After an extraordinary amount of rainfall throughout the preseason, the District League Fraternity Cup final was finally played on a notably sunny Easter Monday. The final pitted two sides who had dominant displays en route to the decider. Fernhill came second in their group but drew their group winners Thirroul in the semi-final before thumping them 4-1 taking their Cup goal tally to 11. Coniston produced three wins to top their group before knocking six past Warilla in the semi-final. With over a month between the semi-finals and the decider, the league has got underway and the preseason form of both clubs continues with Coniston and Fernhill sitting first and second on the table.

The two sides combined for 23 goals in the earlier stages of the competition and within five minutes Fernhill had the first golden opportunity. Kolan Hmda played a lofted ball into the box for an unmarked Marc Sergi to the left of the goal. Sergi controlled the ball before hitting a shot towards the far post forcing a spectacular save from goalkeeper Alex Makin.

It was not long after Fernhill took the lead. Foxes' playmaker Toby Napper had room to manoeuvre in the middle of the park, putting in a delightful dink over the Coniston back line for Andrew Breslin to run onto and fire home from the edge of the area. The shot was hit with such ferocity that Makin had little chance of stopping it from smashing into the back of the net.

Despite the early setback, Coniston remained in the tussle and had two half chances around the 20th-minute mark. The first was a loose ball that popped up for Dinko Terzic to blaze over the bar before Franc Piero dribbled through on goal with Fernhill defender Julian Cesta-Incani putting in a last-ditch challenge to deny a shot.

In the ten minutes before half-time, Brett Kear had two excellent chances to increase Fernhill’s advantage. The first was a header from a Dean Morosin cross which drifted to the right of the post, and then Mitch Turner flicked on a headed through ball for Kear to run onto, one on one with Makin the striker scuffed his shot to the right of the goal.

Fernhill went into the interval with a one-goal advantage after a lacklustre first period. The Foxes had their opportunities to have a healthier advantage and Coniston were still in touch despite not playing to their full potential.

Coniston started the stronger in the second half and three minutes in Jimmy Barrios had a chance. The winger pondered with the ball on the outskirts of the Fernhill box before darting in, beating a defender and unleashing a shot. The goal bound hit deflected off a defender into the post and out for a corner. A spark from the winger who was unlucky not to have drawn his side level.

In the 55th minute, Coniston came within inches of an equaliser. Coniston had a free-kick from near the corner flag, the whipped cross found Patrik Susnja lurking at the far post. Susnja knocked a header inside the near post but the Foxes were given a lifeline through youngster Lachlan O’Gorman who was able to head the ball off the line and out for a corner.

The only other chance of note came with six minutes to go. Fernhill produced some decent link-up play with the ball finding Scott Muilwyk ten metres out from goal only for the midfielder to volley the shot well over the bar.

Coniston continued to toil but failed to make inroads into the well-structured Fernhill defence. The match finishing Fernhill 1 Coniston 0 and the first piece of silverware for the season going to the Foxes. After the match, Fernhill boss Dan McGoldrick praised his side's defence who have not conceded in over 360 minutes of football, “Once again our defence was outstanding,” and he credits the record to his players being able to deny time and space for the opposition to play football. Willy Alarcon, the coach of Coniston spoke of his side's motivation to bounce back, “If anything, this [defeat] is going to spur this team on to even greater heights.”

There is no let off for these two sides who are in pursuit of District League glory with both sides back in action on Saturday. Fernhill plays hosts to a Bellambi side with a new lease on life after two creditable results and Coniston travel to battle hardened Thirroul knowing a defeat could see the early frontrunners drop to third. Both matches kickoff at 3 pm.

Post match interviews with the two coaches - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/post-match-interviews-after-the-foxes-claim-the-fraternity-cup

 

Fernhill Foxes - 1 (Breslin 8’)

Coniston FC - 0

 

Monday April 17th at Memorial Park, Corrimal

Fernhill Foxes - Brad Hunter, Anthony Oliver, Julian Cesta-Incani, Dale White, Ryan Hunter, Kolan Hmda, Scott Muilwyk, Marc Sergi, Andrew Breslin, Toby Napper and Dean Morosin

Subs - Luke McDonald, Lachlan O’Gorman, Mitch Turner, Hiroki Makita and Brett Kear

Coach - Dan McGoldrick

 

Coniston FC - Alex Makin, Patrik Susnja, Ryan Vandenberg, Vas Mitkovski, Matt Cuda, Dusan Kolonja, Brad Moreira, Franc Piero, Adrian Blazevski, Dinko Terzic and Jimmy Barrios

Subs - Lorri Manfredi, Antas Simonovski, Matt Stojanovski, Jorge Alarcon and Andrew Nanos

Coach - Willy Alarcon

 

Referee - Greg Reid

Assistant Referees - Caleb Blanch and Emajen Crawley (4th Official - Lottie Cabassi-Power)

Note - Unlimited interchange in Fraternity Cup matches

 

Report by Dylan Arvela on Twitter @dylanarvela
Photos by Kiah Hufton