The Albion Park White Eagles took on Bulli at Terry Reserve on Saturday with the visiting side knowing that a victory would seal a first placed finish for the 2018 season with a week to spare. Both sides fielded fairly strong lineups with the exception of White Eagles defender Kane Wright who missed the match through suspension after picking up two yellows against Wollongong Olympic last week.

Both sides started the match quite well. Confidence on the ball was a common trait across either teams. Bulli were looking threatening early on with balls from midfield in behind the White Eagles’ defensive lines to players such as Harry Callahan and Ben McDonald. Windy conditions did make it difficult for both players and spectators alike.

The games’ first real clear cut chance was the first goal and it came from Bulli 29 minutes into the contest. After conceding a free kick in a dangerous area around the box, Albion Park failed to switch on as Guy Knight whipped in the ball to a completely unmarked McDonald, who touched the ball pass Cristofer Fuentes in goals.

The White Eagles held the ball with confidence in the final third all match, and nippy attacker Kody Maude almost had the reward. In the 38^th minute, Maude managed to dart through tackles in the Bulli midfield, and let loose a shot which was struck just too far right of the goal.

Fuentes was busy in goal all game, whether it was with his hands or feet. He was called into action late on in the first half as Sam Davies struck his intended cross to McDonald straight into the goalkeeper. It was a smart save that had to be made.

Paul Carter must have said all the right things to his White Eagles’ side as they managed to hit Bulli with an equalizer just one minute into the second period. Playmaker Hikaru Kawasakiya mazed through the Bulli defence where he found himself one-on-one with Bulli goalkeeper Yuya Kuwada. Kawasakiya placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner, and the home side suddenly had the crowd right behind them.

Set-pieces proved to be a slight problem for Albion Park all afternoon and Bulli almost made them pay for another lapse in concentration in the 68^th minute. Following a corner, the White Eagles did not clear their lines properly, and a bouncing ball found the head of Bulli defender Kyle Jackson. The stopper glanced his header straight into the crossbar. It was a golden chance for the visitors to retake the ascendency.

The last clear chance of the game came just five minutes from the final whistle and it was again a set play. Knight once again stepped up to take the free kick. He managed to get the ball up and over the wall, but the ball landed straight into the grateful grasp of Fuentes.

The final whistle blew and news quickly came through the Olympic had beaten Picton at Hume Oval, meaning that Bulli had not yet wrapped first position in the Illawarra Mercury League for 2018 just yet.

Overall, the White Eagles played quite well in the second half. Bulli coach Matt Bailey believed that it was his sides display after the break that let them down the most.

“It was a disappointing second 45 for us. There’s always stuff we can improve on. With the experience we have in this side we really expect a little bit of a better output. The feeling inside the sheds right now is like a loss. We will come back bigger and better next week.”

As for Albion Park, head coach Paul Carter said that he could not have been happier with his sides performance.

“I am so happy with the player’s performance today. We were on top for large periods today and it is a credit to the hard work of the team.”

With this result means one thing for Bulli. A win or a draw (bar goal difference) will mean that the league title will be theirs at Balls Paddock against a dangerous Corrimal Rangers side on Sunday. If it were to be a draw and Wollongong Olympic beat Tarrawanna by three goals or more at PCYC, then things would be very interesting, as currently, both Bulli and Olympic have scored the exact same amount of goals.

As for the Albion Park White Eagles, this result means that they are almost locked in for a third place finish for 2018, a vast improvement from last season. The only thing that would prevent this would be if Wollongong United won both their remaining fixtures (against Port Kembla and the Eagles) and could overturn a six goal margin.

As briefly mentioned, next Sunday the White Eagles will be up against Wollongong United at Macedonia Park in what is very much a finals series warmup match. With suspensions looming for a couple of the Albion Park players it will be very interesting to see what side Carter puts out.

Post-match interviews will be shown on the next episode of the FSC Weekly podcast.

 

Saturday 18 August 2018 @ Terry Reserve

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

Subs – Ryojiro SHIMIZU (on for MCGINN), Shaun MCRAE (on for RALPH), Daniel REA (on for GOMEZ), Jacob HUFTON

Coach – Paul CARTER

 

Bulli – Yuya KUWADA, Scott BEST, David ABEL, Guy KNIGHT, Tobin ZOOMERS, Kyle JACKSON, Sam DAVIES, Harry CALLAHAN, Dylan LEWIS, Mitchell DEL TURCO, Ben MCDONALD

Subs – Marcus BEATTIE (on for DEL TURCO), Kenji TAKAHASHI (on for DAVIES), Ryan EMERTON, Nikolas MICESKI, Jayden LEWIS

Coach – Matt BAILEY

 

Report by Jordan Warren, on Twitter @jwarren0817

Photo by Kiah Hufton