In a rematch of last week’s Round 1 Bert Bampton Cup fixture, Berkeley travelled to Unanderra for ironically, the exact same result, defeating Unanderra Hearts by two goals to one.

The game started with Berkeley setting the tone and holding possession well into the Unanderra half. This eventuated into a chance in the 5^th minute where Greg Moon found himself in space on the left hand-side and put a ball into the area - but it turned into a shot that flew over the bar leaving the keeper worried but not challenged.

In the 8^th minute, Berkeley won a free-kick on the edge of the box and a real opportunity to open the scoring. Luke Boersma stepped up for the free-kick and thundered it into the wall. When the ball fell back to him he made the second chance count, firing a right footed strike into the bottom left corner well beyond the keeper’s reach putting the visitors ahead.

Berkeley kept the pressure on and a minute later almost straight from kick-off, the ball was put into the box on a plate for Trent Thompson who missed from point blank range. Moments later, a quick switch in play found Corey Butcher and he quickly put in a venomous ball for Jeremy Flanagan who was lining up a strike, but the ball was nicked away from him by a desperate but determined Unanderra defence and the danger passed.

It took 20 minutes for Unanderra to muster their first real chance of the game. It was Luke Bussoletti hitting a powerful strike from 25 yards out which unfortunately was rising and resulted in it going over the cross bar. At this stage of the game, it was Berkeley who continued their assault on the seemingly fragile Unanderra defence. Moon was a serial pest to them, firing in a delicious ball which met the head of Boersma who couldn’t put his effort on target.

The game started to get a little heated and in the 27^th minute, Ryan Crouch found himself in the book after a poorly timed challenge. The good spell of play was continued for Berkeley when Flanagan got a shot off which on this occasion was easily saved by Unanderra’s goalkeeper Kieran Georgievski. This was complemented a couple of minutes later when the ball sat up nicely for Mathew Mears around 20 yards out, but the shot was well over, and more of a worry for the car owners who had parked in the street behind the goal than Georgievski.

Mears was involved moments later, once again finding space on the edge of the box after a poor giveaway from Unanderra but failed to make much of it as his effort trickled into the arms of Georgievski.

In one of the final meaningful attacks of the first half, Berkeley doubled their lead when Flanagan calmly placed a fantastic shot into the corner. The half ended with Berkeley cruising, necessitating a huge response from Unanderra in the second half to keep the game alive for them.

With the second half underway it was more of the same from Berkeley. On this occasion, in the 46^th minute, Moon was played through one-on-one but failed to convert and the keeper held onto the shot. It was one-way traffic as Berkeley came forward and it was Thompson’s turn to smash the ball over the cross bar.

The 50^th minute brought about the best chance of the half so far as Ross Prandalos could have been forgiven for thinking he had scored when a corner swung in found the defender unmarked, he managed to get his shot on-target aimed perfectly into the corner but a heroic block on the line denied him his goal.

This was followed by another great chance score for Berkeley with Butcher knocking the leather off the ball as the crossbar was left shaking by his vigorous strike from around 20 yards.

With 20 minutes to go, Unanderra started to push their way back into the game as they finally started to generate some momentum of their own. Paul Burleigh took aim from decent range but his powerful kick ended up wide of the post. Unanderra were clearly coming back strongly into the game when in the 76^th minute they came their closest to scoring after Paul Burleigh hit the side netting from inside the 6 yard box.

Unanderra’s relentless pressure paid off with 9 minutes left when substitute Nathan Pultic drilled a beautiful finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box leaving the keeper helpless and giving hope to Unanderra that they might have a chance to come back into the game. But it wasn’t to be, and the game finished Unanderra 1-2 Berkeley.

 

Unanderra 1 (Nathan PULTIC 81’)

Berkeley 2 (Luke BOERSMA 9’) (Jeremy FLANAGAN 34’)

 

Saturday 24^th March 2018

Unanderra Hearts: Kieran GEORGIEVSKI, Nick TORTORELLA, Andrew NANOS, Steve JOVANOVSKI, Jason MURDZEVSKI, Luke BUSSOLETTI, Chris MURDZEVKSI, Lorri MANDREDI, Hayden WAPLES, Don MAGILL, Paul BURLEIGH

Subs: Nathan PULTIC (MANDREDI), Joey YOUSSIF (NANOS), Stefan VISNIC (MURDZEVSKI), Jordan TIMPANO

 

Berkeley Sports: Chris LAZAREVSKI, Hayden TILL, Ross PRANDALOS, Ryan CROUCH, Dylan EVANS, Mathew MEARS, Jeremy FLANAGAN, Trent THOMPSON, Luke BOERSMA, Corey BUTCHER, Greg MOON

Subs: Digvijay SHEKHAWAT (FLANAGAN), Jake GATES (EVANS), Lachlan BOERSMA, Isaak ARANCIBIA (THOMPSON)

 

Referee: Reece EDWARDS

Assistants: Michael THOMPSON and Marcus RADICE-JONES

 

Report by Timothy Gibson

@Timg123_

Photo courtesy of Pedro Garcia