Albion Park defeated Tarrawanna 3-1 away from home in a repeat of the exact score-line from last season’s fixture in the Illawarra Premier League. This was thanks to high flying winger Shayne Ardle who netted a brace. This was definitely a game of two halves with Tarrawanna dominating the chances in the first half and Albion Park then taking over in the second half.

The action all began in the 7th minute when Tarrawanna came forward through Liam Unicomb doing well down the right-hand side before playing a ball into Ricky Goodchild who fired home a powerful strike low and hard into the corner to give Tarrawanna the lead against the run of possession.

Tarrawanna looked to have their tails up and in the 15th minute the lively Unicomb capitalised on a turnover in midfield forcing a fine save out from Cristofer Fuentes Ramirez for Albion Park. Tarrawanna had another chance to double their lead in the 32nd minute when Samuel Chapple slid in to try and convert a cross from the right-hand-side but his effort was blocked. Within that very same minute, Jake Morlando received the ball and with his back to goal, turned and side-footed a strike towards the top corner only for it to be saved by an acrobatic Fuentes Ramirez.

Despite some good possession in the first half from Albion Park, they had failed to really create any chances, though this all changed in the 36th minute as a nice passing move found an unmarked Christopher Gomez on the left-hand-side but his attempted lob cleared the crossbar much to the relief of Tarrawanna custodian Adam Rodriguez who had already committed to the ball.

Three minutes later, a superb run down the line from the speedy Fish found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but a tight angle made it hard for him to convert and resulted in an easy save for Fuentes.

Into first half stoppage time, a time when no team would want to concede. A dropped corner ball from Rodriguez left Robert Delbanco with the simple task of tapping into a vacant net to get his side back on level terms just before the halftime break, a real demoralising goal for Tarrawanna to concede and one that perhaps changed the momentum of the game.

Albion Park, buoyed with confidence after their late equaliser in the first half, came firing out of the blocks and just five minutes in, a ball played over top found Hikaru Kawasakiya on the volley who tried to dink the ball over the onrushing Rodriguez but got it all wrong and the ball ended up behind the goal.

Albion Park continued to take advantage of a wounded Tarrawanna side when two minutes later, Kawasakiya had another chance to take lead after a great turn, he hit a left footed shot straight into the palms of Rodriguez. It seemed just a matter of time before Albion Park took the lead.

This eventuated in the 54th minute when Kawasakiya's deflected shot fell kindly for Shayne Ardle, who side-footed a strike into the empty net to give Albion Park the lead. Many teams in Albion Park's position would've chosen to sit back and soak up the pressure, but this wasn't Albion Park's approach as they kept pushing to put the game to bed.

Seven minutes later, Albion Park really should have scored their third after a cross in found Gomez but despite the ball finding the net, it was ruled out for handball.

In a rare attack for Tarrawanna in the second half, Rick Goodchild on the half turn, hit a powerful shot but Fuentes Ramirez was equal to it. The chances kept flowing for Albion Park as once again Kawasakiya could've scored when he was played in with just the keeper to beat, but hit his shot went straight at Rodriguez who could only parry it. The rebound fell back to Ardle who had already scored once, however his shot this time was desperately blocked as Tarrawanna hung in. Their desperation was nearly rewarded when within a minute after that, Chapple lined up a long shot, but his effort sailed over the crossbar.

With three-quarters of the game played, Kody Maude made inroads down the vulnerable left-hand-side of Tarrawanna's defence and fizzed a dangerous ball into the area finding Kawasakiya who under serious pressure, missed the target from inside the six-yard box.

Just a minute later though, Albion Park sealed the three points as a cross whipped in glanced off the head of Ardle and into the bottom corner much to the jubilation of the travelling away supporters. This was the last highlight of the game as the Eagles saw out the remaining minutes comfortably.

 

Sunday 29 April 2018 at Tarrawanna Oval

Tarrawanna Blueys – 1 (Fish 7’)

Albion Park White Eagles – 3 (Delbanco 45’, Ardle 54’,76’)

 

Tarrawanna Blueys: Adam RODRIGUEZ, Matthew NAYLOR, Bradley DURRANT, Corey HORNER, Jake MORLANDO, Daniel GOODHEW, Daniel CHAPMAN, Samuel CHAPPLE, Jared FISH, Ricky GOODCHILD, Liam UNICOMB

Substitutes: Bradley ACEV (GOODCHILD), Jacob FRYDAY (MORLANDO), Takumi MACHIDA (FISH), Benjamin LEARMONTH, Bradley JONES

 

Albion Park White Eagles: Cristofer FUENTES RAMIREZ, Blake MCGINN, Shannon FIELDING, Christopher NATHANIEL, Luke DEBROT, Kody MAUDE, Robert DELBANCO, Nathan RALPH, Shayne ARDLE, Hikaru KAWASAKIYA, Chris GOMEZ

Substitutes: Sean KENNEDY, Cody WEHMEYER (ARDLE), Jess CASEY (KAWASAKIYA), Jordan WARREN, Jacob HUFTON

 

Referee: Nathan WOTTON

Assistant Referees: Brodie MERCHANT and Aaron WARDLE

 

Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter timg123_

Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton