Tarrawanna made it three wins on the spin in all competitions with a solid 2-0 win over Port Kembla at Wetherall Park. The three points were secured in the opening half an hour with goals from Brad Acev and Jared Fish with the reigning Grand Final winners never looking likely of mounting a comeback.

Both sides had a few feelers from distance in the opening exchanges that failed to trouble either goalkeeper, however, with 12 minutes on the clock, the Blueys hit the lead. Fullback Jacob Fryday swung in a cross from the left for Avec at the far post who hit the ball back across Brad Jardine and into the net.

With 20 minutes played, Port had a good opportunity to level the scores. Naruyuki Kato jinked past three Tarrawanna defenders before making his way into the area but his finishing let him down with a poor effort rolling to the right of Adam Rodriguez's goal.

In the 24th minute, Tarrawanna doubled their lead. Sam Chapple played a delicate ball over the Port Kembla defence for Fish to run onto, the ball sat up well for the striker who laced a half-volley over an onrushing Jardine before bulging the back of the net. Within a minute, the Blueys nearly scored their third when Chapple played Liam Unicomb into the left of the box, the striker’s cross-come-shot blazed across the goal with an outstretched Acev unable to tap home at the far post.

The Blueys would have the final opportunity of the first half, luckily for Port, the chance fell for centreback Corey Horner who found himself one on one with Jardine after a scramble in the box. Jardine came up trumps with a solid save before the ball was clear. This would be the final piece of action for the half with the away side leading 2-0.

Tarrawanna captain Ricky Goodchild entered the action after 70 minutes and within seconds he had created a half chance. He ran onto Chapple’s short free-kick and cut the ball in from the left but a Port defender was on hand at the near post to clear the ball out for a corner. Two minutes later, Goodchild loaded up from 25 metres out but his strike was well saved by Jardine.

With only a couple of minutes remaining Port nearly flickered into life when Fabian Iacovelli managed to get to the ball after a scrap in the box but his effort was deflected out for a corner. As the match drifted into over time Tarrawanna came close to making it three when youngster Nicolas Tomasiello’s had a shot from the left of the box which deflected off a defender but Jardine made an impressive reflex save to keep the ball out. The match had run its course with Tarrawanna get up by two goals to nil.

The result pushes Tarrawanna into 8th and above Port Kembla on goal difference. After the match, Tarrawanna coach Peter Willis praised his side’s application over the last two weeks where they have won three and drawn one, “It was a solid performance from everybody,” adding, “We have really talked about what we’ve needed to do and everybody has bought into it.” Next up for Tarrawanna is a crucial clash with top five rivals Albion Park White Eagles who are undefeated this season.

As for Port Kembla, their performance was plodding and replicated the campaign thus far, however, coach Noel Spencer will know they are only a couple of strong results off the pace. This result sees them drop to 9th and they will need to regroup for a trip to Ocean Park to take on a desperate Woonona side who are yet to get a point this season.

 

Listen to the full post-match interview with Tarrawanna coach Peter Willis on this week’s FSC Weekly.

 

Sunday 22 April 2018 @ Wetherall Park

 

Port Kembla - 0

 

Tarrawanna Blueys - 2 (ACEV 13’, FISH 25’)

 

Port Kembla - Brad JARDINE, Justin CARIO, William MOBBS, Kyle SENIOR, Carlo STELLA, Jason PEREZ, Naruyuki KATO, Ben ZUCCO, Sandy LOWCOCK, Joey LAVALLE, Fabian IACOBELLI

 

Subs - Nathan BELSITO, Makoto ISHIHARA (on for Kato), Nobi MOCHIZUKI, Daniel FARINA, Jayden SALUCCI (on for LAVALLE)

 

Coach - Noel SPENCER

 

Tarrawanna Blueys - Adam RODRIGUEZ, Matt NAYLOR, Brad DURRANT, Corey HORNER, Jacob FRYDAY, Daniel GOODHEW, Daniel CHAPMAN, Sam CHAPPLE, BRAD ACEV, Jared FISH, Liam UNICOMB

 

Subs - Kouryo KUBOTA (on for FISH), Ricky GOODCHILD (on for NAYLOR), Josh Brown, Nicolas TOMASIELLO (on for UNICOMB), Brad Jones

 

Coach - Peter WILLIS

 

Referee - Bobby MAZEVSKI

 

Assistant Referees - Caleb BLANCH, Dean MORIERA

 

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

 

Photo by Noel Wynn