Bulli edged out a hungry Albion Park 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, in front of their home crowd at Balls Paddock.

Albion Park came out firing in the first half, proving tough to handle for Bulli, who had some initial worries in their attempts to move the ball forward in the first 20 minutes.

Bulli’s early attacking efforts were disjointed against Albion Park’s solid defence, who were able to counter-attack quickly thanks to some excellent foot-work from Shohei Okuno.

After a shaky start, Bulli were able to start making some solid attempts at goal by controlling possession in the mid-field and using that as a base to compose their attack.

Albion Park, unable to capitalise on their early dominance, found the precision of their tackling beginning to slip midway through the first half.

Bulli made their first mark on the scoreboard after Julian Minutillo beat the keeper one-on-one to find the net with ten minutes left in the first half.

A great save from Bulli’s Yuya Kuwata in goals only moments later, kept Bulli with their noses in front leading into the second half.

In the second half, Albion Park made a repeat effort of their performance in the first, coming out strong and competing fiercely for the ball, only to have their pace matched by Bulli, who presented themselves with more composure as they gradually seized control of the mid-field.

Tempers flared under the similarly hot conditions, as Albion Park found that they were missing the mark in their tackles, and subsequently on the wrong side of the ref’s whistle.

But the game still could’ve gone either way at that point, with two extremely good saves from Kuwata in Bulli’s goal, closely followed by a number of valiant saves by Bryce Daenell for Albion Park.

The luck eventually went against Albion Park, who gave away a free kick which was well dispatched by Dylan Lewis, who put the home team 2-nil up with fifteen minutes remaining.

For the second time in the match, Albion Park lost touch with the competition for the ball, with their opposite numbers frequently finding space to attack through the mid-field.

Albion Park rallied to overcome the pressure that Bulli were still maintaining, and with minutes to spare they found themselves with a free-kick of their own with Okuno putting it away brilliantly to bring them within striking distance in the final moments.

But despite a couple of late opportunities for Albion Park, Bulli were able to absorb the pressure and take the match 2-1 at full-time.    

 

Premier League

2/4/16

Balls Paddock, Woonoona

Bulli FC – 2 (Minutillo, Lewis)

Albion Park White Eagles – 1 (Okuno)

Bulli – Kuwata, Naylor, Best, Takahashi, Knight, Kerr, Zoomers, Davies, Lewis, McDonald, Minutillo (Fish, Baker, Emerton, Clements, Oliveira)

Albion Park – Daenell, Fielding, Every, Prandalos, Nathaniel, Paterson, Del Turco, Dafkovski, Balmforth, Okuno, McRae (Ovando, Wilson, Jones, Higashi, Ahling)

By Oliver Chaseling
Picture by Pedro Garcia