In a thrilling and fast paced encounter at Wetherall Park, Port Kembla were defeated 5-4 at home when Corrimal Rangers made up for last season’s defeats against Port Kembla in the Illawarra Premier League when they shipped 9 goals over the two meetings but failed to find the net themselves once. This match was a complete turnaround.

The action really started in the 5^th minute when Corrimal came forward and won a free kick after a trip on a Corrimal player on the left-hand-side. Taken quickly, the Port Kembla defence were not ready, and Masahiko Morita took advantage and fired a low strike into the bottom corner across the goal keeper to open the scoring for Corrimal.

In the 11^th minute Corrimal again came forward, winning another free kick but this time on the opposite side. Takeru Okada elected to take the strike which was around 25 yards out but saw his effort fly harmlessly over the bar.

Port Kembla’s first attacking opportunity came 7 minutes later when Ben Zucco stepped up for a free kick which was crossed in but due to the unbelievable curve on the ball it deceived the keeper and found its way into the top corner to equalise for Port Kembla. Two goals in the first quarter - an unbelievable start to the game. But there was more, as straight from kick off, a ball lofted over the top was flicked into the path of Morita on the right-hand-side who placed a smart finish into the corner once again, with the strike going across the goal keeper and into the net making it 3 goals in the first 19 minutes. Port Kembla struck back 3 minutes later with Joey Lavalle taking aim from outside the box and forcing an acrobatic save from Daniel Arcaba who tipped it over the bar.

With 25 minutes on the clock Port Kembla won a corner which was ferociously whipped in to near post. The resulting scrap found Adam Bassuni’s stretching leg which forced the ball to trickle over the line and equalise for Port Kembla. Almost immediately there was another penalty following a push in the back and Port Kembla conceded again. Van Elia stepped up and calmly placed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. In the 37^th minute Port Kembla won a penalty of their own and Lavalle was tasked with converting which he did with great aplomb passing a shot in off the post.

Without pause, the excitement continued as 2 minutes later Corrimal were rewarded with their second penalty of the game taken by Morita, who placed it like a magnet in the same spot as Elia. Once again Corrimal were in the lead. There was one more twist in the tale for the first half, with another penalty for Port Kembla. After an abrupt discussion between players about who was to take the penalty Lavalle took it unbelievably improving on his first penalty by hitting it low and hard into the corner leaving the keeper once again with no chance of saving it. At half time, the game was tied 4-4 including 4 penalties – 2 for each team!

The second half began slowly, and it took a while before the first real action occurred and this half saw improvement in the defensive side of both teams. When the first chance did come it was Elia for Corrimal in the 54^th minute who forced a corner out of the save from Arcaba. The pressure continued on the Port Kembla goal when 4 minutes later Morita tested the handling of Arcaba who held the shot.

In the 65^th minute, Port Kembla found their first chance of the half with a shot by Marko Ishihara firing well wide and over the goal. Two minutes later, Port followed this up with another chance when Lavalle received the ball quickly off of a free kick and drove a low effort goal-wards, but it was cleared off the line. Lavalle threatened again moments later with a long shot but it sailed well over the cross bar.

One of the best chances of the game from open play for Port Kembla came in the 76^th minute when Ishihara received the ball with his back to goal and turning quickly, got a shot off - but somehow it ended up wide of the goal.

Six minutes from time Okada scored - to put Corrimal in the lead for the 5^th time! -powering home a right footed strike into the bottom corner from the left-hand-side. This goal ended up being the winner and meant that Corrimal came away with all three points which pushes them to within a point of Port Kembla on the table.

 

Saturday 7 April 2018 at Wetherall Park

Port Kembla – 4 (Zucco 18’, Bassuni 26’, Lavalle 37’,41’)

Corrimal – 5 (Morita 5’, 19’, 27’, Elia 40’, Okada 83’)

 

Port Kembla: Bradley JARDINE, Nobuaki MOCHIZUKI, Bailey FLEMING, Nathan BELSITO, Brooklan FRKOVIC, Ben ZUCCO, Naruyuki KATO, Jason PEREZ, Marko ISHIHARA, Joseph LAVALLE, Adam BASSUNI

Subs: Justin CARIO (SENIOR), Mikal AWAD (BASSUNI), Kyle SENIOR, Jayden SALUCCI, Daniel FARINA

 

Corrimal: Daniel ARCABA, Jason ZUFIC, Dean PENDER, Calum FLEMING, Raeed ABRAHIM, Joshua GERSBACH, Takeru OKADA, Karouna MICHAEL, Carter MADDEN, Van ELIA, Masahiko MORITA

Subs: Kyle KIRKLAND (MICHAEL), Angelo HAJITTOFI (ELIA), Matthew GALANTI (MADDEN), Jamie WAKELING, David ZUFIC

 

Referee - Peter ILCEVKSI

Assistant Referees: - Jason COCKS and Ethan ZVARGULIS

 

Report by Tim Gibson

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Photo couretsy of Port Kembla FC