not used: 40. Jordan FRANKEN, 7. Deng AGUEK, 12. Miles BAKER, 13. Michael TRIGGER.

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None 

Pascoe Vale: 1. Stefaan SARDELIC (25. Yarrein SOZER 56’), 2. Adrian TALARICO, 3. Nathen MEGIC, 4. Tom MILARDOVIC, 8. Joseph YOUSSEF, 11. Jonathan VOULGARIS, 14. Alvaro CARRILLO, 16. Marko SANTILLI, 19. Lindsay HENDERSON, 21. Michael FERRANTE, 22. Carl RECCHIA.

Subs not used: 7. Luca SANTILLI, 9. Jake NAKIC, 13. Matthew LAZARIDES, 23. Melvin BECKETT, 

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None