Kemblawarra out-matched Tarrawanna on Saturday, in a high scoring affair at Tarrawanna Oval.

Tarrawanna led Kemblawarra 2-1 midway through the second half, only to come undone soon after, with Kemblawarra putting through three unanswered goals to take the game 4-2.

From the outset, Tarrawanna favoured a wider game than Kemblawarra, preferring long passes into space than the much tighter and aggressive style of Kemblawarra.

Both teams’ forwards set a cracking pace from the opening whistle, with Tarrawanna finding their attacking shape early, and doing well to limit the options of the Kemblawarra attack.

Tarrawanna looked to be trying to control the pace of the match, but would find it very difficult to achieve in the face of an aggressive Kemblawarra, who found their opportunities in disrupting Tarrawanna’s composure and striking quickly in the unstructured play.

The home team’s desire to control the pace was quickly undone midway through the first, under intense pressure from a dogged Kemblawarra mid-field who began to find themselves with easy possession as a result of Tarrawanna’s loose passing.

Despite Kemblawarra creating a number of scoring opportunities, with no results, Tarrawanna found themselves with the lead after Rick Goodchild put through a penalty kick in the 30^th minute.

Tarrawanna would have done well to be able to go into the second half one-nil, but let their defence slip, enough to allow Kemblawarra’s Sam Munro to thump it past the keeper, on the back of some miscommunication from the Tarrawanna backs.

Coming out for the second half, Kemblawarra perhaps knew that it was their game to lose, given their various missed opportunities and the disarray they’d created for Tarrawanna’s backs, and appeared to be hungrier for the win.

Tarrawanna were forced onto the back foot from early in the second, with Kemblawarra using their forward pace and aggression to keep their opponents pinned to the back half.

Despite this, Tarrawanna were again able to take the lead on the back of a defensive mix-up by Kemblawarra, with Darren Stone putting it through for the home team.

But again the Tarrawanna defence became complacent, with Kemblawarra’s Shane Murray striking back only minutes later to level the scores.

For the remainder of the second it was all Kemblawarra, who established consistent attacking shape and controlled possession to keep Tarrawanna on the back foot.

And they made their opportunities stick; with Matthew McNab scoring a decisive goal from space out wide, after a series of probing runs and perseverance from Kemblawarra.

With the score-line at 3-2, Tarrawanna looked unlikely to strike back, with their attacking shape falling away and their confidence faltering in defence.

Demonstrating just how hungry they were for the win, Kemblawarra kept up their attacking pace to put the game out of reach for Tarrawanna, and the decisive moment came when Robbie Shields put away a free kick with five minutes remaining.

Tarrawanna were not able to put themselves back into contention in the final minutes, and at full-time Kemblawarra took the game comfortably with four goals to two.

Tarrawanna coach Peter Willis was circumspect about the loss, saying that while it was a disappointing loss, he expects that his younger players will grow into their roles in the team, and will look forward to their match-up next week.

 

Kemblawarra – 4 (Munro, Murray, McNab, Shields)

Tarrawanna – 2 (Goodchild, Stone)

 

Round 4, 16/4/16

Tarrawanna Oval

 

Kemblawarra – Poiera, Suttle, O’Connor, Lyons, B. Rhodes, Murray, Iacovelli, Ceccoli, McNab, Shields, Munro, Jones, (Lee, Mears, T. Rhodes, Simpson)

Tarrawanna – Hamilton, Chapman, Mortimer, Young, Morlando, Chapple, Mazevski, Onana-Awano, Goodchild, Isabella, Pretto, (Fryday, Carrigan, Simpson, Mushaba)

 

Referee – S. Bozic

Assistants – M. Agim, T. Brown    

 

By Oliver Chaseling

Photo courtesy of Nichole Mears (Kemblawarra Fury)