A first half header from Dale Nicol gave Picton Rangers victory in this final Pool 1 tie in the Premier League Conference, but it was not enough to see Picton progress to the Fraternity Cup semi finals.

Shell Cove had more possession overall but rarely posed a threat to the Picton goal, and ended the game with ten men after Filip Angeleski received a red card in the second half.

Chances were few and far between in a game that was played out largely in the centre of the pitch, with few incursions into either penalty area, and genuine threats on goal even less apparent.

That said, it was a physical game, with tempers flaring in the heavy heat, in spite of the fact that there was little to play for between two teams at the bottom of their Pool.

The only goal of the game came from a set-piece in the 13^th minute. Mitchell Hall won a free kick for Picton 25 metres out. Jarred Morley pushed the free kick towards the far post onto Nicol’s head, though the Rangers defender’s attempt seemed to take a deflection on its way into the net.

Picton almost doubled that lead a minute later when Adam Rodriguez in the Shell Cove goal rushed out , but failed to collect, leaving his goal open, only for Daniel Goodhew to slice his left foot shot wide of the upright.

Shell Cove responded with their best chances of the game. First Masahiro Wada raced forward on the edge of the area, with a brave Brad Jones in the Picton goal flinging himself down to deny Wada a shot. Then Gadir Maarbani curled the ball dangerously across the face of the goal, Nenos Bobo just failing to get a final touch to equalise.

But Picton remained resolute in defence as the first half progressed, keeping things tight in the final third. Bobo twisted and turned on the edge of the area just before the break, trying to find room for a shot, but there was always at least one Picton body in the way, making it pointless to shoot.

So Picton went in to the break 1-0 to the good.

Five minutes into the second half Dayne Morley made a vital tackle inside the area to keep his side in front. Angeleski had put Lucas Rossi through in front of goal, but Morley got back with a perfectly-timed tackle to prevent the Shell Cove forward from shooting.

Shell Cove were stroking the ball around nicely at this stage, but always in the middle of the park and with little penetration up front. Their chances of getting an equaliser became even slimmer when Angeleski mistimed his tackles twice in the space of five minutes, receiving a yellow for each challenge and leaving his team to fight on for the last 15 minutes with only ten men.

Shell Cove tried switching things around, bringing Danny Treneski back into a right back position and pushing veteran Ljupco Naumovski into midfield, but still they were unable to feed their forwards much to work on.

Wada looked lively on the ball but his right foot volley with five minutes remaining flew well wide. And Kurdvan Abduljabbar had a long range effort saved down low by Jones in the Picton goal. But that was the sum of Shell Cove’s efforts on goal this afternoon.

And it was Picton who came closest to scoring late on. With three minutes to go, Michael Takacs saw his header somehow stopped on the line by keeper Rodriguez, though it wasn’t clear from the sideline which part of Rodriguez’s body actually kept the ball out, and it was Takacs again who was denied in the final seconds as his right foot shot was taken by Rodriguez, leaving the final score at 1-0 to the newly-promoted team from Picton.

Picton Rangers – 1 (Nicol 13’)

Shell Cove FC – 0

Sunday 6 March 2016

Wetherall Park

Referee: Steve Bozic

Assistant Referees: Andrew Naylor, Daniel Dohnt

Picton Rangers: Jones, Nicol, Goodhew, Durrant, Morley (Jarred), Hall, Howard, Mugridge, Morley (Dayne), Sheerin, Miranda (subs Davis, McLeod, Takacs, Roberts, Smallwood – rotated on and off through the game so no direct 1-1 substitutions in the Fraternity Cup format)

Shell Cove FC: Rodriguez, McGraw, Wright, Naumovski, Obata, Maarbani, Bobo, Rossi, Angeleski, Wada, Waterman (subs Mulvihill, Rusic, Treneski, Abduljabbar)

 

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo by Pedro Garcia