Albion Park White Eagles put recent results behind them with a clinical 5-1 demolition of local rivals Shell Cove on Saturday afternoon. Kotaro Higashi shone for the White Eagles, scoring two himself in the first half and setting up his side’s fourth, with the unlucky Goran Nikolovski steering the ball into his own net. Two Japanese team mates joined Higashi on the scoresheet: with Shohei Okuno opening the score early on and substitute Riku Iwauchi rounding things off with the fifth in injury time.

For White Eagles coach Jeff Allport, it was a relief to bounce back quickly from last week’s defeat. “The way we lost last week affected our confidence a bit, but this result shows it was a one-off. It was important to respond to such a result quickly and we did.”

In sharp contrast, Shell Cove coach Paul Carter was disappointed with his players’ performance: “We didn’t turn up today. We weren’t mentally strong enough and we were punished.” Kurdvan Abduljabbar scored the visitors’ only goal of the afternoon.

There were goals aplenty in a lively first half.

Albion Park took the lead as early as the seventh minute when playmaker Okuno, back from injury, swung a free kick past the Shell Cove wall, squeezing the ball in at the near post out of Adam Rodriguez’s reach in the visitors’ goal.

But Shell Cove were back in it less than five minutes later. Jordan Hassiem pulled the ball back from the byline into the path of Abduljabbar whose diving header flew past White Eagles keeper Bryce Daenell at the near post.

Abduljabbar almost gave his side the lead moments later but Daenell was good enough this time to keep the ball out. Shell Cove were playing some attractive football at this stage, with some quickfire passing, but also not afraid to use the full width of the pitch with long balls to switch from one flank to the other. The offside flag frustrated many of their moves, though, and their forwards were not seeing much of the ball.

In the 27^th minute, against the run of play, the White Eagles earned a penalty, when Darren Jones sent a lobbed ball into the area from half way, and Shannon Fielding was impeded while trying to control the ball. Daniel Dafkovski stepped up to take the spot kick, but Rodriguez guessed right and kept the ball out, making a double save when Dafkovski followed up in an effort to make amends for his poor penalty.

In the moments that followed, Shell Cove had their best chances of the half. Abduljabbar threaded the ball through to Daniel Vellonio down the left. Vellonio sent in a cross looking for Jonathan Barzel in front of goal, but Peter Prandalos got back just in time to clear.

And then veteran Ljupco Naumovski sent a ball forward from the half way line, but seeing two of his forwards in offside positions should they have become involved in the move, Naumovski chose to charge forward into the area himself, forcing an excellent block from Daenell to keep the scores level.

For this first half hour of the match, the teams were well-balanced, with Shell Cove slightly edging the home side in terms of possession and chances. But once the visitors had gone behind for the second time, they crumpled and never looked like getting back into it.

It was in the 37^th minute that Albion Park took the lead.

Dafkovski sent a long ball wide out to Justin Cario on the wing. Cario drove the ball into the area, where Fielding took a swing at the ball, but missed, but his action was enough to distract the Shell Cove defenders who left Higashi free to pick up possession and fire the ball home for a 2-1 lead.

Three minutes later, Higashi got his second, this time running onto a superb through ball from Vaughan Patterson and driving it past Rodriguez for 3-1.

Suddenly the Shell Cove defence looked ragged, and if it had not been for Nikolovksi’s presence of mind in his own area, another two goals could have gone in before the break. As it was, right on half time, it was the woodwork that saved Shell Cove’s blushes, as Higashi came inches away from completing his hat-trick.

But there was more of the same immediately after the restart. It was Higashi again who powered into the area, forcing a double save at the near post from a bust Rodriguez in the Shell Cove goal.

As the game drifted, Paul Carter tried to shift things around up front for Shell Cove, but there was no way through the solid White Eagles defence, and it was always the home side that looked more likely to score again.

Rodriguez got down well to keep out an Okuno effort with fifteen minutes remaining, but it was not long before the inevitable happened. Once again it was Higashi in the thick of the action, pulling the ball back from the byline. Nikolovski misjudged his headed clearance and instead of going for a corner, the unlucky defender had to watch as the ball went into the back of the net for the White Eagles’ fourth.

As the game fizzled out, one player on the Shell Cove side never gave up. Vellonio earned his side a penalty with eight minutes remaining, but Daenell got down to keep the spot kick out, the penalty miss just adding to Nikolovski’s miserable afternoon.

And then Vellonio won another free kick 25 metres out. Abduljabbar got the ball past the wall but Daenell was once again good enough, diving low to his left to keep the ball out.

But the final word, inevitably, went to the White Eagles. With two minutes of added time already played, Dafkovski fired a free kick towards goal, Rodriguez managed to parry it, but only into the path of substitute Iwauchi, who pounced and prodded home for the final nail in Shell Cove’s coffin.

Allport had nothing but praise for his man of the match Higashi: “He deserved a hat-trick today, constantly putting himself about and find the gaps. Great to watch.”

 

Albion Park White Eagles – 5 (Okuno 7’, Higashi 37’, 40’, Nikolovski o.g. 79’, Iwauchi 90’ + 2’)

Shell Cove – 1 (Abduljabbar 11’)

Saturday 14 May 2016

Terry Reserve

Referee: Peter Ilcevski

Assistant referees: Gareth Jenkins, Mark Ginsburg

Albion Park White Eagles: Bryce Daenell, Justin Cario, Mark Every, Daniel Dafkovski, Peter Prandalos, Vaughan Patterson, Mitch Del Turco (Riku Iwauchi 76’), Darren Jones, Shannon Fielding, Shohei Okuno (Rocco Domine 80’), Kotaro Higashi (subs not used: Grant Wilson, Fabian Capetta, Lachlan Ahling)

Shell Cove FC: Adam Rodriguez, Ryan Vanderburg, Goran Nikolovski, Nathan Macgraw, Ljupco Naumovski, Daniel Vellonio, Shohei Arakawa, Lucas Rossi, Jonathan Barzel, Kurdvan Abduljabbar, Jordan Hassiem (Kazuhiro Obata 57’) (subs not used: Filip Angeleski, Alexander Crane, Jake Waterman, Chris Kouros)

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton