The Albion Park White Eagles travelled to Balls Paddock desperate to cause an upset after their unexpected defeat against South Coast United. As for Bulli, they came into the match in second after a last minute winner against Tarrawanna.

 

Bulli slightly edged the opening 20 minutes with a couple of half chances, while the White Eagles appeared determined to hit them on the counter-attack with a number of long balls played to Vaughan Patterson who was positioned as a target man.

 

Bulli began to tighten their grip on proceedings with Albion Park goalkeeper, Bryce Danaell needing to make a couple of saves off shots from Sam Davies and Ben McDonald.

 

Just before the half-hour mark Bulli opened the scoring through Dylan Lewis. The forward linked up McDonald before shimmying past a defender on the edge of the box before burying the ball into the bottom left corner - the goal ending a four-match dry spell for Lewis.

 

Within the next ten minutes, Bulli yanked the match away from the struggling reigning Premiers with a second and third goal. The second was a gorgeous curling free kick from Guy Knight and the third was a Lewis tap in off a corner after some lacklustre Albion Park defending.

 

A barnstorming 15 minutes by the 'I saw them go into the interval with a commanding three-goal lead.

 

It would have been frank half time team talk for Albion Park boss, Jeff Allport who had just witnessed a diabolical collapse from his players. Something which would not have been in up for discussion was a fourth Bulli goal a minute into the second half - which occurred after a sloppy turnover and a determined dribble by McDonald before blasting it low past Danaell - the very definition of a coach killer.

 

Bulli came close to a fifth with Harry Callahan heading wide in the 51st minute and a few minutes later a Danaell double save which denied McDonald and then Marcus Beattie.

 

With 60 minutes on the clock, the White Eagles had a penalty shout waved away with Bulli goalkeeper, Yuya Kuwata producing his own double save. The first save was a tip onto the post after Mitch Del Turco attempted to lob him and the ball came back to Del Turco who hit a half-volley for the top left corner with Kuwata producing and acrobatic save to knock the ball out for a corner.

 

Albion Park was finally beginning to gain some fluidity to their play as Bulli set up to defend their lead. This spell of pressure produced a consolation goal for the White Eagles with Vaughan Patterson out jumping Kuwata to head the ball into an empty net.

 

The match finished 4-1 to Bulli who move back to the top of the table after title rivals Wollongong Olympic went down to Kemblawarra Fury.

 

After the match Bulli coach, Matt Bailey said he believed his side was meeting their season expectations, “We’re always confident of progressing really well in the league. It is our objective to win the league.”

 

If the result and top spot were not enough for Bulli, Tobin Zoomers made his long-awaited return from injury in an hour long runout in Youth Grade. The midfield dynamo scored a goal in the sides 2-0 win and Bailey knows he could make difference in the final rounds, “I think everyone in the league knows what sort of a quality player he is… if he comes back into the mix in the first team we are going to really difficult to beat.”

 

Bulli is back in action on Wednesday night when the host University in the Bert Bampton Cup and their next Premier League match is away to Wollongong Olympic.

 

As for the White Eagles, the defeat leaves them in seventh and if Wollongong United beat South Coast United on Sunday, Albion Park will be six points off the top five. Albion Park faces Wollongong Olympic in the Cup midweek before hosting Cringila in the league. Top five rivals Port Kembla and Wollongong United play two of the top three so it could prove an immense opportunity to regain lost ground.

 

Click this link to listen to the post match interviews - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/post-match-interviews-after-bulli-beat-apwe-4-1

 

Bulli - 4 (Lewis 29’, 39’, Knight 34’ and McDonald 46’)

Albion Park White Eagles - 1 (Patterson 81’)

 

Saturday the 1st of July, 2017 at Balls Paddock, Woonona

 

Bulli - Yuya Kuwata, Kenji Takahashi, Corey Horner, Scott Best, Ryan Emerton, Sam Dvies, Guy Knight, Dylan Lewis, Marcus Beattie, Harry Callahan and Ben McDonald

 

Subs - Andy Gamble (on for Best), Lewis Clements (on for Callahan), Kyle Jackson, Jayden Lewis and Nik Miceski (on for Lewis)

 

Coach - Matt Bailey

 

Albion Park White Eagles - Bryce Danaell, Mark Every, Steve Hristovski, Shannon Fielding, Peter Prandalos, Robbie Delbanco, Chis Nathaniel, Vaughan Patterson, Mitch Del Turco, Shohei Okuno and Lee Gilroy

 

Subs - Hikaru Kawasakiya (on for Every), Luke Debrot (on for Prandalos), Boden Allport, Yosuke Tashiro (on for Okuno) and Jacob Hufton

 

Coach - Jeff Allport

 

Referee - Steve Bozic

 

Assistant Referees - Lottie Cabassi-Power and James De Luca

 

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

 

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn