Dunsborough Draw Dynamos

A howling gale and driving rain played a significant role in a tough 3-3 encounter between the Dunsborough Towners and Bunbury Dynamos in a second division football clash at Forrest Park on Sunday.

Neither side could claim the elements as their ally that imparted favours impartially.

Dunsborough had first use of the conditions and by halftime had established a 3-0 lead but realized that in the circumstances it was not an impregnable position regretting the missed chances that would have consolidated their position.

Suspension had robbed the Towners of two players in goalkeeper Paul Andrews and coach Steve Palmer, the midfield driving force, while left-winger Keiran Smith had an appointment in Perth that forced him to leave after the first-half.

The goalkeeper’s position was surprisingly filled by striker Luke Taylor who is unable to take his normal place in the side because of a hamstring injury and justified his selection with two important saves in the first-half.

The return of striker John Crosbie, following his absence in the Eastern States, was fortuitous with him scoring two well taken goals in the 17th and 28th minutes.

Both were the result of telling angled crosses by Cid Richards and Richard Olsen that caught the Dynamo defence too square.

It was the knowledge of the danger Crosbie posed lurking behind the Dynamo defence that pressured Josh Davidson to dive low in the 40th min to intercept another Richards cross only to head the ball into his own net.

The prospect that Dunsborough would find itself on the back foot against a determined Dynamo, using the conditions to their advantage in the same way as Dunsborough, forced Palmer to tweak the formation of his side.

It required deeper defence and additions to the midfield acknowledging that it would concede the initiative to the opposition.

Midfielders Micky Doyle and Tomohiro Nagata performed heroically throughout the game while gained outstanding displays from everyone with Jake Thompson being named “man of the match” for Dunsborough

It was inevitable that the well balanced Dynamo would fight their way back into the contest using the wind to telling effect scoring in the 48th and 54th minutes through Mike McKenna and substitute Jason King.

Both goals came from little chips over the defence allowing both strikers to find themselves in a one on one situation with Taylor who had no chance to save.

Dunsborough were wobbling and looked like being overrun but somehow managed to settle after these setbacks.

As the minutes ticked away it seemed that the Towners might pull off a victory. They had few chances when they broke the shackles of the Dynamo pressure and Crosbie could have scored his second hattrick of the season when he skinned the opposition only to loop the ball over the bar.

Dynamos’ pressure finally bore fruit in the 79th minute when a long throw-in was met by McKenna whose back-header on the near post flew across the face of goal inside the far top angle.

Suddenly Dunsborough looked like once again losing in the dying minutes after having done all the hard work to merit something out of the cojntest.

True to the style they have demonstrated all year they dug deep and repelled borders frustrating Dynamos at every turn.

In fact The Towners should have won the match in the last minute of play when Micky Doyle ran half the pitch with the Dynamo defence caught well up field attempting the offside trap.

It seemed a certain goal and three points but with only goalkeeper Glen King to beat Doyle managed to hit the shot right at him.

The march of the Dunsborough’s women’s team at the top of the second division league continued with a solid 4-2 victory over Bunbury Dynamos in the earlier game with Hiedi Sounness scoring a hattrick with the fourth going to Erin French.