Thirroul Thunder got their season off to a great start with a commanding three-nil victory over Balgownie on Friday.

Thirroul’s desire to control the match was made clear from the outset, with Balgownie’s backs finding blue players all over them, and their forwards unable to find an attacking pattern with a pressurised Thirroul defence.

Thirroul’s Dan Arthur created endless problems for Balgownie in the mid-field, consistently beating his defenders to the loose ball and giving his forwards a great deal of space to work with in the first half.

Balgownie’s issues were not helped by their lack of competition for the ball, and when their forward passing missed the mark, Thirroul would pounce and immediately place them again on the back foot.

Thirroul’s first notch on the scoreboard came mid-way through the first half off some fantastic attacking shape and a great one-two by Mathew Kellond and Luke Mittwollen.

Balgownie lifted their intensity and managed to find some good quality ball in their hopes to equalise, but it wasn’t enough to withstand Thirroul’s relentless counter-attack, which again thanks to some brilliant setup by Ryan Latini, allowed Mittwollen to find the net from a deft header.

Balgownie’s problems continued in the second half as loose passing and a lack of defensive intensity forced them to back-peddle and allow Thirroul easy territory.

Thirroul seemed to want to put another point on the board despite their handsome lead, their attacking plays producing one close-miss after another.

Balgownie had not yet given up though, and managed to work themselves into enough possession to be able to produce a few opportunities of their own.

But with Thirroul’s forwards enjoying vast amounts of space and time in the Balgownie goal area, another goal was inevitable, and it duly came mid-way through the second half from a corner kick which Mittwollen, to cap off a fantastic individual effort in the game, put it away from in close to leave the score at 3-nil.

With such a hefty advantage, Thirroul seemed happy to wait the clock down from that point, leaving Balgownie to try and scrape together some dignity in their loss.

But even after having essentially won the game at the 70^th minute, Thirroul were remorseless in pursuing every missed pass that Balgownie produced, disallowing their opponents even the small comfort of a consolation point.

 

Thirroul – 3 – (Mittwollen, 3)

Balgownie - 0

 

By Oliver Chaseling