Warilla all but secured a finals birth by defeating Oak Flats 4-1 at King Mickey Park. Warilla went into the match unbeaten in their three games and a win would mean going level with Thirroul on points who occupied the 4th position. As for Oak Flats, they had just defeated 3rd placed Helensburgh and needed to win if they wanted any hope of taking the 5th position off Warilla.

Within the first minute, Warilla came forwards as a corner headed out came to Aden Wade on the edge of the box who fired over the crossbar. Five minutes later Oak Flats had their first chance of the game as Chad Fernandez held the ball up well and laid it back to Jarryd Vinton who fired wide. In the 8th minute, Oak Flats had another opportunity to open the scoring when a corner from Daniel Munilla went all the way to the back post where Lee Gilroy could only find the side netting from a tight angle. Oak Flats finally opened the scoring when Chad Fernandez rolled his marker just outside the box and slotted a left-footed finished past the goalkeeper.

Warilla were given a brilliant opportunity to equalise when Javier Ovando found Jesse French on the left-hand-side with a switch ball who made his way into the box and was brought down by a stray challenge. Ovando stepped up and saw his powerful effort into the bottom left-hand corner saved by the keeper, the follow-up fell to Jeremy Lopez, but Jake Webster made another impressive save to deny him. The resulting corner was converted by an Adam White header and Warilla were level.

Warilla then scored a further two goals in the space of five minutes. The first coming in the 25th minute as Adam White found his second when Jeremey Lopez cut inside from the right-hand side and played a smart reverse ball into White who put a calm finish past Webster. The second came via Javier Ovando’s well-taken volley into the corner from just outside the box.

Warilla kept pushing for more and in the 33rd minute Nathan Pegler’s cross found Jesse French at the back post who attempted an overhead kick, but the shot was held well by Webster. With a minute of the first half to play, Warilla grabbed a fourth. Adam White converting directly from a corner to secure his hattrick.

At halftime, Oak Flat’s great start had been undone by some poor defending at the back. They would need something of a miracle to take anything from the game.

Oak Flats came out of the sheds the better of the teams as just two minutes into the second half Jarryd Vinton shot over the crossbar from inside the box after a pass from Lance Condello. In the 57th minute, Oak Flats had another chance when Daniel Munilla cut inside from left-hand-side and struck a ball goalwards which was blocked. In the 63rd minute, Warilla had an opportunity to add to their goal tally as Martin Castelli lined up a shot from a central position 20 metres from goal. The shot was held confidently by Webster.

Four minutes after Castelli’s shot, Oak Flats continued their much better second half as Daniel Munilla hit a left-footed shot over the bar. Jeremy Lopez rolled his defender in the 83rd minute but his effort cleared the crossbar. An uneventful second half ended ten minutes later.

This is an important win for Warilla who now have won three in a row. Oak Flats were the most likely team to take 5th position off Warilla, sitting eight points behind them in 6th place. This has now become 11 points and it seems that Warilla will make the finals. Barney King did state that his ambitions weren’t just for his side to finish 5th but higher saying ‘obviously we’re chasing that 2nd and 3rd spot’ going to say that ‘if we win all our games there’s a mathematical possibly we could do that’. Warilla have also scored 14 goals in their last three games. Scoring goals could be a valuable asset heading into the finals series. Warilla have two difficult fixtures upcoming against Coniston and Thirroul respectively.

Oak Flats will be disappointed they couldn’t come away with a result especially considering they went ahead so early. Chad Fernandez started really well acting as a target for his teammates but as the game progressed the service became limited. Oak Flats play Kiama next time around who with a win could go above Oak Flats.

 

Saturday 28^th July at King Mickey Park

Warilla – 4 (White 20’, 25’, 44’, Ovando 29’)

Oak Flats – 1 (Fernandez 9’)

 

Warilla: Adam ARNOTT, Nathan PEGLER, Drew SHAW, Mark MARINELLI, Jason GOLDSMITH, Martin CASTELLI, Jeremy LOPEZ, Aden WADE, Adam WHITE, Javier OVANDO, Jesse FRENCH

Substitutes: Ryhs MARSH, Brenton GERIBO, Ben ELLUL, Jordan NOLAN, Blake PUSELL

 

Oak Flats: Jake WEBSTER, Lee GILROY, Brenton LLOYD, Ross GRAHAM, Dominic GIUSTINIANI, Matthew GRASA, Jack MADGWICK, Lance CONDELLO, Chad FERNANDEZ, Jarryd VINTON, Daniel MUNILLA

Substitutes: Chad KEATING, Nathan WILSON, Goran BOSKOVIC, John TILDEN, Chris JARMAN

 

Referee: Brendan FOTHERINGHAM

Assistant Referees: Gareth JENKINS and Jack MARKHAM

 

Report by Timothy Gibson on Twitter, @Timg123_

Photo by Noel Wynn