In Round 8 of District League, Berkeley were still looking for their first win of the season and looked to have secured a maiden victory until Balgownie equalised in the dying minutes. Overall it was an even contest, with both sides failing to capitalise on several good opportunities in front of goal.

It was Balgownie who took the ascendency early on, and in the 7^th minute had the chance to take the lead when Zachery Craw was played a defence-splitting through ball, only for Craw to hit the ball over the bar.

This missed opportunity almost became costly a few minutes later when Berkeley's, Jim Yousef was through on goal after breaking past the Balgownie defence that was left static while arguing for a foul. Despite having the time to take the ball closer to goal, Yousef opted to shoot from the edge of the area only to hit it wide.

With the opening goal remaining elusive the game flattened out over the next 20 minutes but burst back into life when Greg Moon hit a spectacular volley into the side netting on the half-hour mark to give Berkeley the lead. Whipped in from the left, Moon received the ball at waist height and showed great technical ability to score.

After the goal, Berkeley showed great resolve to go into the sheds with a 1-0 lead, scrapping the ball of the line in the dying minutes of the half to prevent a Balgownie equaliser.

In the opening period of the second half, Berkeley began to show some dominance, conjuring up a number of chances. In the 50^th minute, Hugo Coronel hit a shot from outside the box that dipped right at the last second only to crash into the crossbar. In the 58^th minute, Berkeley appeared to have another good chance to double their advantage only to have their attack stifled by Balgownie’s sweeper-keeper, Hugh Bahnert, who headed the ball clear.

However, as the game crawled into its final 20 minutes the tide changed, as Balgownie began to pepper the Berkeley goal. In the space of a few minutes, they had three golden opportunities to score. Beginning in the 72^nd minute, the ball was cut back from the by-line to the penalty spot to Coronel, only for his shot to be blocked. This blocked rebounded out to the left-hand side of the area, where an impressive curling shot was hit only to be matched by an equally impressive save by Berkeley keeper, Chris Lazarevski, who palmed the ball onto the post and out for a corner. The resulting corner then found the free head of Branden Waeger, who missed the target.

Despite not conceding, the superb defending still came at a cost as Lazarevski injured himself putting his body on the line, forcing Berkeley to substitute their inform goal-keeper.

After soaking up extreme defensive pressure, Berkeley should have doubled their advantage in the 80^th minute when Coronel hit an in-swinging cross from the left wing. Floating across the edge of the box, the ball sat up to the three unmarked Berkeley attackers keenly waiting, however, the ball was missed, and the goal went begging.

This miss would go onto haunt Berkeley. In a week of football marked by comebacks, it seemed inevitable that Balgownie would go onto snatch one late. In the 89^th minute, Abdul Lawal, ran onto a cross delivered from the left, to send a thumping header past the outstretched substitute keeper, to break Berkeley' hearts.

The final whistle blew minutes later leaving the Berkeley players and fans utterly disappointed; however, they will look to take the positives out of today's performance onto next week when they take on fellow cellar-dwellers Kiama.

In the other camp, Balgownie will need to improve on their performance from today to stand a chance against the 2^nd placed, Helensburgh.

12^th May 2019 @ Berkeley Sports

Berkeley – 1 (Moon 30’)

Balgownie – 1 (Lawak 89’)

Berkeley- Chris LAZAREVSKI, James MATHEWS, Steve CAROCCI, Jarryd KING, Haydon TILL, Matt MEARS, Heath SHEPPARD, Brad FISHER, Jayson ATANASOSKI, Hugo CORONEL, Greg MOON.

Substitutes – Andrew ROSANDIC, Jon ADAMS, Michael PERINICH (on for Sheppard), Brendan SPINA (on for Atanasoski), Mitch O’NEIL (on for Lazarevski)

Balgownie- Hugh BAHNERT, Mathew BUBB, Mathew McCOY, Ben KEARTON, Mitchell DAVIS, Jackson DUMMETT, Jim YOUSEF, Lucas BRUCE, Branden WAEGER, Zachery CRAW, Abdulsamiu LAWAL.

Substitutes- Nathan BELLINAD (on for Bubb), Johnathan McCREARY, Sebastian DALLAS (on for YOUSEF), Denis TAN, James McCLELLAND.

Referee – Liam WEBB

Assistants – S. BELL, J. COCKS.

Report by Nic Wilson, on twitter @_nicwilson

Photo by Noel Wynn