Berkeley Sports remains unbeaten in their last four matches and continue to climb the District League table after a 2-0 win over University FC at Kooloobong Oval on Good Friday.
Two first half goals to Nuno Pires and Ryosuke Matsuoka (penalty) respectively set the platform which the students were unable to recover despite Berkeley finishing the game with just nine players.
Piries looked to open the scoring with an audacious bicycle kick from a pin point cross from Matsuoka after just six minutes. The effort was more spectacular than the outcome on this occasion.
Just a few minutes later, Berkeley found the students wanting with a swift breakaway. David Chicharo played Pires in behind the defence and the veteran striker neatly tucked away the opportunity inside the far post to give Berkeley the lead.
The goats made it two inside 13 minutes after Matsuoka showed his talent by bringing down a delightful ball over the top of the Uni defence. His fabulous first touch took the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper Milo Gruwez who unfortunately took out Matsuoka whilst desperately trying to rescue the situation. The referee pointed to the spot which saw Matsuoka drive the ball beyond the outstretched Gruwez.
University were clearly rattled early however, they gradually started to get themselves back into the game with some raids mainly through their wide players.
It wasn’t until the 24th minute though that University had their first effort on goal. Josh Martin did ever so well to beat a defender before unleashing a left foot drive from distance which saw Berkeley shot stopper Claude D’Alessio scramble across his goal to save the shot.
Berkeley though was continuing to be an attacking threat throughout the first half. Mondo Kagami used his pace to shrug off a defender as he ripped a left footed shot goal bound which forced Gruwez into a fine save.
On 35 minutes, the two goal scorers linked up in a nice exchange which ended with Pires’ shot blasted over the fence.
Berkeley was looking reasonably comfortable with proceedings however on 42 minutes, a brain snap by Luke Boersma saw the Goats reduced to 10 players just before the break.
The students came out in the second half with some renewed hope and on 57 minutes, Lachlan Morgan’s strike from just inside the penalty area nestled into the side netting giving the illusion a goal was scored to the relief of the Berkeley faithful.
On 65 minutes, a bit of a mix up between Gruwez and Morgan saw Pires sneak between the two and pass the ball towards an unguarded goal. The ball appeared goal bound however, much to everyone’s amazement, it detoured the wrong side of the goalpost.
Just two minutes later, Christopher Twigg had a golden chance to reduce the deficit after Morgan played a dangerous ball across goal. The ball looked to take a slightly high bounce and Twigg was unable to bundle it over the line with the goal at his mercy.
University looked to pepper the Berkeley goal over the last 10-15 minutes of the game however all efforts were to no avail as they just couldn’t find that little bit of luck or magic that was perhaps required.
Berkeley finished the game with nine players as substitute Jeremy Tyssen, saw red in the dying minutes of the game after he appeared to lash out at an opponent.
Berkeley welcome Thirroul next week whilst University will be looking to bounce back as they host Warilla Wanderers.
Friday 7 April @ Kooloobong Oval
University FC – 0
Berkeley Sports – 2 (Pires 8’, Matsuoka 13’(p))
UNIVESITY FC | 1. Milo GRUWEZ, 2. Lachlan MORGAN, 3. Ashley HAWKES, 6. Joshua MARTIN (ZAMUNER – 76’), 7. Justin SMITH, 11. Christopher TWIGG (JOYCE – 80’), 21. Christopher HOLLINGSHEAD, 30. Luke INGLIS, 32. Scott MAWBEY, 35. Louis CONNELL, 34. Jackson DUMMETT
Substitutes: 8. Jordan SIMMS, 9. Oscar PRUKS, 16. Ben JOYCE, 20. Liam ZAMUNER, 28. Mathew CONNELLY, 41. Gokulkrishna GIRISAN
BERKELEY SPORTS | 1. Claude D’ALESSIO, 2. Rayner WILSON-TYRRELL, 3. Aaron TREVISI, 4. Jarryd KING, 5. Ryan CROUCH, 6. Luke BOERSMA, 7. Mondo KAGAMI, 8. Aurin JONES (TYSSEN – 85), 9. Nuno PIRES (YILMAZ – 80’), 10. David CHICHARO, 11. Ryosuke MATSUOKA
Substitutes: 12. Jeremy TYSSEN, 13. Greg MOON, 14. Massimo MACCIONI, 15. Melih YILMAZ, 16. Kohen WHITE, 21. Mitchell O’NEILL
Referee: Hayden Michlmayr
Assistant Referees: Michael Matthesius and Club
Report by Bobby Mazevski
File Photo
