Kiama Quarriers won through to the second round of the MCR Rail Bert Bampton Cup thanks to a first half goal from striker Chris Christodoulou. Kiama’s keeper Dylan McDonald kept his team in the tie, though, with a string of saves, including a penalty early in the second half.

Thirroul had early chances and a golden opportunity to equalise late on, but failed to capitalise.

With a stiff breeze behind them in the first half, Kiama showed the early promise, forcing five corners in the opening minutes, though Thirroul’s back four dealt easily with any resulting pressure.

It was the visitors who had the first real chances. First, Matthew Kellond set up Todd Davidson on the edge of the area, but McDonald was good enough to keep the shot out. Moments later, McDonald was back in action, diving dramatically to his right to push a curling left foot shot from Corey Haines-Grose wide of the upright.

Kiama’s goal came in the 23^rd minute. Daniel Gillespie sent a long ball forward up the right towards Christodoulou, who let the ball bounce once before sending a half-volley over the on-rushing Josh Williams in the Thirroul goal and into the back of the net.

Christodoulou might have nabbed a second minutes later, when he turned the defender inside the area and fired goalwards, but this time Williams was good enough.

At the other end, Haines-Grose again came close, turning one defender and beating another for pace before watching his left foot shot fly across the face of the goal and away for a goal-kick.

But it was always Kiama that looked more likely to score. Col Studman found himself in front of goal but surrounded by a crowd of players. He managed to turn and shoot but there was no way through the crowd of legs in the way. The Quarriers forced yet more corners as the first half drew to a close, but the Thirroul defence kept Kiama at bay.

The question for the second half was to find out just how much of a factor the wind had been in making the difference between the two sides.

Within seconds of the restart, a fluent move involving Ryan Latini, Daniel Arthur and Kellond saw the visitors awarded a penalty when Kellond was brought down inside the box. Haines-Grose stepped up to take, but McDonald got down to block the spot kick, with Arthur’s follow-up shot also coming to nothing.

A minute later, Thirroul had another chance, when McDonald committed himself too far out of his goal and didn’t take the ball, Chris Hill backing up this time to clear the ball with the goal itself unprotected.

Those two near-misses changed the momentum of this match. The Quarriers were fired up by their defensive efforts and took the game to Thirroul. Even the elements seemed to be on Kiama’s side, with a noticeable drop in wind speed for much of the second half, meaning there was little or no advantage for Thirroul.

Kiama substitutions brought fresh legs and new impetus. Two of them were involved in the Quarriers’ best move of the match. Gillespie, Jesse Annen and substitute Jacob Lester passed the ball neatly through the middle of the park, setting up Daniel Swinton whose shot forced a diving save out of Williams, before Aaron Buzinski fired wide with the follow-up. And it was Williams again who managed to punch the ball clear from Lester’s in-swinging corner, with many Kiama heads waiting for a chance to finish the tie off.

With ten minutes remaining, the wind picked up again and helped a long ball from the back into the path of Kellond, but McDonald was again good enough to deal with the shot. And on the 85^th minute, Thirroul had perhaps their best chance to equalise, when Robert Gyngell pushed the ball forward to Latini, who drove in a perfect cross into the path of Kellond. But the Thirroul striker, under pressure from Kiama defenders, fired the ball just over the bar. It was the closest Thirroul came to scoring and their last effort before the final whistle.

Speaking after the game, Thirroul coach Garth Bowley spoke positively about his back four. “We were a bit flat going forward today, but our back four were solid. Daniel Bond’s return has added some strength at the back and when we get our captain (James Hutton) back from injury, we’ll be fine.” And looking ahead to the 2016 season as a whole, Bowley was optimistic: “We still have a couple of players to come back from injury, but other than that we have a good solid squad of 25 or so players, so we’re looking forward to next week’s League kick-off.”

Kiama coach James Spence was also pleased with his defenders: “It was good to keep a clean sheet today. I think we’ve taken the lead in every game we’ve played so far, but staying strong and holding on is the issue for us, so today we defended well. We’ve got competition for strikers in the team so goals won’t be a problem for us; it’s staying strong at the back. Our aim for the season is to be in the top six so we’ll be aiming at conceding no more than one goal a game to get there.”

 

Kiama Quarriers FC – 1 (Christodoulou 23’)

Thirroul Thunder FC – 0

Saturday 19 March 2016

Kiama Sporting Complex

Referee: Ryan O’Sullivan

Assistant Referees: Trae Arnold, Club Official

Kiama Quarriers FC: McDonald, Gillespie, Hill, Land, Rowe, Annen (Walsh 77’), Wade, Buzinki, Studman (Lester 70’), Christodoulou, Beringer (Swinton 60’) (sub not used Spence)

Thirroul FC: Williams, Bond/Daniel, Mulholland, Forsythe, Maddock (Bond/Josh 66’), Davidson, Arthur, Patchett, Haines-Grose (Gyngell 72’), Kellond, Latini (subs not used: Snelgrove, Ward, Walter)

 

Report by Simon Duffin