The Limestone Coast’s balmy weather played havoc with the Barry Maney Premier League on the weekend, with the FSA hot weather policy called into play.
Senior soccer matches across the Limestone Coast Football Association were postponed due to the league’s heat policy of 32 degrees, with games only allowed to be played before 11am and after 6pm.
The only fixture, apart from juniors, that was played featured Apollo and Millicent, which was changed to a Saturday night match.
Other games in the round, including Centrals v Portland, Blue Lake v Naracoorte United and the women’s Apollo v Millicent match were all postponed, with a rescheduled date yet to be announced.
Apollo v Millicent United Senior Men
Despite most of the league not playing on the weekend due to heat policy, Apollo and Millicent United still hit the field as they faced off on Saturday night at Apollo Football Club.
This was an important contest for the two sides heading into the match; as both teams had yet to win a game.
That changed for Apollo at dusk on Saturday as they secured a big win over Millicent to get their season going despite a serious early challenge from the
visitors.
Millicent came out firing in the opening few minutes of the match and took an early lead as Christian Muteba scored the opener five minutes in, following up with another just two minutes later.
Millicent’s lead did not last long as Apollo kicked into gear and turned the tables very quickly with Per Kaw scoring the home side’s first goal only five minutes later.
The blue and white kept the pressure on Millicent as Kaw continued to do damage up forward, going on a scoring rampage with another three goals in the span of four minutes.
After the onslaught of goals Apollo continued to create chances as Kaw scored another half way through the period.
Apollo finished the first half strong as Jakob Hann and James Stephenson found the back of the net in the final two minutes of play.
After a first half that had everything, including a goal scoring spree – Apollo held a 7-2 lead heading into the second stanza.
Millicent regrouped at the break and came out strong to kick off the second as they scored the opening goal, with Nino Filtzinger finding the back of the net to cut Apollo’s lead to four.
Apollo did not let Millicent build any momentum after their early goal as Stephenson scored a quick two goals to take Apollo’s lead back out to six goals.
Millicent did well to stop the bleeding for most of the second half, refusing to allow a repeat of the goal onslaught witnessed in the first.
However Apollo took it right up to Millicent as the clock wound down, with Htoo Wah writing his name on the scorers’ list alongside Hann who scored his second late in the half to finish the match and secure a big win.
Apollo’s Per Kaw scored five goals with James Stephenson completing a hattrick while Jakob Hann scored the brace.
