Coniston leapt back into the top five of the WGC Cranes District League on Saturday with a convincing 3-1 win over relegation-threatened University. Two early goals from Jimmy Barrios and Adrian Nikolovski gave Coniston the start they needed to dominate from the whistle, with a second half goal from Dinko Terzic making sure of the three points.

The University keeper Gabriel Murphy made a couple of fine stops to keep the scoreline respectable before substitute Alex Coetzer got a late consolation for the students.

Speaking after the game, Coniston coach Willy Alarcon said he was pleased with his side’s quick start: “We know we have no room to move at the top if we are to play Finals football but the boys are motivated and it was good to score three times today.”

With Terzic and Nikolovski teaming up for the first time in many weeks, Coniston’s self-belief was visible from the start. And that belief was translated into a goal as early as the eighth minute.

Bradley Moreira sent the ball in from the right to the feet of Barrios, who was given time to compose himself before despatching a solid right foot from the edge of the area beyond Murphy’s reach into the bottom corner.

Terzic almost doubled the lead moments later as his curling shot from outside the box had Murphy diving to his left to tip the ball away for a corner.

But the home side’s energy and motivation soon paid dividends with the second goal coming in the 15^th minute. This time it was Barrios who played provider, picking out Nikolovski, who cut inside before unleashing a left foot shot that beat Murphy at the near post.

For the first half hour, it was one-way traffic with Coniston looking confident on the ball. The Nikolovski-Terzic team-up was a delight to watch, but Moreira was also key, working a one-two first with Nikolovski and then with Christian Plakias. In the 30^th minute Nikolovski found Terzic unmarked and in space on the edge of the area, but the shot floated tantalisingly wide of the upright.

The University back four were under the cosh and did well to keep the deficit to just two goals in the first forty five. Captain Scott Mawbey got his body in the way to block Terzic after the Coniston forward had seen off the attentions of two tackles and Lochlainn Ryan recovered well to clear off his own line after nearly scoring an own goal with his sliced clearance.

The visitors had little sight of goal in the opening half, their only real opportunities coming from set-pieces. They came closest in the 45^th minute when Dane Hamilton floated a free-kick into the area onto the head of Ryan whose effort found a deflection before flying inches over the crossbar.

But University upped their game in the second stanza and kept Coniston in check for much of the half. One chance went begging shortly after the restart when Cameron Hanson burst forward down the left and sent a ball in towards Nelson McLeod at the far post. For once Coniston keeper Cristofer Fuentes-Ramirez mistimed his leap, but McLeod failed to compose himself and put the ball wide. Then it was McLeod who set up University’s top scorer Luke Vandenbergh but he too couldn’t control his shot and that chance also went begging.

Just past the hour mark, Coniston made the students pay for those misses, with another clinical finish, though Terzic’s fine shot from the left side of the box took a heavy deflection before hitting the back of the net. At 3-0, it was game over. But Coniston still pressed for more.

Man of the Match Barrios forced a point-blank save out of Murphy, and substitute Matthew Tschentscher, who has scored ten goals at Youth Grade this season, looked keen to add to that tally for the senior side. He sent a header just wide with ten minutes to go.

In the 85^th minute, University finally made the scoresheet, when Coetzer bundled the ball home after Fuentes Ramirez had blocked his first effort from close range. And the Coniston keeper did well to deny Vandenbergh late on when the striker had been put through by Luke McCann.

Full-time 3-1.

University coach Brod Crighton acknowledged his side took too long to get into the game. “We gifted them two early goals, but they were hungrier, they pressed forward and they capitalised on our mistakes. In the second half we created chances but didn’t convert them.”

Looking ahead to a tough run in for his side, Crighton quipped: “When you’re second last, every game is tough!”

Coniston may have regained fifth spot with this win, but their final three fixtures could hardly be more challenging, with in-form Berkeley first and then back-to-back matches against the League’s top two. “There are no easy games in this league,” said Alarcon, “If we want to go into finals football, we’ll have to beat the best to be the best”.

 

Coniston – 3 (Barrios 8’, Nikolovski 15’, Terzic 67’)

University FC – 1 (Coetzer 85’)

Saturday 5 August 2017

JJ Kelly Park

Referee: John Ruscica

Assistant Referees: Emajen Crawley, Joel Nees

Coniston: Cristofer Fuentes Ramirez, Andrew Nanos, Matthew Cuda, Vasko Mitkovski, James Petreski, Franc Pierro, Christian Plakias (Djordje Uzelac 72’), Brad Moreira (Matthew Tschentscher 77’), Adrian Nikolovski, Dinko Terzic, Jimmy Barrios, (subs not used: Rory Evans, Denis Celik)

University: Gabriel Murphy, Liam Daley (Luke McCann 72’), Andrew Christie, Lochlainn Ryan, Scott Mawbey, Dane Hamilton, Ryan Kurtz, Cameron Hanson, Craig Hood (Alex Purvis 45’ – Alex Coetzer 68’), Nelson McLeod, Luke Vandenbergh (sub not used Kieran Georgievski)

 

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo: Pedro Garcia (Library Image)