BULLI BLAST PORT APART IN SEVEN-GOAL ROUT
Bulli sounded a warning to their Illawarra Premier League rivals by thumping Port Kembla 7-0 at Balls Paddock on Wednesday night.
Ben McDonald was in lethal form with the co-captain finishing his 60-minute outing with a four-goal haul while Takumu Tsujimura netted a double in the round three catch-up clash.
The home side opened the scoring in just the third minute with Tsujimura’s cross finding an unmarked McDonald at the back post to tap home.
Despite the lame start, Port arguably edged the following half an hour with the visitors even striking the corner of the goal in the 17th minute through Brian Sumoto.
Bulli blunted Port’s mini-revival by scoring their second on 35 minutes with Tsujimura once again picking out McDonald in space with the clinical striker making no mistake from near the penalty mark.
The points were all but wrapped up in the three minutes leading into the break with the hosts doubling their advantage.
The first came via an error from rookie goalkeeper Justin Mitrevski who spilled Tsujimura’s cross into the goal while the second saw McDonald bag his hat-trick with his shot deflecting off the retreating skipper Nathan Belsito.
Port had an early second-half chance to pull one back after Bulli goalkeeper Daniel Farina, up against his former club, handled the ball outside the area, however, Tory Musumeci’s free-kick blazed over the bar.
McDonald scored his fourth and final goal in the 53rd minute after Aaron Baker unleashed Seiya Kambayashi with the 40-metre switch before the Japanese cut back to the marksman to tap the ball past Mitrevski.
Substitute Sam Miranda and Tsujimura finished off the rout, scoring a goal each in the final 10 minutes with the seven-goal margin between the 2017 grand finalists being the heaviest defeat Port have experienced since losing 8-1 away to Lysaghts some 30 years ago.
The seven-goal margin is the biggest in the IPL since Wollongong Olympic downed Picton 9-0 in round 10 of 2018.
As for @PortKemblaFC, it's their heaviest IPL defeat since losing 8-1 away to Lysaghts in round 26 of the 1990 campaign.
A very difficult evening for a proud club. https://t.co/nkTgz0Zb3Q
— Dylan Arvela (@dylanarvela) August 26, 2020
After the match, McDonald said Bulli were looking to make amends for the 1-1 draw against Tarrawanna.
The co-captain now leads the golden boot race with six strikes but he is just looking forward to tackling a big fortnight which includes a trip to Cringila on Saturday before facing Wollongong United in the Bert Bampton Cup final the following weekend.
“I think the weekend was a tough game for us and Tarrawanna,” McDonald said.
“The conditions didn’t help, the pitch didn’t help but we were really upset with not getting the three points and we wanted to come out and make sure we made up for that tonight. I’m not known for scoring fantastic goals but they all count so I am happy to score a couple tonight. I think I have maybe scored five in one game a few seasons back but four is probably up there. Keep the games coming, we are happy to be playing. A night off tomorrow would be nice Jules [Julio Miranda] if you can hear me but on we go and fingers crossed we are all good for the weekend.”
As for Port, they will need to regroup ahead of a daunting trip to Macedonia Park on Saturday to take on table-topping Wollongong United.
Bulli 7 (Ben McDonald 3’ 35’ 45+2’ 53’, Takumu Tsujumura 44’ 88’, Sam Miranda 82)
Port Kembla 0
Bulli: 1. FARINA Daniel, 30. KAMBAYASHI Seiya, 27. CLARINO Ian, 3. HARRIS Jack, 5. FOSTER Luke, 6. DAVIES Sam, 7. VAN ZYL Luke, 26. TSUJIMURA Takumu, 31. EMERTON Ryan, 9. MCDONALD Ben, 4. BAKER Aaron
Substitutes: 19. MIRANDA Sam (MCDONALD), 8. HEWSON Blake (EMERTON), 11. ENGLISH Edward (VAN ZYL), 22. KLUDASS Braeden
Port Kembla: 21. MITREVSKI Justin, 2. MUSUMECI Toni, 3. BELSITO Nathan, 4. TOBAR Orlando, 6. DI PIERTO Mitchell, 7. NIKOLOVSKI Jayden, 8. SUMOTO Brian, 9. ACEV Brad, 10. MUSUMECI Tory, 11. DJUKIC Daniel
Substitutes: 12. CRAPIS Josh (DJUKIC), 13. MORTIMER Jarryd (SUMOTO), DENT Jackson (DI PIETRO), 15. NIKOLOVSKI Dylan, 1. HADAYA Yacoub
Date: 26 August 2020
Venue: Balls Paddock
Referee: Greg Reid
Assistant Referees: Ryan O’Sullivan and Harry Fisher
Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela
Photo by JC Sports Photography
