Memorial Park played host to the Fraternity Cup clash between the two sides at the bottom of Pool 1. Wests Illawarra’s valiant draw against Thirroul last time out meant they still had a slim chance of progressing to the semi-finals. Balgownie, who had lost their opening 2 matches were simply playing for momentum.

The Rangers got off to a tremendous start when 4 minutes in Anthony Vardareff played Zeyad Maarbani through on goal. A composed Maarbani swiped it across the Wests’ goalkeeper into the bottom right corner.

Balgownie’s bright start nearly came undone in the 7th minute when Wests’ attacker Nick Tortorella latched onto a long ball forcing a save from Aaron Tambakis.

Balgownie dominated the ball, playing with confidence not apparent in their opening matches. Their next big opportunity was for Vardareff in the 25th minute. He found himself just outside the left side of the 6-yard box and his shot forced Kyle Booth into action, parrying the goal-bound shot out for a corner.

The key part of Balgownie’s first half dominance was the work rate of holding midfielder, Jackson Dummett who continuously broke up Wests’ play.

As the first half was coming to an end, a dominant half from Balgownie became unstuck when Wests pulled level. Godfrey Franco played Nathan Puljic down the left channel before he cut back to Jake Bailey to finish from the middle of the 18-yard box. This had the score at 1-1 at the interval.

It would have been easy for Balgownie to start the second half deflated however in the 39th they went retook the lead through Vardareff. The number 11 received the ball on the left edge of the 18-yard box before curling it over the outstretched goalkeeper into the right side netting.

Within 2 minutes Wests equalised for the second time in the match. Nick Kougios scuffed a shot from inside the left corner of the 18-yard box, the strike fell short of Tambakis but the bounce beat him at his near post. The Balgownie keeper was clearly upset with his error.

The game's momentum switched with Balgownie struggling to regain control. Dummett, who had done well in the heart of the Rangers midfield in the first half was now playing further forward and his teammates were not able to replicate his work.

Wests had 2 fantastic chances come the 53rd minute; first came from freekick 40 metres out, a lofted ball found the head of Bailey who knocked it over the bar then he had a distance strike forcing Tambakis into a good save to his left.

In the 58th minute, there was a scramble in the Wests’ penalty box which saw 2 Balgownie shots blocked. Wests were unable to clear and Dummett was able to put his foot on the ball before blasting it into the roof of Jordan Timpano’s goal.

With 10 minutes to go Balgownie nearly put it out of Wests reach when Keiran Duggan surged around the Wests defence, however, he was unable to gain full control of the ball and his tame shot was easily dealt with by Timpano.

Wests toiled for an equaliser in the closing stages but the closest they came was a speculative grasscutter from Nick Kougios that went to the left of the post with a minute on the clock.

The match finished 3-2 to Balgownie meaning both sides are now out of the Fraternity Cup. There were plenty of positives for Balgownie with a strong first half display along with their ability to overcome 2 Wests equalisers.

Next up for Balgownie is an away match against University in the Bert Bampton Cup next Saturday at 2:30 pm. As for Wests, they will play hosts to Berkeley in the Cup next Saturday at 2 pm.

 

Sunday March 12th - Memorial Park

 

Wests Illawarra 2 (Bailey, Kougios)

Balgownie Rangers 3 (Maarbani, Vardareff, Dummett)

 

Wests Illawarra - Kyle Booth, Luke Melkerts, Alex Riddle, Ben Sallabank, Godfrey Franco, Jake Bailey, Nick Tortorella, Joey Yousiff, Paul Burleigh, Daniel Boyd, Chris Twigg

Subs - Diego Andrade, Nick Kougios, Nathan Puljic, Jordan Timpano

 

Balgownie Rangers - Aaron Tambakis, Matthew Bubb, Ben Kearton, Lachlan Veney, Johnathon McCreay, Jim Youssef, Zayad Maarbani, Kyle Ingram, Kieran Duggan, Jackson Dummett, Anthony Vardareff

Subs - Sebastion Dallas, Adam Caruso, Kurt Dorahy, Peter Katsoudas

 

Referee - Gareth Jenkins

Assistant Referees - Andrew Naylor, Dean Moreira

Note - Unlimited interchange and 35 minute halves in Fraternity Cup matches.

 

Report by Dylan Arvela @dylaneloiarvela