It was an intense fixture from the get go with both teams hot on their feet but it was Berkeley Sports who dominated the game with an overwhelming 6 goals to none against Bellambi Sunday afternoon.

It was only four minutes in when Berkeley broke the deadlock as Jesse Gant kicked the ball towards the goal and it rebounded off Bellambi’s Mattias Passlack before Chris Rowlan intercepted and tapped the ball in passed Jason Petty, after he’d thought he’d cleared the goal.

Berkeley continued to dominate the game with the ball travelling down their end of the field often and Josh Brus hardly meeting the ball throughout the play. Berkeley had multiple more shots on goal but unfortunately were miscalculated and often went over the crossbar.

In the 35^th minute, Jesse Gant took a corner and after a scramble in front of the goals between Bellambi’s Jason Petty and defence, after Petty believed that the ball was cleared from the goals, Gant tapped the ball past the line and into the net.

Only three minutes later Alex Perez crossed the ball towards the goals and Greg Moon shot the ball from the middle of the goals 10 yards out, passing Petty to his right.

At half time the scoreboard read 3-0 to the home side.

Both teams came back onto the field with energy and Berkeley were keen to raise the score again, dominating the attack similar to the first half. Bellambi didn’t see many chances with the ball down their end, and when they did, the ball wouldn’t follow through as Berkeley held a strong defence.

Much like the first half, it was only four minutes in when Berkeley raised the score once again thanks to Moon. After Dylan Evans ran down the left side of the field and deflected Bellambi’s defence, he crossed the ball to Moon who placed the ball powerfully into the top right corner of the goals.

Once again in the 65^th minute, Evans crossed the ball in towards the goals from the right corner of the field as Moon was near the left post of the goal, he dived and headed the ball past Petty, successfully placing the ball in for his third goal for the match and fifth goal for the team.

With 25 minutes to go Bellambi attempted to raise the attack but unfortunately was unsuccessful and couldn’t get through Berkeley’s tight defence.

Four minutes later and Berkeley had another chance, as Gant passed a low ball to Tony Palialunga who ran the ball down the field, deflecting Bellambi’s Mitch Ramsey. Once he got past the defender, he shot a promising ball but it was unfortunately too wide. This was one of just a few chances for Brus to defend his goal, only touching the ball a handful of times.

The final goal for the match was taken in the 74^th minute as Rowlan crossed the ball from the left of the field to a waiting Palialunga who was about 20 yards out. Palialunga ran the ball up towards the goals and kicked it in, passing Petty once again.

It was an intense fixture, but it was evident that Berkeley was fighting hard for a win against the visiting side Bellambi, and managed to come out with 6-nil at the end of the game.

Sunday 7^th August, 3pm, Berkeley Sports Ground.

Referee: Aden Crawley

Assistant Referees: Gareth Jenkins, Joel Moy

Berkeley Sports: Josh Brus, Ben Hardcastle, Ryan Crouch, Justin Mears, Mathew Mears, Alex Perez, Dylan Evans, Chris Rowlan (4’), Tony Palialunga (74’), Jesse Gant (35’), Greg Moon (38’, 49’ 65’), Jon Adams, Dave De Oliveira, Adam Inskip, Claude De Alessia.

Bellambi: Jason Petty, Kynan Mathew, Matt McHugh, Mitch Ramsey, Mattias Passlack, Mathew Wallace, Aleksa Radic, Giancarlo Cevenini, James Young, Dylan Woods-Mackay, Connor Pontarolo, Daniel Pivovarski, Yuki Kanino, Ilija Babic, Steve Guest.

Report by Lauren Ferri (@lauren_ferri).

Photo by Pedro Garcia (library file)