Bellambi Rosellas moved to the top of the table with a resounding 4-0 victory over Shell Cove at Elizabeth Park in the sole fixture on Saturday in District League. After their drubbing enforced on Warilla Wanderers the previous weekend, Bellambi continued their perfect start to the season and in doing so put their name amongst the title contenders.

It was a cagey opening to the match with Shell Cove holding the majority of possession in the first 20 minutes. The first chance of the game came to Bellambi on the 26-minute mark though, with a swift counter resulting in a shot from striker Illja Prenzoski which bypassed Vasko Petkucevski’s goal into the side netting.

This was a sign of things to come for Shell Cove. The first goal of the match came directly from Bellambi winger Andy Keep’s in-swinging corner in the 31^st minute with the ball passing all of the Rosellas’ attack and taking a slight deflection on the way into the back of the net.

After a flurry of consistent pressing from Bellambi, Shell Cove managed to burst into their own counter-attack with five minutes left in the first half. Tyrone Gatt had his shot comfortably saved by Nathan Campbell however. It was Bellambi that ended the half the stronger.

The half time team talk from Shell Cove proved little difference to the flow of the match, with Bellambi’s Tim O’Brien having the first chance of the half. Following another Keep corner, the ball was not sufficiently dealt with by Shell Cove’s defence. O’Brien found himself lining up a volley on the 18-yard box, with the shot just blazing over the bar.

Ten minutes into the second half forced the first change with a facial injury to Shell Cove keeper Petkucevski after a collision in the box. This resulted in Nikola Ristevski coming onto the field for the remainder of the match.

Despite attempting to stop the flow of chances from Bellambi, the Shell Cove defence cracked again on the 61^st minute mark, with Andy Keep bagging his brace for the afternoon with class. After some neat work down the flank, Keep curled his right-footed shot into the top right hand corner of the net. This continued his brilliant early season goal scoring form following his four against Warilla last week.

The third came just seven minutes later from substitution Christian Cevenini. The goal resulted in a lapse in the Shell Cove defence which allowed Cevenini to find himself free in the box for quite a simple finish.

There could have been a consolation for Shell Cove with just over 10 minutes to go in the match. Some tough tackles in the middle of the park were followed by a long ball put over the top of a flat Bellambi line. This led striker Tyrone Gatt to dribble the ball past the Bellambi back four to find himself in a one-on-one situation. Nathan Campbell stood strong however, saving Gatt’s shot with a strong right hand down in the bottom corner. A moment in the match which summed up Shell Cove’s day.

Just two minutes later and Gatt was given his marching orders for a second yellow card. In a moment of frustration, an unnecessary tackle in the Shell Cove final third gave the referee no choice but to pull out the second yellow.

In a final nail in the coffin for Shell Cove, a free kick from 10 metres in from the sideline from Bellambi midfielder Boden Allport found the head of Christian Cevenini, with the substitute bagging a double which must have brought great delight to Rosellas’ coach Andrew Paine.

Following the match, Paine was happy with his sides performance overall. “It’s still too early to get carried away about anything but we’ve come out looking pretty sharp.” Despite this, Paine added, “It was a tough challenge, they’re a good team, they’re organised and it started off as an arm wrestle.”

Bellambi are at home again next Saturday against a University side who have had a mixed start to the campaign.

Shell Cove will have to dust themselves off for their mouth-watering clash with pre-season title heavyweights Helensburgh at Barrack Heights Sportsfield next Saturday. This match is certainly one not to lose for both sides.

Click here for post-match interview with Bellambi coach Andrew Paine

 

Saturday 31 March @ Elizabeth Park

Bellambi Rosellas – 4 (Keep 31’, 61’, Cevenini 68’, 85’)

Shell Cove – 0

 

Bellambi Rosellas – Nathan CAMPBELL, Shaun POULTON, Nathan THOMPSON, Tor PREECE, Mattias PASSLACK, Nicholas MORGAN, Boden ALLPORT, Tim O’BRIEN, Andy KEEP, Scott MARTIN, Illja PRENZOSKI

Subs – Chris CEVENINI (on for PRENZOSKI), Grant ZANNI (on for PASSLACK), Matthew WALLACE (on for O’BRIEN), Jack DUGAN

Coach – Andrew Paine

 

 

Shell Cove – Vasko PETKUCEVSKI, Atanas SIMONOVSKI, Mathew CESTA, Craig RICHARDSON, Matthew STOJANOSKI, Steve DIMITRIEVSKI, Daniel VELLONIO, Mathew GUIDO, Tyrone GATT, Diogo RODRIQUES, Alexander VELJANOVSKI

Subs - Jonathan BARZEL (on for CESTA), Allen GIBBONS (on for GUIDO), Nikola RISTEVSKI (on for PETKUCEVSKI), Nikola RUSIC

Coach – Steven Dimitrievski

 

Referee – John RUSCICA

Assistant Referees – Lou DONOVAN, Graeme CHARKER

 

Report by Jordan Warren, on Twitter @jwarren0817

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn