A hattrick by Mathew Guido and a spectacular strike from Aaron Cimitile saw the Shell Cove Barbarians too strong for the Dandaloo Lions in this afternoon’s First Grade Community League Grand Final at Macedonia Park. A drama filled second period saw Shell Cove finish the match with 9 men after Gadir Maarbani and goal scorer Cimitile were given their marching orders late in the match.

Dandaloo started the better of the two sides and came close to opening their account in the 11^th minute when Paul Buchanan sprayed his shot wide of the target from close range after some excellent lead up work by Matthew Griffiths.

A Shell Cove free kick after a Dandaloo shirt pull infringement from 25 yards, saw Cimitile fire a right footed attempt over a 5-man wall that barely troubled Dandaloo keeper Tam Hart in the 23^rd minute. Shell Cove poked and prodded the Dandaloo defence and the swift passing combination between Cimitile and Maarbani saw both players open the play on a number of occasions but failed to find the net.

Then in the 26^th minute, Mathew Guido found some space in behind the Dandaloo backline after a quick counter attack saw the ball sweep down field to Guido on the left. Guido made no mistake from an acute angle, as he thumped the ball past Hart for his first of the afternoon.

Dandaloo almost responded in the best possible way, when their best chance of the first half fell to Jay Horobin who could only manage to hit the side netting after latching onto a deep cross towards the back post on the half hour mark.

The Shell Cove midfield of Lupcho Naumovski and Alexander Doyle directed the barbarian play downfield on numerous occasions as they took a stranglehold over a poor passing display from the Dandaloo outfit.

Just before the halftime break, Dandaloo applied enormous pressure on the Shell Cove goal looking to draw level with two successive corners and a free kick that was bent into the box by Matthew Hughes that failed to trouble Shell Cove goal keeper Nick Purdevski, leaving the upper advantage with the barbarians at the half time interval.

After the drinks break, tensions rose between the two sides with heated exchanges on a number of occasions between players, defused by the match official as the game was played out in the centre of the pitch.

On the hour mark, Dandaloo had two good chances fall their way. The first came as Paul Buchanan was on the end of a square ball from Michael Rixon after a crisp one-two movement forcing a save from Purdevski. The second opportunity fell when a down field gallop by Horobin outpaced Shell Cove’s Filip Angeleski to lay an inside ball to Buchanan who fired a low drive to again by denied by Purdevski at the near post from close range.

Any hope of a Dandaloo fight back was put to bed when two goals in four minutes by Shell Cove capped a remarkable season, where they were beaten just once and held to a draw on one occasion in the regular season. In the 72^nd minute, Cimitile pounced on a failed Dandaloo clearance to finish with a gem of a strike and just four minutes later, Guido had a double as he rounded Dandaloo’s Hart to take the Barbarians tally to three.

Shortly after, in bizarre circumstances, Shell Cove’s Cimitile was given his marching orders for an early shower after a second bookable offence. Despite the score line, Dandaloo attempted to capitalise on their one man advantage, but some fine heroics by Shell Cove keeper Purdevski was enough to ensure a clean sheet as Dandaloo peppered Shell Cove from all over the pitch.

In the dying minutes of the match, Guido had his hattrick as he outpaced his opponent from halfway to poke the ball home past a helpless Hart to well and truly seal the match after a fine individual performance.

The match finished on a sour note for Shell Cove when Gadir Maarbani was also shown a red card for a second bookable offence just before the fulltime whistle, as the Shell Cove army belted their drums and sang in jubilation to record a four goal to nil blitz over an out of sorts Dandaloo outfit to be crowned the 2017 Community League Grand Final Champions.

 

By Ryan Banks

 

MATCH DETAILS – 16^th September 2017 @ Macedonia Park, Berkeley.

Community League First Grade Grand Final

 

Shell Cove 4 (Guido 26’, 76’, 89’, Cimitile 72’)

def

Dandaloo 0.

 

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn.