NPL Northern NSW Round 4 Review
SPROULE SPORTS FOCUS
QUENTIN CONNERS
MATCH OF THE ROUND
ADAMSTOWN ROSEBUD 2 (HIGGINS 65’, BERLIN 70’) DEF. BY BROADMEADOW MAGIC 3 (PIDDINGTON 8’, OXBORROW 73’, J. VIRGILI 80’ PEN)
SATURDAY 30 MARCH, 5:30 PM, ADAMSTOWN OVAL
It was the only game played over the wet, dreary Saturday but it made up for it with a thrilling match which saw Broadmeadow steal the win from Adamstown and continue their 20-year drought against Magic.
The last time the Rosebuds had beaten Broadmeadow in the league was back in 1999 and after losing all three of their first matches, were keen to end that trend with a win over the defending champions. Things didn’t get off to a good start though.
A Magic corner found the head of their captain Josh Piddington who tucked it away nicely into the bottom corner to give his side an early lead, and James Virgili almost doubled the lead not long after forcing a strong save from Adamstown keeper Benn Kelly.
Matt Sokoulsky did his best work to get his team back into the contest with some quick passes on the edge of the box with his final shot cannoning into the crossbar while down the other end, Kelly continued to perform saving James Virgili’s shot once again before then denying John Majurovski.
As the second half lingered on, the Rosebuds finally began to seize their opportunities scoring two goals courtesy of two former Magic men to take a surprising lead.
The first goal came from a Sokoulsky cross that landed perfectly onto the back post for his captain Ben Higgins, before Manoli Pappas found Chris Berlin lingering in the 6-yard box who then made no mistakes.
With a lead in hand, Adamstown weren’t able to retain it as just minutes later after going in front, a free-kick on the edge of the box from Broadmeadow’s Mitchell Oxborrow took a fortuitous deflection to nestle inside the bottom corner.
With just over ten minutes to go, disaster struck for the Rosebuds after Drew Greirson gave away a penalty after fouling Matt Hoole inside the box and up stepped James Virgili who finally was able to beat Kelly in goal, giving the Magic men a 3-2 lead, and the eventual win.
Unfortunately for Adamstown, that now sees them continue to be rooted to the bottom of the ladder with zero points next to their name after four games played, while for Magic, they move back into the top four just one point away from league leaders, Lambton, despite conceding the third most in the league.
ALL OTHER GAMES WERE POSTPONED DUE TO WET WEATHER.
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