Warilla Wanderers have continued their fine form with a dominant 4-1 victory over 4th placed Berkeley Sports at King Mickey Park on Saturday afternoon.

It is the Wanderer’s 5th win in a row and places the 2nd placed team on a collision course with the WGC Cranes District League leaders Corrimal Rangers next Saturday.

Berkeley Sports have had patchy form over the past few weeks, struggling to dispatch some of the stronger teams in the League and this was certainly the case on this away trip, struggling to enter the contest at any stage.

It took only 9 minutes for Warilla to please the home fans through the boot of striker Chris Smith. Smith got the ball at the top of the penalty box and was able to conjure a little space to send the ball hard and low to the right of the goals for the all-important opening goal.
Warilla continued to dictate proceedings from the goal, showing great patience in attack, very content to knock the ball around the field in the hope the Berkeley defence would open up and provide an opportunity.

A corner kick following an injury stoppage in the 25th minute was drilled towards the near post, and following a scramble the ball floated in the air to land at the perfect spot for Warilla’s Luke Everingham to nail the half volley into the top right corner to double the Wanderer’s lead.
There was a lack of genuine goalscoring opportunities for Berkeley throughout the opening half as Warilla was doing a fine job keeping them out of the fixture.

In the 31st minute courtesy of a Berkeley’s Dylan Evans free kick, the ball curved dangerously towards the far post but was defended away high, allowing Berkeley striker Tony Paglialunga a difficult chance at the volley from outside the penalty box, but it was struck left of the goals.
At half-time the score was 2-0 to the home team, with it appearing a very difficult task for the Berkeley squad to muster the energy and creativity to challenge the impressive Wanderers.

As the second half commenced a period of messiness entered proceedings, with fouls and niggle beginning to take control of the fixture and Warilla losing their composure with the ball at foot.
In the 54th minute Berkeley’s Tony Paglialunga had another difficult volley opportunity that was again steered wide unfortunately for the travelling Berkeley Sports fans.

In the 58th minute Warilla in search of their third goal to ice the game, saw Chris Smith latch onto a Chad Keating ball and travel towards the penalty area, to strike the ball wide and right of the goals past the rushing Berkeley goalkeeper Josh Brus.

It took until the 67th minute for Warilla to finally ice the game off. A corner kick from Javier Ovando found Ryan Hunter hulking around the penalty spot who directed the ball off the head to Martin Castelli at the far post who had no trouble finishing the goal past the goalkeeper for the third goal of the fixture.

Berkeley Sports had not given up with Chris Rowlan handling a waist high volley in the penalty box with ease, looping the ball over the rushing goalkeeper from his left boot for Berkeley to make their mark on the scoresheet and game in the 74th minute.

Berkeley sprang to life, with a little more zip in attack hoping to create a result out of the tough fixture and began dictating territory in attack.

This all ended in the 85th minute, when Berkeley goalkeeper Josh Brus travelled out of his penalty area in the ball in the hope of creating an attack but misdirected the pass to Chad Keating, who had no trouble stopping the ball and sending the long range strike crashing into the back of the net.
The final scoreline was4-1 to the dominant home Warilla Wanderers side.

Warilla Wanderers will host the table-topping Corrimal Rangers next Saturday at King Micky Park, which is a must win game for the Wanderers if they are to maintain any hope of topping the WGC Cranes District League for season 2016.

Berkeley Sports will travel to Koolobong Oval to battle University FC next Saturday, with ‘The Students’ left reeling following a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Thirroul Thunder.

Saturday 25 June, 2016

King Mickey Park


Warilla Wanderers 4 (Smith 9’, Everingham 25’, Castelli 67’, Keating 85’)

Berkeley Sports 1 (Rowlan 74’)

 

Warilla Wanderers:

Bradley Hunter, Toni Anastoski, Ryan Hunter, John Hagenaar, Jason Goldsmith, Luke Everingham, Martin Castelli, Chad Keating, Bojan Caric, Javier Ovando (Adrian Montalbano 86’), Chris Smith (Luke Greathead 77’).


 

Berkeley Sports:

Josh Brus, John Muscat (Dave De Oliviera 77’), Ryan Crouch, Justin Mears, Matt Mears, Dylan Evans, Alex Perez, Chris Rowlan, Jess Gant, Tony Paglialunga, Greg Moon



Report by Daniel McGookin

Twitter: @mcgoookin93


Photo: Pedro Garcia (library archive)