Shoalhaven secured their first three points of 2025 with a 2-0 win over Balgownie Rangers on Saturday at Judy Masters Oval.
Samuel Baxter opened the scoring within eight minutes before Colby Robinson added a second five minutes later.
The visitors had the first shot of the game within two minutes when Ryan Wiggins stepped out of defence and swerved the ball wide of the right post.
Shoalhaven built on this positive start, taking the lead in the eighth minute. Thomas Van Oploo escaped down the right and found Baxter at the far post, who tapped home from close range.
The side doubled their advantage 15 minutes in. Robinson chased down a long ball over the top that Rangers’ goalkeeper Timothy Walsh failed to clear, allowing the forward to pass it into a vacant.
Balgownie looked to halve the deficit four minutes later as Bailey Napier took aim from the right edge of the box, seeing the ball fly narrowly over.
The dynamism and pace of Shoalhaven’s attack, especially Matthew Graham, was causing the Rangers plenty of problems as they continued to break in behind.
Shoalhaven should have been three goals up half an hour in when Robinson raced through one-on-one with Walsh, but the goalkeeper produced an important stop.
Three minutes later, Napier went close to a Balgownie goal when Shoalhaven goalkeeper Matthew White batted away his volley from the left of the box in the Shoalhaven goal.
In the final minute of regular time, Napier got into a shooting position again, this time nodding narrowly over the bar from a corner.
Shoalhaven’s clinical edge proved to be the difference as the teams went into the shed, with the away side holding a two-goal advantage at halftime.
Shoalhaven carried on their exciting football into the second and almost scored within five minutes. Van Oploo mazed his way down the right and cut the back for Robinson, who shovelled it over the crossbar.
Four minutes later, they had another chance when Baxter snatched the ball deep in Balgownie’s defensive half. He played the ball to his left for Graham, and the winger fired a shot into the near post.
The Rangers started wresting some control in the match, but their opponents continued to be a sporadic threat.
In the 77th minute, Robinson utilised his pace to find space and clipped the right post with a shot from the edge of the area.
Balgownie responded with two close efforts soon after, when Lucas Bruce forced a top save from Matthew White before Trent Worthington fired a close-range shot over.
The hosts could not find a way back into the game, and Shoalhaven claimed their first win of the season.
Shoalhaven host University next Saturday while Balgownie travel to Bellambi.
Report by Tim Gibson
