White Eagles swoop as Blueys stumble

Three goals in a dramatic ten minutes midway through the second half gave Albion Park White Eagles victory at Tarrawanna Oval on Saturday afternoon and kept alive last season’s Grand Final winners’ chances of making the end-of-season Finals. All eyes now switch to Crehan Park on Sunday, where a win for Port Kembla would end the White Eagles’ hopes, but any other result would lead to a fascinating Round 22, in which the permutations for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th are many.

The Blueys’ second home defeat in a row also saw them give up a first half lead for the second week in succession, with Wollongong United’s win at Woonona suddenly putting Tarrawanna at risk of losing their top five spot.

The home side started the game looking confident on the ball and quickly converted possession into goals, when Liam Unicomb made a superb run into the box to pick up Rick Goodchild’s through ball. The Blueys centre forward made no mistake, slotting the ball past Bryce Daenell in the eighth minute for his sixth goal in a Tarrawanna shirt.

And it was Goodchild who dominated proceedings for the home side through much of the first half. Another perfectly-weighted through ball to Unicomb had Mark Every at full stretch to prevent another shot on target, and a lethal cross in from the right was begging for a final touch as it flew across the face of the goal.

At the other end, the visitors were struggling with the swirling wind in the first half, with too many wayward balls into the final third making most of their threat break down early.

But when Vaughan Patterson set up Shohei Okuno in the 27^th minute, there was a hint of things to come as last season’s George Naylor Medal winner forced a fingertip save out of Adam Rodriguez, with a fierce left foot shoot from outside the box.

It was the Blueys who came closest to scoring again before half time, though. This time it was Matt Mazevski who laid off to Jake Morlando inside the area. The defender turned well and sent in a left foot shot, but Daenell was good enough and kept the deficit to a single goal going into the break.

The White Eagles came out for the second stanza looking stronger, with Okuno, Patterson and Hikaru Kawasakiya linking up well. Darren Stone got his body in the way of a goalbound effort from Patterson, but as the hour mark passed, there was little sign of what was about to happen.

The equaliser came in the 65^th minute as Peter Prandalos poked home from close range through a sea of legs inside the six yard box.

And less than five minutes later, it was 2-1 to the visitors. Robbie Delbanco, who had been the White Eagles’ liveliest player in the first half, sent a ball left to Kawasakiya, who composed himself inside the box and stroked a left foot shot past a helpless Rodriguez.

The White Eagles were flying now and looked dangerous with every attack. Matt Naylor got back to block a Delturco effort, but the Blueys were on the back foot and coach Peter Willis got ready to make changes in an effort to steady the ship.

As his substitutes waited on the touchline, he had to watch as his side went two goals behind.

This time it was Patterson who sent a long, looping ball over the defence towards Delturco. He let it bounce once and then lobbed into the back of the net to cap off an extraordinary turnaround.

The Blueys tried to rally, but by then it was too late. Jared Fish had his first decent effort saved by Daenell, who was then quick off the mark to deny substitute Kazuma Nagaishi a shot. Sam Chapple hit a solid right foot from outside the box, but it flew just past the upright, and finally Goodchild, whose dipping shot was headed clear by Prandalos.

The White Eagles held on for a stunning 3-1 win.

For Blueys coach Peter Willis, it was the second week in a row he had seen his side give up a comfortable lead: “We need to talk more and settle down when we go ahead. We’re just not composed once the opposition scores. The trouble today was we began playing the long ball, and that just isn’t our game.” He’s conscious now that his side needs to stay focused to make sure they make the Finals.

White Eagles coach George Antoniou was delighted with his team’s performance: “We had the belief that once we got a goal back today we could do something, and we did.” On the prospect of Finals football ahead, Antoniou added: “We’ll know our fate tomorrow, but if we do make it to the semis, I think we can still do something and other teams will be looking over their shoulders at us.”

 

Tarrawanna Blueys – 1 (Unicomb 8’)

Albion Park White Eagles – 3 (Prandalos 65’, Kawasakiya 69’, Del Turco 75’)

Assists: Blueys: Goodchild; White Eagles: Delbanco, Patterson

Tarrawanna Oval, Saturday 19 August 2017

Referee: Bobby Mazevski
Assistant referees: Jay Walpole, Dean Moreira

 

Tarrawanna Blueys: Adam Rodriguez, Darren Stone, Matthew Naylor, Sam Chapple, Joshua Chapple (Daniel Chapman 76’), Jake Morlando, Matthew Mazevski (Kazuma Nagaishi 76’), Woo Oh, Liam Unicomb, Rick Goodchild, Jared Fish, (subs not used: Allister Carrigan, Ben Learmouth, Christian Pretto)

Albion Park White Eagles: Bryce Daenell, Lee Gilroy (Luke Debrot 66’), Mark Every Shannon Fielding, Peter Prandalos, Chris Nathaniel, Robbie Delbanco, Vaughan Patterson, Mitch Del Turco (Dylan Wray 90 + 2”), Shohei Okuno, Hikaru Kawasakiya (subs not used: Hayden Waples, Jacob Hufton,)

 

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo by Noel Wynn