Devastating Dunsborough

A devastating opening three goal spell by the Dunsborough Towners effectively ended Blackwoods interest in the fourth division knockout tournament as they continued on to record an emphatic 7-1 victory at Balingup on Sunday.

Blackwood had no answer to the penetrating power of young striker Richard Olsen whose hattrick of goals complemented the pressure that Dunsborough exerted from the first whistle.

In the Women’s second division knockout encounter Richard’s sister Emma was equally deadly when she scored with a powerful first time shot from the edge of the penalty area in 26th minute of the second-half.

Olsen picked up a throw-in and in one movement turned and fired a fierce angled volley across the goalkeeper and inside the far post.

It was a strike that helped the Towners to a 2-0 win over Blackwood  at the same venue earlier in the day.

The Dunsborough women totally dominated the game with goalkeeper Grace Lindsay only occasionally getting a touch of the ball.

But they found it difficult to break down the resolute Blackwood defence relying on an own goal following a series of corners in the fourth minute for their initial success.

The previous week Dunsborough had recorded a 3-0 win over Blackwood in the men’s fourth division league encounter coming out on top only in the latter stages of the game.

Sunday’s game was a walk in the park by comparison, albeit a wet slippery park, and it could have been  a much more imposing scoreline had some other gilt-edged chances been taken.

In fact Richard Olsen should have registered a double hattrick only to snatch at the ball and hit the goalkeeper when completely through in the second-half.

But it would be churlish to complain at these misses because Olsen proved a major source of pain for Blackwood throughout the game.

In all Dunsborough provided a complete team effort, and like the Women’s game goalkeeper Wayne Daniels had little to do but gather the ball when entered the penalty area.

By half-time Dunsborough held a commanding 5-0 lead, and apart from midfielder Steve Palmer the Towners used genuine fourth team players until late in the game when with a seven goal lead the contest was all over.

Dunsborough's second division side had been scheduled to meet Collie in the second division club knockout cup until Collie had been forced to pull their second team out of the competition

Dunsborough were forced to add two second division players to their substitute bench when four selected fourth division players failed to turn up to catch the bus.

The match was only one minute old when Olsen’s scored his first goal followed by two more in the 14th and 22nd minutes.

His first was a superb free kick bending it over the defensive wall evading the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Callum Odey to enter the net just inside the left-hand post.

Then Micky Finn ended a good right wing move with a perfect high cross to the far post for Olsen to increase the lead.

Steve Palmer was the provider to Olsen’s third goal when he calculating headed the cross over Odey.

In a rare moment for club and player team captain Tony Plumb added a fourth in the 35th minute before the goal of the match in the 40th minute from Finn who struck a high floater from the wing over Odey into the far top corner.

Blacktown had fleeting chances with the best coming in the 43rd minute when Steve Hawkins ghosted into space behind the Dunsborough defence to meet a superb free kick only to direct a his point blank range header at goalkeeper Wayne Daniels.

Within one minute of the restart the superb skills of Olsen left the Blackwood defence floundering and his perfect cross found Finney who made no mistake with a header from close range.

Dunsborough’s scoring spree ended in the 64th minute when Yaroslav Bytaev picked up the crumbs from a Palmer cross to score with ease with only Odey to beat.

Two minutes later Dunsborough suffered a severe setback when Palmer was red carded, a decision that will force him out of next week’s league encounter with Bunbury Dynamo.

Blacktown gained a little comfort with the last goal of the match in the 74th minute when a lack of concentration in the Dunsborough defence allowed Jason Moore to find himself alone with only Daniels to beat.