Port Kembla showed a great deal of resilience in coming from behind twice before overcoming Tarrawanna three goals to two in a tight encounter at Tarrawanna Oval on the weekend.

The win gave the Zebra's back to back wins for the first time this season and kept up their slim hopes of finals appearance at season's end.

The opening exchanges were fairly even but it was the home side that took the lead ten minutes into the game with influential playmaker, Ricky Goodchild heavily involved.

Goodchild picked up the ball 40 metres inside the Port defensive half of the field and his surging run saw him move unchallenged to a point where he was able to get a low drive away from just inside the penalty area. His effort was well hit low to Goalkeeper Daniel Farina's left with the custodian getting down well but only succeeded in parrying the ball down into the path of the onrushing Jacob Fryday, who was able pick up the crumbs and slot home from close range.

Tarrawanna had a little bit of momentum at this point and four minutes later after a neat passage of play, the dangerous Sangyu Park unleashed a strike with some venom from the edge of the penalty area which just skimmed the wrong side of the woodwork.

After that bit of a let off, Port were stung into action and on there next foray into 'enemy' territory Doug Woodiwiss had a shot on target from just outside the opposing penalty area,with the effort destined for the top corner, Tarrawanna's Keeper, David Hamilton was called into action with a great flying save tipping the ball away for a corner.

From the ensuing set piece, there was somewhat of a scramble in and around the Bluey's six yard box where the ball fell invitingly to Port Kembla's Peter Richardson (right sided defender who is always up in the danger zone for set pieces - height) but his shot on the turn was well wide of the target.

Richardson is a big asset to Port Kembla especially when he gets forward down the right flank at every opportunity and on 27 minutes he almost had the equaliser when the visitor's left fullback, Adrian Nikolovski made a timely run down the left flank. You don't often see two fullbacks bombing down the wings simultaneously but Nickolovski's deep cross measured to perfection, found Richardson in support at the far post where the tall defender's header went just wide of the mark.

The next time Richardson got forward (37th minute) Port Kembla were back on level terms. He chased a long ball through to the bye line whereupon he cut the ball back to the just outside the six yard box where Nicholas Hardy was lurking in space and the makeshift striker made no mistake with his header at the gaping goal.

Two minutes later, the same combination was at it again bit this time, Hardy was unable to get enough purchase on his header with Hamilton gathering safely underneath his crossbar.

With honours fairly even in the opening half, the hosts almost went to the break with their noses in front. Bradley Welch picked up the ball near the touchline and played a delightful pass into the path of Goodchild whose run in a similar incision early in the half took him into a postion whereby one would expect him to find the net but on this occasion from 15 metres he failed to test Farina with the shot going wide of the target.

That was the last piece of action with the two teams going to the interval, honours even on the field and the scoreboard as well.

Within 60 seconds of the re-start, Tarrawanna took the lead with the very first attack of the half. They worked the ball forward well and when the speedy Welch made a run inside the Port penalty area he was upended by Carlo Stella giving Referee Steve Bozic a straight forward decision to award a penalty kick. Goodchild took the responsibility with the free shot and made no mistake when he sent Farina the wrong way.

At the moment, Goodchild is the heartbeat of this Tarrawanna side and he appears to be the architect of the vast majority of the Bluey's attacking raids on a weekly basis. He was at it again four minutes after his penalty when he tried his luck from distance but his swerving effort was well wide of the jackpot on this occasion.

On 68 minutes, parity on the scoreboard was restored and this equaliser came from the penalty spot also. A high through ball was played in towards the Tarrawanna penalty area where the Bluey's Sam Chapple was adjusted to have fouled a Port Kembla player despite the protests from the Tarrawanna players.

Once, the conversations abated, Joeseph Lavalle stepped up, he too sent the Keeper the wrong way and found the back of the net with aplomb.

With the score at 2-2, the better of the remaining 20 minutes belonged to Port Kembla with all the notable half chances happening at the Blueys end of the field and it was from one of these chances that the visitors were able to conjure up a winner.

On a number of occasions during the game, especially in the second stanza, Port had been using a long throw in, taken by Brooklyn Frkovic, as a set piece when deep in the attacking third of the field. Generally, there was not too much alarm from these 'sorties' but with six minutes left of normal time Port struck gold.
Another of these throw ins caused panic in the Tarrawanna defence with a bit of scramble taking place before the ball fell invitingly to Jarryd Vinton who was able to turn and hammer home the winner from just outside the six yard box to send the players and away supporters delirious.

What was most interesting about this piece of play was that PK Coach, Stuart Beedie had held up the throw in question to make a substitution and you guessed it, the sub that came on was Vinton who scored with his very first touch.

The remaining play was fairly routine with no real goal mouth action with Port Kembla running out deserved winners on the day.

After the match, Beedie was taking all the credit for his master stroke (substitution) adding that it was the second week in a row that one of his substitutions had paid instant dividends.

The Master Coach was happy with the fact that his side had been able to record back to back wins for the first time this season and was quick to point out that he felt the team had played well for most of the season without having a great deal of luck - today some of the breaks came their way.

He further mentioned that he was pleased with the way his team played in the second half and he believed that they were deserving of the three points over the 90 minutes.

It is not the first time that Tarrawanna have given away points this season by conceding a goal late in the contest. Only last week, Albion Park WE were able to find a winner with virtually the last kick of the game and other games prior to that one late goals have proved costly and very frustrating for Caoch Peter Willis and his players.

 

Match Stats

 

Tarrawanna 2 (Jacob Fryday 10', Rick Goodchild pen 46') 

Port Kembla 3 (Nicholas Hardy 37', Joseph Lavalle 68', Jarryd Vinton 84')

 

Tarrawanna Oval, Tarrawanna

 

Referee: Steve Bozic 

Assistant Referees: Gareth Jenkins & Thomas Kentta

 

Tarrawanna: David Hamilton, Allister Carrigan, Bryce Dolinscak, Daniel Chapman, Jake Morlando, Samuel Chapple, Jacob Fryday, Rick Goodchild, Sangyu Park, Bradley Welch, Samuel Isabella.

Subs not Used: Trent Thompson, Joshua Brown, Benjamin Learmonth, Mitchell Young.

Yellow Cards: David Hamilton 67'.

 

Port Kembla: Daniel Farina, Peter Richardson, Adrian Nickolovski, Brooklyn Frkovic, Carlo Stella, Justin Potter, Joseph Lavalle, Douglas Woodiwiss (Jarryd Vinton 83'), Nicholas Hardy (Blake Coates 75'), Mathew Werakaso, Takao Terramoto (Sandy Lowcock 86').

Subs not Used: Ryan Franks

Yellow Cards: Nil.

 

Report by David Naylor
Photo by Pedro Garcia