Bellambi continued their undefeated campaign seeing off potential title rivals, Oak Flats, with a 2-1 victory.

It took barely more than a minute for Bellambi to get on the scoreboard. Pouncing on the poor touch of Oak Flats centre-back, Justin Potter, Bellambi’s Matt Passlack ran through on goal and made no mistake, calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net.

After the goal, both teams settled into the match. With a strong crosswind to contend with, both teams struggled to create clear cut chances early on.

It wasn’t until the 15^th minute that Bellambi had a chance to double their advantage when left fullback, Grant Zanni, found himself with the ball heading towards the by-line. Cutting the ball back to the top of the 18-yard box, Zanni found teammate Chris Cevenini, however, Cevenini could not manage to keep his shot from going over the crossbar.

In the 22^th minute, Oak Flats broke through for their first real opportunity of the match. Flying down the right wing, Lee Gilroy, made his way towards the goal before releasing a powerful shot that was parried by Bellambi goalkeeper, Jack Dugan, straight into the path of Kyle Hazebroek-Southgate. Hazebroek-Southgate made no mistake from about 10 yards out, smashing the ball into the back of the net to nab an equaliser for the Falcons.

After the Oak Flats equaliser, Bellambi went on the hunt to restore their lead, and in the 32nd minute, they scored their second in the most unbelievable circumstances. Standing over a free-kick 40 yards out from goal, Dale White struck a ball that aided by the wind floated before rapidly dipping, finding its way into the goal via the underside of the crossbar.

Having gone into the break with the lead, Bellambi came out in the second half prepared to face a hungry Falcon’s side.

Oak Flats came close to scoring in the 48^th minute when Hayato Saoamori played Bojan Caric through on goal. Cutting the ball back onto his right foot, Caric took away the space he had created, shooting into his marker.

In the 59^th minute, Jamie Stevenson came close to scoring an equaliser when he hit a good free kick from just outside the box but was met with a solid save by Dugan.

Four minutes later, Dugan’s opposite number, Ryan Franks was called into action when Bellambi whipped in a dangerous free kick. With a Rosella forward having poked the ball towards goal, Franks pulled off a fantastic saved but was unfortunately cleaned up in the process.

Just as Bellambi had a good chance to score their third, Oak Flats had their best chance of the half in the following play as Caric drove his way into the box, releasing a venomous effort towards goal. Dugan in goals though would not be beaten, pulling off the save of the day, diving to his left to tip the ball over the crossbar.

As time went by, Bellambi became harder to break down and began a late surge for a third goal in the dying minutes of the game.

In the 85^th minute, Scott Muilwyk looked to get in behind the Oak Flats defence when he played a dangerous lobbed through ball. However, he was denied by Franks perfecting the role of ‘sweeper-keeper’ and cleared the ball out of danger just in the nick of time.

In the 90^th minute, a dangerous Bellambi corner fell at the feet of Scott Chipperfield. The ex-Socceroo hammered the ball towards the bottom right-corner but was denied on the line by Falcon’s defender, Dave Kotrc, keeping his side in the contest.

Bellambi looked like they would see out stoppage time comfortably until they were reduced to ten men in the 92^nd minute when Ben Ellul was shown his second yellow card.

3 minutes later though, having seen out a late charge from Oak Flats, the final whistle blew with Bellambi wrapping up all 3 points on their charge to the premiership.

Next week Bellambi take on a struggling Shell Cove side, confident that they will be able to move three points close to the title.

Meanwhile, Oak Flats take on Warilla, a side they knocked off 4-0 last time around. They will need to produce a similar result to make up on the lost ground from today's result.

13^th July 2019 @ Elizabeth Park

Bellambi – 2 (Passlack 2’, White 32’)

Oak Flats – 1 (Hazebroek-Southgate 22’)

Bellambi – Jack DUGAN, Grant ZANNI, Nath THOMPSON, Todd SIMPSON, Sean POULTON, Damien WARWICK, Scott MUILWYK, Matt PASSLACK, Dale WHITE, Ben ELLUL, Chris CEVENINI.

Substitutes – Scott CHIPPERFIELD (on for Cevenini), Ilya PRENZOVSKI (on for White), Tim O’BRIEN.

Oak Flats – Ryan FRANKS, Lee GILROY, Jamie STEVENSON, Justin POTTER, Ross GRAHAM, Christian CAPPETTA, Jarryd VINTON, Hayato SAOAMORI, Kyle HAZEBROEK-SOUTHGATE, Bojan CARIC, Daniel MUNILLA.

Substitutes – Chris JARMAN, Dave KOTRC (on for Munilla) , Chad FERNANDEZ (on for Cappetta), Josh EAGLETON, John TILDEN (on for Graham)

Referee – Andrew NAYLOR

Assistants – Graeme CHARKER, Xavier BRIGHTON

Report by Nic Wilson, on twitter @_nicwilson

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn