Bellambi faced off against Helensburgh in the WCG Cranes Elimination Final at Ray Robinson Field. Bellambi were beaten in their qualifying final by Warilla but looked to bounce back against Helensburgh who finished fourth in the league. The Thistle fought past a stubborn Thirroul in last week’s Elimination Final, taking a slim 2-1 victory over the Thunder. Although Bellambi were probably slight favourites going into the contest, the Helensburgh side’s confidence would be through the roof. In the regular season, the Rosellas had the better of the results, winning 2-1 and 4-1. It was all or nothing with one club playing their final 90 minutes of the year.

The match started with Bellambi holding possession and moving the ball around with purpose. They pushed forward but both teams were nervous on the ball, coughing up possession and not being able to gain much momentum on the attack. Ilja Prenzoski has the first shot of the half but he didn’t generate the power he would have hoped too, dribbling the shot along the ground straight into the hands of Josh Williams.

Around the 10th minute, the Thistle really came out of their shell thanks to an electrifying run by Cody Cuthbertson. He dribbled past two Bellambi defenders before being chopped down just outside the 18-yard box. The resulting free kick was not up to the quality that it should have been, letting Bellambi off the hook after a lapse of defensive concentration.

Helensburgh would then have the next big chance of the match when Luke Miller would run onto a clearance from his own backline. The long ball gave him the chance to show off his speed, but he began to take it to the right of the goal. With the defence closing in Miller cut the ball to the centre of the area. The cut was perfect except that there was not one Thistle player in sight.

Bellambi had chances to put themselves ahead as well, but none was as close as Kei Mitani’s effort. Finding himself in space, Mitani blasted a shot low and hard towards the bottom right corner. Williams was up for it, however, reacting perfectly and just getting enough on the ball. The ball began to backspin before Williams got back up and dove on it before the eager Bellambi attack could pounce.

The back and forth nature of the first half would continue. Helensburgh earned a free kick on the far touchline. The ball was whipped into Ryan Hope who flicked on the header to the back stick. Waiting for his opportunity to strike was Luke Miller, who nodded the ball past Nath Campbell and put the Thistle into the lead. The goal in the 42nd minute was the last good opportunity of the half and it lifted the Helensburgh side’s confidence right up.

The second half began similarly to the first half had with Bellambi trying to control the pace of the contest. They held possession and pushed forward and created a couple of half chances, but they couldn’t pull the trigger. Prenzoski had a couple of shots but he couldn’t trouble Josh Williams.

It wasn’t until the 62nd minute that either side had a genuine goalscoring chance and oddly enough it came from an attempted defensive clearance. A defensive header from Bellambi went backwards, forcing Campbell to backpedal, before the ball hit the crossbar, flew down and Campbell was able to dive on the loose ball. A couple of appeals from the Helensburgh attack to say the ball crossed the line but the officials waved play on.

With the game still back and forth, Bellambi’s finishing was letting them down throughout the match with four good free kick opportunities all hit straight over the bar. The Bellambi attack wasn’t troubling Williams all too much but down the other end, Campbell was forced to make two strong saves in quick succession. The better of the two came from Mitani who hit the ball with real purpose towards Campbell's goal. The keeper dove to his left, reacting quickly to the shot and forcing the ball out for a corner, keeping his side in the contest.

In desperation, Bellambi started pushing more and more players forward. Helensburgh’s defence was strong all game, but one lapse of concentration in the 82nd minute is all it took for the Rosellas to strike. An awkward ball was played into the 18-yard box and it found the feet of left back, Matt Richardson, who ran the ball in and skimmed past the out-rushing Josh Williams. Williams caught the left back and brought him down in what would have been a clear penalty, however, Richardson somehow took the shot while on the ground and was able to lift the ball up and over everyone and into the back of the net.

With Bellambi sky high, the Thistle seemed to drop their heads. They conceded a sloppy corner which could have been cleared out earlier. The corner was whipped in from the spectator side of the ground, the ball travelled quick, but it should have been an easy take for Williams. However, the wet conditions played a factor as the ball slipped through his gloves, and as he tried the recover the loose ball, he and all the Thistle players could only watch it slowly roll into the back of the net. Their season had been ripped away from them in just over three minutes. The Bellambi side and their supporters were ecstatic, enjoying the highs of football.

Although the Thistle attempted to find a late equaliser it was too no avail, Bellambi held the ball in the corner and secured their spot in next weeks clash with the very familiar side of Coniston. Helensburgh played extremely well, pushing the Rosellas to the absolute limit. But it was the calmness and experience of Bellambi which saw them over the line, never panicking even when the game looked bleak.

I caught up with the coach of Bellambi, Andrew Paine, and talked to him about the match and how he prepares for the big clash next week. Listen to the full audio in the link below.

https://soundcloud.com/liam-emerton/fsc-interview-bellambi-coach-andrew-paine

 

Bellambi Football Club

N. Campbell, S.Poulton, M.Richardson, M.Rogerson, G.Zanni, M.Passlack, B.Allport, S.Martin, I.Prenzoski, A.Keep, T.O’Brien.

Replacements

C.Cevenini, R. Aminaka, M.Wallace, J.Duggan

Helensburgh Thistle

J.Williams, J.Benham, R.Hope, J.Falkiner, J.Okamoto, R.Rowley, L.Van Zyl, K.Mitani, L.Miller, B.Watts, C.Cuthbertson.

Replacements

E. Van Zyl, R.Grima, J.Dipple, B.Watts

Referee

Greg Reid

Assistant referees

Jay Walpole and Tristan James

Fourth Official

Brett Mcaulay

 

Report by Liam Emerton

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn