Senior Men
Gambier Centrals v International
International headed to MGA Park on Sunday to take on Gambier Centrals for the second time in two weeks, with the black and blue getting away to a strong start early with a penalty from Matt Bueti to take the lead.
Centrals reset and did well defensively at slowing down Inter, not allowing another score in the half, with Inter leading by one goal at the half.
Centrals retained the pressure early, refusing to allow Inter to add to their lead.
However, they struggled in attack and could not find an equalising goal.
Halfway through the second half Inter finally broke through Centrals’ defence as Caleb Casey found the back of the net to give Inter a two goal lead.
Centrals were given a chance to get back into the game as Casey was shown a red card and sent off, leaving Inter a man down and fighting to stop the Lions’ late charge.
However, as the full time whistle blew Inter held strong to come away with another solid win.
International defeated Gambier Centrals 2-0.
International head coach Tony D’Agostino was pleased with how his side played in the victory.
“There was no way in the world that Centrals were going to make it an easy contest for us and they were going to be more competitive and they were, they really tried to be quite defensive and stop us from playing our attacking game,” he said.
“I thought my team reacted well to that, it took us a little while to adapt to what they were doing and then we reacted well in being able to go forward in different avenues and to create the chances that we needed.”
D’Agostino was impressed with the performance of Inter’s young goalkeeper Joel Bull as he picked up a clean sheet.
“He was outstanding, any counter-attack that Centrals were putting forward he was able to handle them pretty well and because he was such a new player I thought he did outstanding,” D’Agostino said.
Apollo v Blue Lake
Blue Lake headed to Apollo on Sunday and picked up a solid win, starting strongly with an early goal from Shar Nay Than.
Blue Lake’s pressure continued after their first goal as they scored a second to put them up 2-0, thanks to Shar Say La.
Apollo responded late in the half as Say Say Wah got his side back in the game with a late goal, with the Rangers up by one at the break.
Apollo did well in the second half to slow down Blue Lake from scoring as they looked to tie the game up.
It took till the 70th minute to end the second half scoring drought when Than scored his second goal of the game to give Blue Lake the two goal lead back.
Apollo could not find an answer to the Rangers as they suffered another loss at home.
Blue Lake defeated Apollo 3-1.
Senior Women
Naracoorte United v Millicent United
Millicent travelled to Naracoorte on Sunday with both sides sharing the points.
Millicent got off on the right foot, scoring early in the game courtesy of Phoebe Rose.
Neither side could then find the back of the net as Millicent United went into the half time break with a one goal lead.
In the second half defence reigned supreme, with both sides struggling to convert runs into attack.
That changed late in the half as Naracoorte broke through and tied the game up when Lauren Mather scored the equaliser.
The scoring dried up for the remainder of the half, with neither side able to slot a goal to steal victory, resulting in a draw.
Naracoorte United drew with Millicent United 1-1.
Gambier Centrals v International
Gambier Centrals came up with a much-needed win as they defeated International on Saturday.
The majority of the first half was defensive oriented as neither side could score, before Centrals broke the deadlock late in the half as Kristen Keiller found the back of the net to put the Lions up right before halftime.
Early in the second half Centrals responded again as Alita Huyser scored to give Centrals a two goal lead.
Inter rallied and bounced back as Laura Murdock scored to bring Inter back to only trail by a goal.
But Inter’s comeback was cut short as Keiller scored another goal for Centrals to bring the lead back to two.
Inter refused to roll over and replied almost immediately, with the black and blue awarded a penalty which Isabella Morello stepped up to and brought her side back into a one score game.
The goal scoring continued as Centrals’ Rachel Muzaliwa struck for Centrals, and with the game nearly in the bag Huyser put the dagger into Inter as she scored her second goal to put Inter away.
Gambier Centrals defeated International 5-2.
Apollo v Blue Lake
Apollo’s undefeated run continued as they picked up another win on Saturday, defeating Blue Lake on home turf.
Early in the game Blue Lake did well to hold off Apollo’s attack as neither side were able to get on the board early.
Apollo finally broke through as Deni Atkin got going with another goal to add to her season tally.
The floodgates seemingly opened for Apollo as they responded with another two goals, this time coming from Demi Ingley and Emmie Leibhardt, to be up by three at the break.
Blue Lake did a better job at slowing down Apollo in the second half.
As good as the Rangers’ defence was it was no match for Apollo as Leibhardt scored her second goal for the day and the lone goal for Apollo in the half.
With a four goal lead in hand Apollo closed out the second half well as they held Blue Lake scoreless to pick up the clean sheet.
Apollo defeated Blue Lake 4-0.
