Unanderra Hearts won 3-0 at Ian McLennan Park against a struggling Oak Flats side on a cold Sunday night.
The Hearts opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Tatsuki Nagatsuka put in an accurate free kick from the left of the box and Jason Goldsmith was at the back post just in time to header it in.
Unanderra dominated the ball for most of the game and had plenty of great chances to make the score line even greater.
In the first minute, Dominic Magill almost put the Hearts up when he received the ball edge of the area and shot it just wide.
Around nine minutes later, a very similar play occurred except this time Magill hit it straight into the keeper.
Oak Flats’ first chance came in the 11th minute when Jamie Stevenson crossed an inch perfect ball to Bojan Caric, who touched it just wide in front of goal.
Only a couple of minutes later, Unanderra had a big chance when Magill sent another effort into the grasp of the Oak Flats keeper as his volley was easily saved.
Unanderra scored their second in the 42nd minute. Nagatsuka placed a beautiful corner into Magill who tucks it away with a low slicing shot from close range.
Oak Flats had a free kick right after half time. Caric took it well but it was saved as it wasn’t wide enough to escape the keepers grasps.
With 30 minutes to go, Unanderra extended their lead with an incredible jumping header from defender Luke Debrot who was up for the Hearts corner. It was another whizzing cross from Nagatsuka who got a hattrick of assists on the night.
Luke Day went on a run for his Oak Flats side shortly after but missed timed his shot resulting in a goal kick.
Caric had a one on one chance to bring it back to a two goal difference but his shot was deflected and whacked onto the crossbar.
Magill was back on the attack for the Hearts but his effort went straight to the keeper after dribbling past two defenders to get his shot away.
Oak Flats seemed to be more precise and accurate in the final third as they had some great chances to get goals back in the last 10 minutes.
Jarryd Vinton used a fake shot to find a pocket of space to shoot but Hearts keeper Blake Coad made another spectacular save to keep his side from conceding.
Shortly after a headed attempt from Rhys Blanch off an Oak Flats corner almost gave the traveling side a goal but Coad was there again to save the game.
After full time, Hearts Coach Rod Williams had some words to say.
“I thought we played some good football tonight, we had a lot of possession and a lot of chances.”
“Happy with the three points but we could’ve had more goals with the amount of dominance we had.”
“To be fair to Oak Flats, they had a couple of chances themselves but overall happy with the three points and a clean sheet” he finished.
Sunday 17 July 2022
Ian McLennan Park
Unanderra Hearts – 3 (Jason Goldsmith 27’, Dominic Magill 42’, Luke Debrot 60’)
Oak Flats Falcons – 0
Line ups:
Unanderra Hearts | 20. Blake COAD, 5. Luke DEBROT, 4. Jason GOLDSMITH, 3. Nathan BELSITO, 2. Peter KYRAKOUDES, 14. Lachlan MARTIN, 6. Robert DELBANCO, 10. Tatsuki NAGATSUKA, 17. Dominic MAGILL, 13. Mark PICCIOLINI, 8. Jonathan LIDDLE
Subs: 12. Michael PERINICH, 1. Kenji SAWADA, 9. Lorri MANFREDI, 15. Chris MURDZEVSKI, 39. Zac DI GENNI
Oak Flats Falcons | 1. Chris Jarman, 3. Alan WARBURTON, 4. Matt VANDENBURG, Jamie STEVENSON, 6. Rhys BLANCH, 7. Gaku YAMAMOTO, 8. Luke DAY, 9. Bojan CARIC, 10. Jarryd VINTON, 11. Clint CHURCH, 16. Chad FERNANDEZ
Subs: 13. Vince CAPPETTA, 14. Jack BECKER, 15. Jesse WARD
Referee: Reece Edwards
Assistants: Brendon Fotheringham and Stuart Bell
Report by Solomon Beddow
