Coniston travelled to Ray Robinson Field with it all still to play for going into the final round of the 2017 WGC Cranes District League season. After losing 2-1 to Warilla last round, the side found themselves sitting in sixth place, with Oak Flats overtaking the side after the Falcons beat Wests Illawarra 6-1 to move up into the final finals spot holding a one-point lead over Coniston.

The scenario was simple for Coniston – a win for them and an Oak Flats draw or loss would mean they make the finals. However, standing in their way was Fernhill, a side who walked to the minor premiership and had only dropped nine points all season. The side had labored to a 1-1 draw against Balgownie last round, but having secured the minor premiership some weeks ago, the Foxes had very little to play for in the final rounds of the regular season.

Coniston kicked the match off with intent, dominating the early stages of the match as they attempted to take an early lead, and just five minutes in their efforts were rewarded. A fantastic cross from Adrian Nikolovski forced action from Fernhill keeper Brad Hunter, yet his efforts were a little too late as Nikolovski’s cross was met by the head of Bradley Moreira, whose redirection of the ball bounced past Hunter and into the net before either of the two remaining Fernhill defenders on the line could react to the situation.

Despite the visitors taking an early lead, Coniston sought to build on their lead with a second goal to further push along their chances of sneaking into the finals and after a few fantastic center balls from Coniston’s Jimmy Barrios, a chance was finally converted just after the 17-minute mark, with Moreira getting on the receiving end of a Barrios center-ball and slotting the ball to the right of Hunter to give Coniston a 2-0 lead within the opening twenty minutes.

Coniston would continue to press and attempt to build their lead, and the side would almost add a third goal to their score after a Jimmy Barrios attempt from outside the Fernhill box went just a little too far above the crossbar. But as the first half wore on, Fernhill began to become more comfortable in the match and began to push forward, with Mitch Turner coming agonizingly close to pulling one back through a one-on-one, but was denied at the final hurdle by a great rush from Coniston keeper Cristofer Fuentes Ramirez.

The home side would finally secure a vital goal just on the stroke of half-time, when Fernhill were awarded a penalty after Ramirez collided with Andrew Paine in the box as they both leapt to take control of an incoming cross. Paine would convert the penalty with a smartly placed shot into the bottom left corner to ensure that Fernhill would go into the break only one goal down.

As the second half got underway, Fernhill continued to move into the game and begin to threaten Coniston on a more regular basis, with Ryan Hunter coming close to equalizing twelve minutes into the second half with a powerful shot after being released on goal by Toby Napper, however Hunter’s shot went over the crossbar. However, Coniston would continue to push and attempt to score a goal that would greatly help them lock in a win, however many of their attacks fell apart in the final third as crosses from Adrian Nikolovski and Jimmy Barrios failed to find a target.

With Fernhill pushing and getting numerous shots at goal, it could be assumed that something would come of it, and Foxes fans could be forgiven for celebrating heavily in the 75^th minute after a fantastic shot from Mitch Turner curled around Coniston keeper Cristofer Fuentes Ramirez to apparently level the score, but Coniston were saved by the flag of the assistant referee, who spotted Turner standing in an offside position when he received the ball from Andrew Paine.

Yet Fernhill were refusing to give up, and this push would finally garner results just six minutes after Turner’s offside goal, with Matt Richardson easily managing to slot the ball past Ramirez after receiving a fantastic center ball from Hiroki Makita, who was brought on just three minutes earlier.

With Coniston having gone from 2-0 up to 2-2 with only ten minutes remaining as well as news coming in that Oak Flats were comfortably ahead in their match against University, the Coniston side started to play more for pride rather than that elusive spot in the finals. Coniston came real close to snatching a win in the dying moments after Dinko Terzic pushed up on a clearance from Brad Hunter, which led to two Fernhill defenders rushing back to defend a high ball that was ricocheted of Terzic. However, the attempt would come to nothing after the Fernhill clearance fell onto the feet of Jimmy Barrios, who miskicked an attempt and sent the ball well wide of the Fernhill goal.

The 2-2 draw ensures that Coniston would not be making it through to the finals this season, as the side ended with 35 points, which would have been enough to qualify if Oak Flats had fallen to University, but with the Falcons dispatching the Students with a 5-2 win, Coniston must settle for sixth place and have to stand on the outside of the finals looking in.

For Fernhill, the draw ensures the side ends the regular season convincingly on top with only one loss all season to their name, a 2-0 loss to Balgownie back in Round 10. The side will now seek to add to their league championship when they begin their finals campaign in the coming weeks.

Fernhill FC – 2 (Paine 45’, Richardson 81’)

Coniston FC – 2 (Moreira 5’, 17’)

Saturday the 26^th of August 2017 at Ray Robinson Field

Fernhill FC – Brad Hunter, Ryan Hunter, Julian Cesta-Incani, Brett Kear, Anthony Oliver, Andrew Paine, Ilija Prenzoski, Matt Richardson, Dean Morosin, Mitch Turner, Toby Napper  

Subs – Luke McDonald (on for Prenzoski), Nathan Thompson, Hiroki Makita (on for Kear), Michael Stephenson

Coach – Dan McGoldrick

Coniston FC – Cristofer Fuentes Ramirez, Rory Evans, James Petreski, Vasko Mitkovski, Andrew Nanos, Franc Pierro, Christian Plakias, Bradley Moreira, Adrian Nikolovski, Dinko Terzic, Jimmy Barrios

Subs – Frank Gaudiosi, Matthew Tschentscher (on for Nikolovski), Connor O’Neil (on for Plakias), Matthew Stojanoski

Coach – Willy Alarcon

 

Referee – Jarrod Thompson

Assistant Referees – Brendon Fotheringham, Tara Brown

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo by Noel Wynn