UNIVERSITY v OAK FLATS | IDL ROUND 2 | MATCH REPORT
Oak Flats’ 11-match winning run in the District League, which spans back to round four of 2020, came to an end on Saturday afternoon with University prevailing with a 4-2 win at Kooloobong Oval.
A second-half brace from speedster Chris Twigg sealed the result for the Students, but only after goalkeeper Liam Stevenson produced a raft of saves to keep the Falcons at bay.
Oak Flats squandered a couple of early chances through Daniel Munilla and Bojan Caric – though the latter’s was severely hampered by a wicked bounce on the edge of the six-yard box.
In the 18th minute, Caric had a powerful drive blocked by Stevenson for a corner, with the ensuing set-piece finding Lee Gilroy who blasted the ball over.
University won a penalty in the 24th minute after a clumsy foul from Tom Mindzas tripped Adam Bassuni in the box.
Curtis Iverson took responsibility for the spot-kick after the Students had failed to convert a penalty in round one, and the centreback made no mistake in thumping it past the outstretched Cameron Camilleri’s right.
The Students’ advantage didn’t last long with the reigning premiers netting twice in the space of seven minutes.
The first goal saw Caric tuck the ball into the bottom right corner from a Daniel Munilla cut back before Munilla finished off a quick counter-attack after a smart flick-on from Kyle Del.
Gilroy had another two chances in the shadows of half time, however, the first was spectacularly saved by the University goalkeeper for a corner which ended up finding Gilroy whose shot was blocked on the line by Christian Presslaber.
University pulled level seven minutes into the second period through Doug Woodiwiss, with the captain’s free-kick from 25 metres out and to the left of goal beating the Oak Flats custodian, despite him getting hands to the strike.
Caric nearly netted his second of the afternoon on the hour mark after he found himself through on goal, however, his finish was remarkably kept out by Stevenson’s flailing leg.
In the 70th minute, Uni pushed ahead once more with Twigg sprinting on to Josh Martin’s through-ball before knocking his shot into the bottom left corner.
Twigg was close to a second five minutes later when he had a shot saved by Camilleri, but he would put the game to bed a short time later after chasing down a long ball and lashing the ball into the back of the net.
After the match, Woodiwiss commented on his side’s solid start to the season and the player of the match showing from their goalkeeper after he sat on the bench in the opening round.
“We’ve had a considerably better start this year compared to most years,” Woodiwiss said.
“We have built a lot of what we managed to do last year in a shortened season and we have a fair bit of cohesion in the squad.
“I think the FFA Cup game against Bulli proved to a lot of the guys that we can play and I think we have taken that confidence into games… it’s something we can build on and today was exemplary of what we can do when we put our minds to it for 90 minutes.
“[Stevenson] was unreal, he saved me and a few other defenders after mistakes at times. It’s fantastic to have quality throughout the squad, we have people pushing others and when you have that you have people stepping up on game day.”
University will be looking to add to their four points away to Berkeley next Saturday while, on the same day, Oak Flats will play their first match at Keith Bond Oval for the season against Picton.
University: 4 (Curtis Iverson 24’ PEN, Doug Woodiwiss 52’, Chris Twigg 70’ 82’)
Oak Flats: 2 (Bojan Caric 31’, Daniel Munilla 38’)
University: 1. STEVENSON Liam, 3. HAWKES Ashley, 8. IVERSON Curtis, 34. JANSMA-SMITH Julian, 12. PRESSLABER Christian, 20. DUMMETT Jackson, 6. MARTIN Josh, 25. WOODIWISS Doug, 14. BASSUNI Adam, 9. PRUKS Oscar, 22. TWIGG Chris
Substitutes: 41. BIONDO Caleb, 23. SINCLAIR Ryan (DUMMETT), 13. O’BRIEN Conor, 17. SIMMS Jordan, 19. COETZER Alex
Oak Flats: CAMILLERI Cameron, 2. MINDZAS Thomas, 3. WARBURTON Alan, 4. GOLDSMITH Jason, 5. STEVENSON Jamie, 6. CONDELLO Lance, 7. VINTON Jarryd, 8. DEL Kyle, 9. CARIC Bojan, 10. GILROY Lee, 11. MUNILLA Daniel
Substitutes: 12. BAUSCH Alex (DEL), 13. KOTRC Dave (MINDZAS), 14. EAGLETON Josh, 21. JARMAN Chris
Date: 2 April 2021
Venue: Kooloobong Oval
Referee: Andrew Naylor
Assistant Referees: Reece Edwards and Lauren Leung
Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela
Photo by Brooklan Frkovic
