An undermanned Bulli side moved to the top of the table with a 4-0 victory over the Tarrawanna Blueys at Tarrawanna Oval. The home side came into the match on the back of a disappointing opening round defeat to Fernhill and they did little to amend that result with a wayward display in front of their own fans.

Harry Callahan had Bulli’s first chance 11 minutes in when Mitch Del Turco played him in. The youngster aimed for the inside of the right post but Adam Rodriguez pulled off a strong save before the ball was cleared.

On the half-hour mark, Bulli were awarded a penalty after Daniel Goodhew impeded Marcus Beattie, however, Ben McDonald dragged the resulting spot kick to the left of the goal. In the passage of play after the miss, defender David Abel suffered an ankle injury forcing him off the pitch and as a result, Guy Knight shifted into centre-back.

With eight minutes left in the half, Bulli took the lead. Nik Miceski picked out McDonald in the box and the number 9 looped the ball into the top right corner on the volley. In the second minute of added on time, Bulli had their second when Del Turco scurried into the left of the box and cut the ball across the goal for Beattie to tap in at the far post. The back to back goals giving the away side a 2-0 lead at the break

Bulli had a trio of chances in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. The first two coming for McDonald who intercepted a back pass and forced Rodriguez into another solid stop and then from a corner two minutes later he rose above his marker but his header went just over the top right corner. The third chance was a neat link-up between Callahan and McDonald who laid the ball off to Del Turco who swung his effort over the crossbar.

In the 65th minute, Bulli picked up their third. Bulli goaltend Yuya Kuwata lumped a free kick up the field for Miceski to head on for Beattie to run onto and with Rodriguez rushing out to close him down he managed to caress the bobbling ball over the Tarrawanna keeper, sneaking just inside of the left upright. A classy finish from the pocket dynamo to put the game out of the Blueys reach.

With 15 minutes remaining, McDonald had another excellent chance but he was denied by a stunning block from Sam Chapple but a few passages of play later Tarrawanna shipped their fourth. The Blueys turned the ball over in the middle of the own half to Del Turco who ran to the edge of the box, sized up Rodriguez and curled the ball into the bottom right corner - a clinical finish from the former White Eagle.

With the game up, Tarrawanna were toothless in the final 10 minutes and to make matters worse captain Ricky Goodchild limped off the pitch with a hamstring injury. The full-time whistle blew with Bulli winning 4-0, taking them to the top of the table.

After the match, Bulli boss Matt Bailey was delighted with his sides efforts given they were without the likes of Scott Best, Tobin Zoomers and Dylan Lewis, “I thought the scoreboard reflected the [game], we were good in all areas of the game,” before adding, “When you have them out of the side and still produce a performance like that it just shows the quality and the depth in the squad.” Bulli host Woonona next Saturday in the local derby before their FFA Cup fourth-round match away to Coniston the following Wednesday.

Tarrawanna coach Peter Willis was bewildered by his side’s lacklustre performance, “It was just elementary things that let us down.” Tarrawanna’s next match is away to heavyweights Wollongong United before their FFA Cup fourth-round match against NPL 2 outfit Macarthur Rams.

Click here for the post-match interviews

 

Friday 30 March 2018 @ Tarrawanna Oval

Tarrawanna Blueys - 0

Bulli - 4 (MCDONALD 35’, BEATTIE 45+2’ 61’, DEL TURCO 76’)

 

Tarrawanna Blueys - Adam RODRIGUEZ, Dan CHAPMAN, Brad DURRANT, Corey HORNER, Jake MORLANDO, Sam CHAPPLE, Daniel GOODHEW, Jacob FRYDAY, Liam UNICOMB, Ricky GOODCHILD, Jared FISH

Subs - Matt NAYLOR (on for DURRANT), Brad ACEV (on for FISH), Kouryo KUBOTA (on for Goodchild), Takumi MACHIDA, Brad JONES

Coach - Peter Willis

 

Bulli - Yuya KUWATA, Kyle JACKSON, David ABEL, Kenji TAKAHASHI, Harry CALLAHAN, Guy KNIGHT, Ryan EMERTON, Nik MICESKI, Marcus BEATTIE, Mitch DEL TURCO, Den MCDONALD

Subs - Lewis CLEMENTS (on for MICESKI), Sam DAVIES (on for ABEL), Hayato TAKAHASHI (on for MCDONALD), Blake HEWSON, Jayden LEWIS

Coach - Matt Bailey

 

Referee - Andrew NAYLOR

Assistant Referees - Liam WEBB and Dean MOREIRA

 

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

Photo courstesy of Noel Wynn