PREMIER DIVISION MATCH REVIEWS

Saturday Premier Division

The Saturday Premier Division is so delicately poised, that all remaining games are essentially a final. The top two are only separated by three goals, and Titans are starting to appear in their rear-view mirror. BOSA sit fourth after two vital wins, but miraculously, only two points separate themselves and ninth place. To have six teams battling possible relegation at this stage of the season is extraordinary.

USC Lion 5-4 Adelaide Red Blue Eagles

USC Lion have pushed themselves up to seventh with a priceless 5-4 win over Adelaide Red Blue Eagles. The mercurial nature of the table sees Red Blue Eagles slide down to eighth place, something that very few saw coming. Lion came out the blocks looking like a team fighting for their life, going 3-1 up within the first ten minutes of the game. USC Lion coach David Eggers was pleased with the efforts of his team, but laments conceding late as he knows it may all come down to goal-difference come the end of the campaign “(We were) well in control the whole game. Could’ve gone further up, they battled away and got a goal in the 86th and 92nd which was disappointing for us goal-difference wise”. Miraculously, veteran striker Anthony Matteo, who has plied his trade in the Premier Reserves this season, was called upon and showed that class is permanent – banging all five goals. A wonderful effort from Matteo, who leads the golden boot race in the reserves with sixteen. Perhaps it was a coaching masterstroke from Eggers, who sounded pleasantly surprised when asked about Matteo’s bag of goals “(We) pulled out a bloke in the reserves who hasn’t played a game all season, and he’s scored all five!”. USC Lion will need to pull even more tricks out of the bag as they take on Old Ignatians this week, whilst Adelaide Red Blue Eagles host Pitbulls in a must-win game.

Titans 6-1 MA Hawks

Another impressive win for third-placed Titans as their talisman Zach Allevi was causing headaches once again, with his hat-trick spearheading the 6-1 win. Goals from Boffa, Zerillo and an own goal put the game well beyond doubt as well as affirming Titans’ position in third. Perhaps this run of form may have been left too late on part of the Titans, in terms of making a run at the title. However, as their form goes from strength to strength, they have every reason to be bullish on their title hopes – with three games to go, who knows – anything is possible in this league. 

St Peters 1-0 Sturt

Given the context of the league, and the results of the teams around them, this will be remembered as one of the biggest wins of the season for St Peters – especially if it proves to be the difference between relegation and safety. After a tumultuous year, the St Peters faithful deserved a win like this – as did the team. It was Alec Athanasiou who came in clutch, taking the ball around the keeper in the 85th minute to keep his side alive – special stuff. SPOC still sit in ninth but will evidently be galvanised by this result against a Sturt team who have proven a difficult fixture for whoever plays them. All of a sudden now, Sturt find themselves precariously just a point above relegation. St Peters will travel to BOSA this week, in a game that could ultimately decide their fate. Sturt’s challenge intensifies as they play host to Titans.

Pitbulls 2-3 BOSA

In terms of character, you will struggle to find a better example than BOSA’s gutsy 3-2 win over Pitbulls. Down to nine-men for large parts of the game, BOSA showed that attitude and vigour is what can pull a team out of a tough position, but coach Mathew Kemp is under no allusions – knowing that there is still a lot of football to be played, “We’re just concentrating on keeping the momentum we’ve got over the last two weeks, we’ve turned a corner and the boys are confident – we just have to keep that roll going.” Speaking to the unpredictability of the game, Kemp attested the win to the attitude of his team, as well as some stand-out individual performances. “The boys just believed in themselves, even with nine players we still looked like we wanted to win and that we were going to win it”. BOSA are now two wins on the trot and seem to be firing at just the right time, in particular their young gun forward, Eric Scardigno, who scored a brace which proved the difference in this dramatic affair “Eric was unbelievable. Controlled the game, never stopped, and was constantly looking dangerous” stated Kemp.

Sunday Premier Division

The Sunday Premier Division is also heating up, particularly at the bottom and top end of the table. Downs were excellent in their season-defining away victory over Parafield Gardens, and some interesting results towards the lower end of the table saw some teams move in and out of the relegation zone.

Para Hills West 4-2 WA Raptors

Para Hills West overcame a two-goal deficit, eventually beating West Adelaide Raptors 4-2 at Manor Farm Oval. This result unfortunately consigns Raptors to the foot of the table for the time-being, as well as put Westies within four points of their local rivals, Para Hills East. Yamin Jamal got the home-side back into the game just before half-time. The fortunes of the second half all fell to Westies, as their hard work paid off and Ebert scored five minutes into the second half. From there, Jamal secured his brace which was supplemented by a goal from Mcinerny in the 70th. This brace from Yamin Jamal sees him into double figures for the season, he will be looking to add that tally as his side come up against Ingle Farm this week. Raptors’ attention turns to Parafield Gardens.

Tea Tree Gully 5-2 Para Hills East

All of a sudden, with their game in hand, Tea Tree Gully will back themselves to continue this rich vein of form and potentially pip Parafield Gardens to second-place. James Anfiteatro was impressive, scoring a brace which takes him up to ten goals this season. The Gully looked in control for large periods of the match, as Easties could only manage two consolation goals through McCabe and Norwood in the 53rd and 78th respectively. Once again Para Hills East were subject to a red card, which can make any fixture challenging, let alone an away day at Tea Tree Gully. The Gully march on this week as they take on the Downs, Easties will be looking to reign in their discipline and bounce back against Salisbury Inter.

Salisbury Inter 0-1 Ghan Kilburn

Salisbury Inter got off to the worst-possible start in their bitterly disappointing 1-0 loss to Ghan Kilburn, as Alusine Grant scored for the away side in the very first minute of the game. Inter’s destiny is still in their hands, but for the time being they have slipped down into ninth – and have a massive challenge ahead of them in staying up. This win puts Ghan back on track, as they are back in fourth with a game in hand over Para Hills East. Inter have to pick themselves up and dust themselves off as they prepare to face fifth-placed Easties, two young sides with huge potential – it should be a cracker.

Ingle Farm 1-2 Brahma Lodge

Brahma Lodge registered a priceless win over fellow relegation-candidates Ingle Farm on the weekend, with Deng Deng making himself the hero – winning the game in the 90th minute. After a tough period for Brahma, this is exactly what this new-look team needed. It was a combination of youth and experience that got them over the line, as Deng Deng’s goal was supplemented by a goal from the experienced Aaron Westervelt. This win could prove to be the biggest of the season for Brahma, coach John McCormack spoke about some of the challenges his side has faced this season, and how a win like this was well-deserved for all their efforts, “the response from our boys this week was good, the biggest challenge for us is to get our boys available each week. In this rebuilding stage, it’s hard to get everyone on the same page.” McCormack and his men deserved this result “for 90 minutes we were competitive, our work rate was good, our energy was good - You can see what it meant to the players”, and hopefully for their sake, this can kickstart a string of results that sees Brahma have a successful end to the season.