Wednesday, 15 April 2009 07:06
Bunbury United 6, Dunsborough 1 View Photos From This Game
The Dunsborough Towners suffered the worst start possible to their 2009 South West Football season when all three teams lost in the opening round to powerhouse Bunbury United at the Soccerdrome in Bunbury on Sunday.
They were swamped 6-1 in the Men’s Premier League encounter, lost 3-0 in a gutsy Reserve clash and didn’t deserve to lose 1-0 in the women’s Premier league.
But it was no more than was expected for the men’s teams with the Towners only able to field a bare 22 players for both,
The temporary loss of 11 players for various reasons forced The Towners to field makeshift combinations with first team members substituting for the reserves and visa versa.
Unfortunately the heat took its toll on players, especially the new ones to WA, and only one reserve was able to act as a substitute for the Premier League side.
At half-time Dunsborough had effectively lost the match with Bunbury holding a 5-0 lead with two goals from Paddy Roberts and one each to Adam Spinelli, Steve Rogers and Arty Sokolov.David
For The Towners it was a case of chasing shadows and the problems increased when Kieran McCabe hobbled off with an achilles injury early in the fxirst-half to be replaced by Paul Jackman who had played a full game in the reserves.
At half time the players were urged to forget the first half and try to win the second, an attitude that was mirrored by a resolute display that produced a 1-1 score-line that augurs well for the season.
It was even more meritorious considering that they were reduced to ten men midway through the half when Jackman was forced to leave the field with a hamstring injury.
Dunsborough’s moment of joy came in the 60th minute when tenacious sweeper captain Terry McBride ventured up field to find left-winger Sebastian Kovacs who released his trademark left foot cross to pick out Mark Ferguson who powered home a header on the far post.
For a while it seemed that The Towners just might pull off a second-half victory but within three minutes Bunbury had re-established their half-time lead.
But they could not break down the Towners defence again with 14 year-old goalkeeper Cohen Sadlier making a numbers of fine reflex saves.
Suggestions that Bunbury had taken their foot off the pedal were refuted by Bunbury captain Alex Coszena after the game stating that the game plane was to emulate the first-half scoreline.
Much of the credit for the second-half fight back must go to McBride, “Man of the Match” Cid Richards and Brent Hillyard whose rearguard actions denied Bunbury a bigger margin.
It is clear, however, that the availability of players to see the season out could once again become a problem for the club.
If that can be achieved there is enough talent in the club to feel confident that a top four place is worthy of consideration.
It is the young brigade such as Kovas, Josh McBride, Jake Smith, Jake and Clint Thompson, Richard Olsen, Cohen Sadlier and Richards that could, with more game time, be the making of the club for this and future years.
