Berkeley Vale vs Barnstoneworth O35CN – Round 5 Match Report

Well at long last we finally got to kick a ball in anger, on what, considering all the rain and postponed matches, was a very good pitch, Berkeley Vale came at us hard from the kick off, and we’re not afraid to put it in and leave a boot in, and few late tackles, I think their plan was to disrupt us, the most exciting thing to happen in the first 5 minutes was a collision with the referee and Luke Smith, which left the ref flat out on the ground, Dr Gregor Cantlay rushed over and took control. After a 7 minute delay, he managed to get to his feet and to the sideline, a Berkeley Vale local took control of the whistle, Barnstoneworth took control of the game and began to dominate procession, which lead to a push in the back in the penalty area. Penalty awarded and confidently converted by JP.

Another attack down the right and a great move between Dom Parkinson and Luke Smith, played through to JP who curled a beauty into the top left corner. 2-0 Barnstoneworth. Berkeley resorted to the long ball game as our midfield, with Will playing a holding roll thwarted their attacks, with the back three of Gregor, Tim & Joey holding firm and cancelling out any attacks. A long ball over the top saw Gregor turning and colliding with their attacker in the box and the stand in ref awarded a penalty. Geoff Channells read it well and saved but couldn’t hold the rebound. 2-1.

From the kick off again we took control and yet some more great inter play between Phil & Frank down the left side put JP through who cooly slotted it past their keeper. 3-1.

Second half started with a little confusion as the stand in ref had to leave, and the original ref suddenly made a miraculous recovery and took control of the whistle.

We just had complete control in the second half restricting Berkeley Vale to just one chance which was snubbed out by Geoff. They did again attempt a bit of the tough stuff, some late tackles on both JP & Chipper, and they did come at us hard for the last 10 minutes where our lack of game time and fitness began to show, second half ended as the first half.

Goals: Jason Parrelli (3)