BELLAMBI CELEBRATE RETURN TO TOPFLIGHT WITH DOMINANT WIN
Bellambi Rosellas have returned to the topflight with a triumphant and dominant 5-1 win over Port Kembla. Bellambi dominated the possession for a large amount of the game and capitalised on their abundance of chances throughout both halves.
Vaughan Patterson opened up the scoring for the hosts with a perfect header from a corner in the 33rd minute, Mitch Turner doubled the lead in the 39th minute with a neat finish from the edge of the box sending Bellambi 2-0 up going into the break.
Port Kembla started the second half off the more promising off the two and their persistency paid off in the 54th minute when Tory Musumeci scored to make it 2-1. The Rosellas held on and continued to gain momentum through 3 second half goals starting with Brad Watts’ spectacular chip from the edge of the area in the 72nd minute, then through Liam Unicomb who finished off an across goal pass from the previous goal scorer Watts. Bellambi put the icing on the cake with an 89th minute goal from Cody Cuthbertson.
The action started with an aggressive approach from both sides leading to numerous fouls within the opening minutes, Bellambi had the better of the opening chances in the first five minutes when a corner found the head of Ryan Hunter who’s header narrowly missed over the bar.
Bellambi continued their persistence on attack and had a golden opportunity through Watts when he found space on the left and skimmed through the whole defence leaving him one on one with Justin Mitrevski, the keeper forced him into a shot on a bad angle and Watts saw his shot hit the post and go out for a goal kick.
In the 25th minute Port Kembla had their first real chance of the game when a deflected shot found Brad Acev at the edge box gifting him a golden opportunity to open the scoring, but his shot was too powerful and went wide.
The first goal of the game came deservingly to Bellambi in the 33rd minute through a sublime header from Vaughan Patterson on the back of a perfectly weighted corner from Cody Cuthbertson.
The Rosellas then extended their lead in the 39th minute when Sean Poulton won possession off the Port Kembla defence in their own half, Poulton made a darting run down the line and sent the ball to Mitch Turner who neatly finessed the ball in the bottom corner for Bellambi’s second of the half.
Bellambi went into the break full of confidence and momentum after dominating the first 45 minutes of play.
Port Kembla came into the second half the more likely of the two sides and dominated the opening ten minutes, Captain Luke Boersma laid a ball off to Acev who’s shot smacked against the bar, Kembla pilled on the pressure forcing the Bellambi defence into conceding consecutive corners after this shot, the resulting corners forced Bryce Daenell’s hand in making two great saves to maintain his sides’ two goal lead.
Following on from this Bellambi mounted their first attack of the half and could have been three to the good if the referees had seen the ball from a different angle, Watts had a fantastic run down the left wing and crossed the ball in to Poulton who’s shot hit the bar, bounced over the line then out safely into Mitrevski’s hands, this was a very close call that could of gone either way but ultimately referee Greg Reid didn’t call it and let play carry on.
In the minutes following this Port Kembla opened their scoring for the season, following a bit of brilliance from Tory Musumeci who ran past the Bellambi defence and chipped the incoming keeper to cap off an excellent solo run.
At the hour mark of the game, Watts attempted restore his sides’ two goal cushion when he sent Liam Unicomb through for a one on one but was met by a charging Mitrevski who stopped Unicomb from having a shot, saving his side for the mean time.
In the 71st minute, Watts found himself in the centre of the action again after Turner sent him through for another one on one, but this time Bellambi re-gained their two goal cushion as Watts chipped Mitrevski who was charging towards him giving them a 3-1 lead.
In the 74th minute, Watts continued to make his presence felt when he made an superb run down the line, he cut in and found the oncoming Unicomb at the other side of the goal, he passed it across goal and Unicomb slotted it home to give the hosts a 4-1 lead.
Bellambi continued to go for the kill in the following minutes. Watts again found himself making a run down the left wing and cutting in as he passed all the incoming defenders and was one on one with Mitrevski for the second time. He attempted to repeat himself and chip the keeper but Mitrevski got his fingertips to it and made a phenomenal save.
At the brink of full-time, Bellambi added their fifth and final goal of the match when Watts found his way through Port’s defence and played a perfect through ball to Cuthbertson who had his shot and left the net bulging, putting the icing on top in an incredible display from the newly promoted side.
Bellambi made a big statement in their first game back in the top flight and have put other teams on notice, Port Kembla will be disappointed that they didn’t finish their chances and will feel that the score in the end got out of hand.
Bellambi 5 (PATTERSON 34’, TURNER 39’, WATT 72’, UNICOMB 74’, CUTHBERTSON 89’)
Port Kembla 1 (MUSUMECI 54’)
Bellambi: 1. DAENELL Bryce (GK), 2. POULTON Sean, 12. SIMPSON Todd, 4. YOUNG Mitch, 3. HUNTER Ryan, 8. PATTERSON Vaughan, 13. MORGAN Nick, 5. TURNER Mitch, 11. CUTHBERTSON Cody, 10. WATT Brad, 17. UNICOMB Liam
Substitutes: 7.MUCCI Joel, 15. FRIEDRICH Blake, 9. ELHINISI Pat
Port Kembla: 21. MITREVSKI Justin (GK), 2. DI PIERO Mitch, 3. BOSITO Nathan, 4. MUSUMECI Toni, 5. NIKOLOVSKI Dylan, 6. BORESMA Luke, 7. NIKOLOVSKI Jayden, 8. DENT Jackson, 9. MUSUMECI Tony, 10. ACEV Brad, 11. HUGHES Jordan
Substitutes: 12. DJUKIC Daniel, 12. CETPIS Josh, 15. MARL Oscar, 19. PRESILSKI Mitchell (GK), 14. OSBOURNE Isaac
Date: 25 July 2020
Venue: Elizabeth Park , Bellambi
Referee: Greg Reid
Assistant Referees: Graeme Charker, Steven Payne
Report by Dominic Criniti, on Twitter @DCriniti
Photo Courtesy of JC Sports Photography
