A healthy crowd was present at JJ Kelly Park to witness Coniston's return to District League. Coniston had been the highlight of the preseason, storming to the Fraternity Cup final while their opponents, Balgownie struggled for consistency. These differing preseason fortunes weren't apparent with a single goal edging the tie in Coniston's favour.

Coniston had the first goal-scoring opportunity 3 minutes in when new club captain, Frank Pierro played Dinko Terzic through on goal. The number 10 rounded the keeper but his effort lacked the quality he showed throughout the preseason with the ball hitting the side netting.

This lack of quality was not apparent in the 15th minute when Terzic found a pocket of space 30 metres out from goal. The former South Coast United forward unleashed a stunning strike into the top left corner. This put Coniston up 1-0 to the joy of the partisan spectators.

Despite the goal, Balgownie slowly began to impose themselves on Coniston with their direct play causing issues for the home side's defensive structure. In the 29th minute, key Ranger, Anthony Vardareff worked enough space 15 metres out from goal for a shot forcing Alex Makin to make a smart save low to his right.

Terzic regularly dropped into midfield to pick up the ball and in the 32nd minute, he played Corri Manfredi into the right side of the Balgownie box. The right-winger wastefully blazed his shot over.

In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Balgownie had 2 excellent chances to draw level. First, Sebastian Dallas had the ball cut back to him from the right of the box. His tap-in attempt was somehow saved by Makin. The second, only a minute later came from a goal-bound shot by Matthew McCoy, the shot took a deflection en route but Makin was there to meet it. Unable to hold on, the ball came out to a Balgownie attacker who poked it towards goal only for the Coniston custodian to force it out for a corner.

The score was 1-0 at half-time with Coniston just holding on thanks to their man up front and man between the sticks.

Coniston was the stronger of the sides in the opening stages of the second half. In the 50th minute, Piero had a curling effort from 20 metres out but Aaron Tambakis judged the strike well, claiming the slippery ball.

A couple of minutes later, Adrian Nikolovski who had been substituted on at half time nearly grabbed his side's second when he cut in from the right of the box, beat two players but his drive was directed into the keeper's arms.

In the 60th minute, promising youngster Bradley Moreira showed his confidence when he attempted an outrageous lob from 30 metres out. Tambakis was scrambling back to his line and Balgownie was fortunate the shot just crept over the crossbar.

The game began to turn into a scrap, stereotypical of an early season fixture. The two sides traded blows with a number of niggling fouls that saw Moreira and Andrew Nanos receive bookings for Coniston as well as McCoy for the Rangers.

Vardareff was the main source of inspiration for Balgownie and his energy on the right flank was causing Coniston concern. But come the 75th minute, Vardareff pulled up with severe cramp, ending his involvement in the match.

Despite this Balgownie continued to toil and with 90 seconds remaining the Rangers nearly equalised through Dallas whose forceful shot made Makin produce another solid stop, securing Coniston the 3 points.

After the match, Balgownie coach, James Dummett felt his side was in the contest, "I thought we did very well, I thought the game was pretty evenly matched and we had some very very good chances."

From the winning side, Coniston boss, Willy Alarcon said the conditions played a key role in his side struggling to replicate their free-flowing attack style, "The ... conditions made it really tough to play the way we like to play."

When asked about his number 1, easily the man of the match, Alarcon said he told Makin at halftime, "I'm not going to give you too much praise because you're doing your job ... you kept your team in the game," tough praise indeed from the Coniston taskmaster.

The surface at JJ Kelly Park was top class considering the heavy rain in recent weeks, and Alarcon noted the hard work of his club's volunteers and the money invested into the pitch, "Because at the end of the day they want to see good football."

Next up for Balgownie is a home clash against Wests Illawarra who are coming off a 8-1 demolition of Bellambi. This match kicks off next Saturday at 3 pm. As for Coniston, they have a chance to go 2 from 2 when they face Kiama away next Saturday at 3 pm. Kiama's match against Fernhill was washed out.

 

Coniston FC - 1 (Terzic 15')

Balgownie Rangers - 0

 

Saturday March 25th 2017 at JJ Kelly Park, Coniston

Coniston FC - Alex Makin, Andrew Nanos, Vasko Mithauski, Rory Evans, Patrik Susnja, Dusan Kolonja, Bradley Moreira, Franc Pierro, Corri Manfredi, Dinko Terzic, James Stewart

Subs - Adrian Nikolovski (on for Manfredi 45'), James Petreski, Jonathon Liddle, Ryan Vandenberg (on for Kolonja 30')

 

Balgownie Rangers - Aaron Tambakis, Matthew Bubb, Benjamin Kearton, Lachlan Veney, Matthew McCoy, Kurt Dorahy, Sebastian Dallas, James Yousseff, Keiran Duggan, Jackson Dummett, Anthony Vardareff

Subs - Nicholas Morgan (on for Dorahy 62'), Kyle Ingram (on for Duggan 45'), Johnathan McCreay, Zeyad Maarbani (on for Vardareff 75')

 

Referee - Blake Herbert

Assistant referees - Gareth Jenkins and Micheal Riquelme

 

You can listen to the full interview with Willy Alarcon here - https://soundcloud.com/dylaneloiarvela/coniston-coach-willy-alarcon-after-round-1-win-over-balgownie

 

You can listen to the full interview with James Dummett here - https://soundcloud.com/dylaneloiarvela/balgownie-boss-james-dummett-after-defeat-to-coniston

 

Report and photo by Dylan Arvela @dylaneloiarvela