Fernhill arrived at Memorial Park on Sunday for this top of the table clash as the only side not to have been beaten by the Rangers in the season thus far. With Corrimal seven points clear at the top, it was important that the Foxes went one better in this clash than their one - one draw in the opening match of the season in an effort to slow down the Rangers march to the title (even at this early stage).

The visitors got off to the perfect start when they opened the scoring after just five minutes when Kazu Nagaishi got on the end of a long clearance from the back, which Corrimal's defender, Vasko Mitkovski misjudged the bounce of the ball with his attempted header, allowing Nagaishi to skip clear just outside the Ranger's penalty area. Fernhill's 'go to man' up front still had a bit of work to but as Goalkeeper, Mitchell Blowes advanced to narrow the angle, Nagaishi calmly slotted the ball past the experienced custodian into the far corner.

This was just the tonic, a game of this importance needed and for the opening 10 minutes Fernhill were good value for their lead as they unsettled their more fancied opponents.

However, after 11 minutes, the Fernhill Goalkeeper, Akida Tatsubayashi, showed his first glimpses of unsurety/naivety as the last line of defence which would prove costly as the game wore on.

First up, when under no pressure just inside and wide in his own penalty area, he went to clear the ball upfield off the ground but only succeeded in finding Corrimal's Mark Picciolini unmarked 40 metres from goal. Picciolini fired the ball back towards goal but fortunately for the Keeper who was stranded out wide, the ball deflected off a defender and went out for a corner.

His kicking from the ground would let him down on other occasions and at one stage when trying to dribble with the ball he was dispossessed by Domenic Magill only for a fellow Foxes defender to save his blushes.

After the early good spell by the visitors, Corrimal started to flex their muscles as they started to control possessions and enjoyed long periods of field position in Fernhill's half of the field.
Ranger's defensive midfielder, Gavin O'Brien tried his luck from 35 metres on 16 minutes with his effort well wide of the target but the home side didn't have to wait long before parity on the scoreboard was restored.

In one of the many attacking raids Corrimal were able to put together, a neat passing movement ended with Nathan Belsito supplying a great cross form wide on the left to far post which could have been cleared except for a defensive slip which allowed Magill to slot the ball home from close range. A bit of luck I guess but not surprising given the amount of pressure the Fernhill defence had been under over the last 15 mins with the deserved equaliser arriving on 23 minutes.

When they did try to clear their lines, invariably Fernhill players appeared to always be looking for Nagaishi, who did very well in trying to hold the ball up whilst awaiting for support. The strategy did change to a degree late in the half as Marc Sergi came into the game a lot more down the left side and his combination with Dean Morosin ten minutes before the break allowed Morosin to cut in and rifle a wonderful strike from fully 35 metres which was goal bound except for a marvellous intervention from Blowes whose finger tip save over the bar was a real highlight of a relatively entertaining first half.

One - One at the break and everything to play for.

Seven minutes after the interval, Corrimal almost took the lead - Luke Picciolini whipped in Corner Kick from the left to the near post but David Bescos couldn't keep his header down with the ball sailing over the bar.

Then on the hour mark the game was turned on it's head. Another Luke Picciolini corner kick was knocked into the danger zone where Tatsubayashi came to collect the ball. Under a little bit of pressure, the Keeper failed to hold the ball with the number one having to re-gather on the ground.

With a Rangers player standing above him, inexplicably Tatsubayashi appeared to strike the opponent with his feet whilst still in possession of the ball.
The Referee failed to see the incident which was brought to his attention by the A/R on the far side. After the discussion, the Referee branded a Red Card to the keeper and at the same time, Fernhill's Sean Poulton, who had had been cautioned seven minutes before the break, was shown a second yellow card presumably for dissent.

At this point, the Hill's Keiran Morris was 'sacrificed' and replaced by the Fernhill replacement keeper, James McClelland. For some reason, the game re-started with an indirect free kick to Corrimal on the edge of the six yard box when really it should have been a penalty to Corrimal for the G/K's indiscretion. Nothing eventuated from the resultant Free Kick.

Obviously, playing with nine men it was going to be an uphill battle for Fernhill from here but they should really have been reduced to eight players three minutes after the first send off(s). Corrimal had made immediate inroads into the Fernhill penalty area with Magill in possession when Matt Richardson came racing across and caught Magill across the shins in a wicked challenge. A penalty was rightly awarded but no other sanction occurred when the offending player should have been sent for an early shower also.

Mark Picciolini made no mistake from the penalty but his raucous celebration with his team mates off the field of play led to a caution being issued to the striker.

Picciolini (Mark) could have had a hat-trick inside the next three minutes, when a good shot on the turn was well saved by the replacement keeper and when he did beat the keeper with a delicate lob a shortly after, Fernhill defender Luke McDonald made a terrific goalmouth clearance.

0n 68 minutes, Corrimal had a two goal buffer when Paul Guido shot through a sea of legs from the edge of the penalty area to find the bottom corner with McClelland largely unsighted which was unkind has he already pulled off a couple of great saves to deny Picciolini M.

Down to nine players, to their credit Fernhill never tossed the towel in and continued to push forward at every opportunity. They had a great chance to reduce the arrears with 20 minutes left when Sergi produced a nice drive from the edge of the penalty area. Blowes could only parry the shot with the ball falling at the feet of Ben Moerman (on as a sub for Nagaishi) who wasted a great opportunity with the follow up from six yards going wide.

The game fell away towards the end as Corrimal failed to make the numerical advantage count and the scoreline ended with Corrimal running out winners three goals to one in what at times was a tempestuous affair.

 

Match Stats

 

Corrimal Rangers 3 (Domenic Magill 25' Mark Picciolini 63' Paul Guido 68')

Fernhill 1 (Kazu Nagaishi 5')

 

Memorial Park, Corrimal

 

Referee: Ryan O'Sullivan 

Assistant Referees: Mitchell Thorpe & Club

 

Corrimal Rangers: Mitchell Blowes, Vasko Mitkovski, David Bescos, Nathan Belsito, Gavin O'Brien (Matthew Cuda 85'), Paul Guido, Christian Plakias (Christopher Stevanovski 66'), Domenic Magill, Mark Picciolini, Luke Picciolini, Andrew Nanos.

Subs not Used: Jacob Miller, Nicholas Purdevski.

Yellow Card: Andrew Nanos 25',Gavin O'Brien 27', Mark Picciolini 63' Like Picciolini 75'.

 

Fernhill: Akida Tatsubayashi, Sean Poulton, Luke McDonald, Brod Moss (Brett Kear 69'), Dale White, Anthony Oliver, Dean Morosin, Marc Sergi, Keiran Morris (James McLelland 60'), Kazu Nagaishi (Ben Moerman 69'), Matt Richardson.

Subs not Used: Rob Graham.

Yellow Cards: Sean Poulton 38', Dale White 76' Brett Kear 77'.

Red Cards: Sean Poulton 60' Akida Tatsubayashi 60'

 

Report by David Naylor

Photo: Pedro Garcia (archive)