With just two teams left in the Fraternity Preseason District League Cup, Coniston took on Helensburgh on Sunday at Memorial Park in the Grand Final, with the winner claiming the first piece of silverware on offer for the season. Coniston entered the match coming off the back of a strong 3-0 win over Group B winners Balgownie Rangers on Wednesday night, with the Group A winners looking in complete control as they booked their spot in the final. For Helensburgh, their path to the final was a little more difficult, with the Thistle qualifying as the best placed group runner-up, their total of six points in Group B enough for the side to sneak into a semi-final against Group C winners Shell Cove. It was in Wednesday’s semi-final at Macedonia Park that Helensburgh were made to work for their spot, with the Thistle sneaking out 2-1 winners against the Barbarians to ensure they would have a shot at claiming the Preseason Cup.

It was Coniston who got the better of the initial moments of the match, with the side creating a lot of issues for the Thistle defence, however, their final ball into the box was lacking and Helensburgh were able to contain Coniston’s opening blows. However, despite Coniston’s strong start, it was the Thistle who had the first real chance of the match after 16 minutes, with a great centre ball from Cody Cuthbertson forcing a scrambling clearance out of the Coniston box to ensure that the Thistle did not jump on any loose balls.

With Helensburgh playing their way back into the match, Coniston were forced to fire off their shots from further back and this change in attacking strategy almost paid off great dividends in the 21st minute when a powerful shot from Dinko Terzic flew just over the top of the Helensburgh crossbar, however it was their next attacking effort that gave Coniston their best chance of the opening half. Just moments after Terzic’s shot went over the bar, Kohinoki Hiroaki managed to provide a fantastic ball to Lachlan Martin just outside of the Thistle box, and his well-placed shot forced a fantastic diving save from Helensburgh keeper Matt Wardle, who was able to push the ball just to the right of the goal.

A renewed Coniston attack was beginning to prove a headache for the Thistle and things were compounded when Brad Watts was forced off in the 25th minute due to an injury to his ankle, but Helensburgh continued to push for a breakthrough and they nearly nabbed one in the 34th minute, when Luke van Zyl’s corner was met by the head of Ryan Hope, whose header just snuck to the left of the Coniston goalmouth.

Dinko Terzic would have one final chance in the first-half to put Coniston into the lead when he was released thanks to a great long pass from the Coniston midfield, but his chance was snuffed out thanks to a wonderful sliding tackle from Jarrod Bynham to ensure that both sides would enter the half-time break level.

However, the deadlock would not last long into the second half and it was Helensburgh who broke the match open in the 53rd minute, with Luke Wyatt tapping home a loose ball after it was worked into the box by Ben Watts and Reggae Rowley. With Coniston now on the back foot, they pushed to attempt to grab an equalizing goal and got very close in the 57th minute when a drilled shot from distance by Ryan Vandenburgh forced a fumble from Thistle keeper Matt Wardle, but before Dinko Terzic could finish the loose ball, Wardle was able to jump on the loose ball and end their attack.

Helensburgh would pick up their second goal just five minutes later, as Cody Cuthbertson applied some fantastic pressure on the Coniston defence and was able to turnover the ball before he fired off a well-placed shot that flew past Coniston keeper Ben McGinnes to give the Thistle a 2-0 lead. But Coniston continued to push in the hopes of finding a vital goal to kickstart their comeback, and they were granted one in the 72nd minute, with Bowen Simpson wonderfully drifting into an open space while remaining onside, before executing a strong finish to pull the score back to 2-1 and give Coniston some hope of levelling the scores.

Just four minutes later Coniston would have another huge chance, with Ryan Vandenburgh threading a wonderful pass into the Thistle box and to the feet of Kohinoki Hiroaki, who managed to push himself into a one-on-one chance at the penalty spot, but his shot flew well over the crossbar, missing a vital chance that could have changed the course of the match.

With the clock ticking down and Coniston continuing to push, Helensburgh were finally able to kill off the match in the 89th minute, with Cody Cuthbertson again showing some fantastic individual skill to break past the Coniston defence and redirect the ball past Ben McGinnes to put Helensburgh 3-1 up and secure the win for the Thistle.

The two sides will meet again on Wednesday night in a historic third round FFA Cup match. That match is at JJ Kelly Park with kickoff set for 7.30pm.

Click here to listen to the post match interviews.

Coniston FC – 1 (Simpson 75’)

Helensburgh Thistle FC – 3 (Wyatt 54’, Cuthbertson 64’, 84’)

Sunday the 11th of March 2018 at Memorial Park.

Coniston FC – Ben McGinnes, Julian Cesta, Lachlan Martin, Brad Morifra, Dinko Terzic, Matt Cuda, Chris Stefanovski, Christian Plakias, Enokido Konei, Takayuki Kayano, Kohinoki Hiroaki

Interchange – Ryan Vandenburgh, Matt Tschentscher, Bowen Simpson, Frank Pierro

Helensburgh Thistle FC – Matt Wardle, Blake Charman, Jarrod Bynham, Ryan Hope, Eamon van Zyl, Luke Wyatt, Luke van Zyl, Kei Mitani, Eathan Grinham, Brad Watts, Cody Cuthbertson

Interchange – Ryan Grima, Ben Watts, Reggae Rowley, Luke Miller, Ben Kemp

Referee – Greg Reid

Assistant Referees – Reece Edwards, Brodie Merchant, Caleb Blanch

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo courtesy of Dana Guthrie