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Dunsborough Predators- 2 v FMR Dragons- 5
Awesome playing conditions in Dunsborough allowed for a great display of football and these teams fought out an epic battle.
The Dragons had the early field position and it was Brendan Clark who put pressure on the keeper from a throw in to put the visitors’ ahead early. The Dragons soon added another when Kai Grabner-Bond beautifully controlled a clearance ball from Margaret Rivers’ defence and a quick through ball saw Riley Demunari coolly slot the ball on his left foot past the keeper.
Dunsborough were far from out of the contest and their pressure finally told when Conor Wolfman pounced on a loose ball to finish a great strike passed the Dragons last line. He repeated the dose a short time later which had the game locked up at half time.
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FMR Dragons- 6 v Geographe Bay Stingers- 0
(Pictures to come)
After a night of welcome rain a great day of soccer followed and the Dragons opened their 2012 season in fine style with a hard fought, convincing win against quality opposition.
After a solid start the home side went a goal up from the boot of Nathan Doig with a volley finish from a quality cross that will be hard to better. Nathan made great position all game and contributed hugely.
Our young defensive line were holding firm and Kai Grabner-Bond was solid between the posts showing a safe pair of hands.
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Busselton Redbacks 0 v Margaret River Strikers 3
On a Very windy morning in Busselton the undefeated Strikers played their arch rivals in a knockout cup Semi final.
From the first whistle and kicking with a very strong breeze, the Strikers dominated the opening few minutes and a lapse of concentration by the Redbacks Goal Keeper, saw Kelby Guthrie Phelps pounce and open the scoring.
The second goal was really high quality soccer as a quick throw in by Josh Brown caught the defence unawares , a superb cross by Ryner Koster saw Kia Bako rise and put a superb header into the net. Another well taken goal by Kia saw the half time score 3-0.
The Strikers knew this game was far from over as the wind was becoming stronger, but as usual the strong defence and great team work was the difference between the two teams and they saw the game out without any change to the score line.
Best players on the day were Sam Berridge , Kade Bougoure, Gabriel Abbott and Ryner Koster.
Margaret River Strikers 4 v Dunsborough 0
After playing each other last week in the last league game of the season, both teams were drawn again to play each other in the first round of the Knockout cup. As this suggests if you get beat you can hang up your boots for the summer and your season is over, this type of format always brings out thrilling contests and this game was no exception.
The score line suggest a comfortable win but this was a fiercely contested game, and hung in the balance until the final few minutes, the difference being the more polished game of the undefeated Strikers, in fact it took until late in the first half for the first goal to be scored by the goal scoring machine Kia Bako, who was to score another hat trick.
Dunsborough 0 v Margaret River Strikers 4
Margaret River travelled to Dunsborough on Saturday with the league title already won the task was to finish the season off undefeated.
Dunsborough knew a win would clinch them the runners up medal, so there was plenty at stake.
The hosts started the game at a frantic pace which caught the strikers hopping and the defense was put under pressure, but as usual they held firm and slowly the strikers got on top and started to pepper the goals.
Awell taken goal by Ryner Koster put the Strikers in the lead and then a great strike by Jesse Martin extended the lead and a third by Kia Bako put them three up at half time.
Wow! What a match. Quite possibly this game was the best game many of us on the sidelines have seen this season, in terms’ of matched ability levels and absolute determination.
The start of the game saw the Spitfires take many unsuccessful shot on goal, with Lightning scoring the first 2 effortlessly despite the amazing efforts of Rohan Hayward, the GMAS goalie. After that GMAS were determined not to let the game get away from them. The coached words were ‘Talk, trust, totally commit and take the shots’ (as well as smile and have fun) and that was what the Spitfires did!!
When the Lightning had a 3-1 lead, 10 minutes in to the second half, GMAS were not quite sure how they were going to get out of this mess…
Margaret River Strikers 13 v GMAS 2
It was business as usual for the Strikers as they resumed from the school holiday break to host GMAS on a blustery winters day. A win would leave the Strikers top after all the qualifying games. The Strikers settled early and it wasn’t long before the goals started to flow as the Strikers dominated all over the pitch, to their credit the GMAS players never gave in and scored two consolation goals in the second half.
Next week sees the league split into 2 divisions as it really gets down to the business end of the season.
Eagle Boys Player of the day was Sam Berridge, Zac Harney won the Sports Power Award, Gabriel Abbott won the South West Pets Award and Jake Sales won the Yallingup Maze Award.
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LNJSA 5 v CCJSA A 2
In the final fixture of the Premier league, the LNJSA 15s team came up against the CCJSA A team, the LNJSA team knew a victory would emulate what the 13s had done two weeks earlier.
The game started off at a frantic pace and it was a very scrappy affair as both teams knew what was on the line in this do or die battle.
Captain Kia Bako broke the deadlock for LNJSA and this was quickly followed up by the ever reliable Spike Woods, some sloppy defending allowed the CCJSA team to get one back, but that was quickly answered by a superb header from Kelby Guthrie Phelps which saw the half time score line 3-1.
The second half saw the Leeuwin team take control and displayed some great team work which resulted in them extending their lead from goals by Josh Brown and a second from Spike Woods, the Ccjsa team got one back from a follow up from a penalty which was initially saved from goal keeper Joel Fraser.
Vasse Eagles 1 v Margaret River Strikers 23
In harsh wintry conditions the undefeated Strikers came up against Vasse and with a few regulars missing and only the bare eleven players available, this seemed to be a danger game. But this only seemed to spur the team on to produce their best game of the season to date , as the Vasse team had no answer to the quick ball movement and clinical finishing of the Strikers as they put on another great display of team football.
There were so many highs in this game as a coach you wouldn’t know where to start, but the major one was the referee approaching the players after the game and commending them not only on the way they play, but the respect and sportsmanship they gave the Vasse team .
Congratulations to all the players in the Strikers squad for a great first half of the season and you deserve to be sitting on the top of the table.
Eagle Boys Player of the day was Sol Masters, Sports Power Player of the day was Kia Bako ,South West Pets award went to Josh Brown and Sam Berridge won the Yallingup Maze Award.
Margaret River Strikers 23 versus Vasse Eagles 1
Freezing and damp the first goal was to Strikers 5 minutes from kickoff. Strikers were strong and Vasse were in trouble from the outset with goalie Trevor Bardot having a busy time knocking back scores from the outset. In the first half Shannon Gravelle played a solid game in defense with Bardot.
Brody Hansford shoots for goal but it’s not to be in spite of desperate rallying by Matthew House and Blake Duffield. Its getting colder and Strikers score a fifth goal within the first ten minutes. Vasse showed good teamwork from Austin Passamani and Zane Lingard but couldn’t stop another successful shot. In spite of a spirited defense from Vasse MR continue with goals through the final 15 minutes. Striker Sol Masters displays speed and agility with a sure sense of where to go and when to pass.
MR manage some very close shooting, booting within metres of the nets. Matthew House gives it all skillfully and Bill Smith plays valiantly.
George Shingles passed out to Jayden Panomarenko on the wing and Jayden scored the one and only goal for Vasse today.
In spite of Vasse trying so hard in the second half the final score was 23:1 but the players on both sides displayed heart and commitment throughout the play.
Margaret River Gladiators 1 v Margaret River Strikers 9
It was the battle of the two Margaret River teams on Saturday morning, and you could feel the tension before the game as both teams took to the field. Straight from the first whistle both teams showed great desire to win the hard ball, and it was the Gladiators who were winning the challenges and they deservedly took the lead on the fifteen minute mark.
This seemed to stir the Strikers and finally they started to get on top and scored some well worked goals as the younger Gladiators started to tire. Half time score 5-1.
The second half was a copy of the first as the Gladiators battled away but couldn’t find a way through, final score was 9-1 but both teams can be very proud of their efforts.
Eagle Boys Player of the day was Zac Harney, Sports Power player of the day was Sam Berridge, South West pets award went to Kelby Guthrie Phelps and the Yallingup Maze award went to Jake Sales.
I would like to offer my sincerest apology to the Capel Soccer club, for my remarks about the game between the Margaret River Strikers and the Capel Wolves in the Under 15 age division. There was no intent to belittle the team, and I would like to wish the coach and the players all the very best for the rest of the season. Yours in sport.
Paul Brown
Coach – Margaret River Strikers
SMJSC Lightning 0 v Margaret River Strikers 13
The Strikers travelled to Busselton on Saturday, in wet and blustery conditions not the ideal formula for playing attractive Soccer which made the performance even more impressive, as the Strikers controlled and passed it around with ease as the Lightning team had no answer to the team play of the Strikers.
The score line is irrelevant it was how the players showed great composure under trying conditions and at times during the game, great sportsmanship.
The only downside was the serious knee injury to Oliver Gurney, in the dying seconds of the match.
Eagle Boys player of the day was Josh Brown, Sports Power player of the day was Oliver Gurney, South West Pets award went to Sol Masters and the Yallingup Maze award went to Jesse Martin.
Next week’s fixtures sees the two Margaret River teams playing each other, kickoff is at 9am it will be worth getting out of bed early for and see the marvellous talent we have in our club at this age level.
Margaret River Strikers 8 v Cornerstone 0
The Strikers hosted Cornerstone on Saturday and were keen to extend their lead at the top of the table, in blustery conditions, the Strikers knew that they had to keep the ball on the ground and that is what they did from the first whistle as they stretched the Cornerstone defence and never let them get a foothold in the match.
Three goals from Kia Bako and one from Jesse Martin saw the half time score 4-0, at half time the Strikers knew that they could play better and knew that they were lacking in communication and movement off the ball. This had the desired effect and three more from Kia and one from Kade Bougoure saw them run out 8-0 winners.
There were some great individual efforts none more so than the fantastic point blank save from Jesse Gunnis, congratulations boys on a great team effort, you are a joy to watch and should be very proud of your efforts so far this season, the challenge is to maintain this level and improve, which I am more than confident you can achieve.
Premier League Under 15: CCJSA (2) 0 v LNJSA 3
After last week’s bye the LNJSA team travelled to Bunbury knowing that a win was vital if they had any chance of taking out the title. The opening twenty minutes were quite even as both teams struggled to overcome the breezy conditions and the bumpy playing surface.
The LNJSA team took the lead through a well worked team goal that was nicely finished by Luke Reynolds. The half time talk was about keeping possession of the ball better and this seemed to do the trick as they added two goals from Chris Massie and Ryner Koster.
Some great goal keeping by captain of the day Joel Fraser kept the CCJSA team out, and they ran out convincing winners, a special thanks to Frank Koster for filling in as Referee at the last minute.
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