MATCH REPORT: Round 19 vs Northern Rovers FC
NRFL Men's First Team Round 19 Match Report: Northern Rovers v East Coast Bays, McFetridge Park, Saturday 19th August 2023.
Barrage Of Corners only leads to two strikes in intense battle of local rivals
Bays were on the road for the first of three away games and first up was a trip down to Glenfield to take on local rivals Northern Rovers. In their side were former Bays players Tom Damon & Jason “Macca” McKeown. A couple of changes to the Bays line up with Leo back in the starting line-up after injury, replacing an absent Logan and JS Chang making his starting debut for Bays with Dylan not risked because of carrying an injury. Niko Elie was on the bench ready to make his Bays 1st team debut.
For the first 5-10 minutes, both teams were passing it around and trying to work out a way to unlock the opposition’s defence. The first moment of interest came when the Rovers keeper was penalised for picking up a back pass leading to a Bays free kick out on the left. Thomson touched the ball off to Callum and he let fly only to see the Rovers keeper dive full stretch to punch the shot away. A ball down the left from Nathan found JS Chang. He in turn found Thomson and his shot was straight at the keeper. Lots of Bays play in the first half was down the right flank. Leo sent Liam away and his cross right across the face of goal escaped all the Bays attackers. Liam did a nice flick on header to David and his cross from the right was headed behind by the defence. From the resulting corner, Bays took the lead in the 16th minute. Shots by Nathan & David were saved and in the goalmouth scramble it looked like the Rovers keeper drilled the ball against one of his own defenders into the net. NRFL have given the goal to David but a lot of us thought it looked like an own goal.
Therefore, the score line read Northern Rovers 0 EC Bays 1. After twenty-three minutes, Leo was booked for a follow through tackle on Edwards. David then had a shot blocked and with Thomson through on goal, Rovers cleared for a corner. Liam made another break down the right and his cross was blocked for you guessed it – another corner. From Callum’s corner, the ball was cleared to just outside the box where Thomson shot & the keeper saved low down. David set Nathan free down the left and in a repeat of Liam’s earlier effort, his cross skimmed right across the face of the goal. In a rare attack, forward Rovers had their first shot of the half in the 43rd minute with Macca shooting wide of Louie’s goal. Leo intercepted a cross-field ball, turned well and passed forward to Thomson. Unfortunately, the pass was just a little bit too far forward for Thommo to get to. Great team play lead to a cross by Liam being taken very well by the Rovers keeper under pressure from two Bays players. The half finished with a Rovers free kick thirty yards out that Turner hit straight into the Bays wall.
The half time whistle went and the score read Northern Rovers 0 EC Bays 1. Lots of good team play & endeavour by Bays but only the one goal to show for the constant pressure put on the Rovers goal. Their manager cannot have been very happy with the way they played as they made two changes at half time with Friday & Power coming on. One of our best attacking threats in the second half came from Louie at the back. He played a couple of fantastic long balls down the flanks. Liam latched on to one of these and his cross saw JS Chang shoot just wide. David broke down the right. Liam had his cross blocked for a corner. Callum’s corner was headed behind at the far post for another corner. The next corner was headed on to a defender but the referee gave a goal kick instead of a corner.
The attacking barrage continued in the second half. David was down the right flank. He switched play to Nathan on the left and then his cross was caught by the keeper under Leo’s challenge. Liam cut in from the right and his left foot shot was blocked for another corner. James headed the corner over the bar. Shock, horror as Rovers had a rare shot by Buckingham from long range go well wide. Liam then found Nick and after a great turn, he had a shot saved. Liam cut in again from the right and had another left footer ricochet off a defender. Nathan found JS Chang and he had a right foot shot saved. Chang then passed to David and his shot hit the foot of the post before rolling away. The game was getting a bit feisty by now and both teams put in some heavy challenges. Mikey K went shoulder to shoulder with Freddi and there was a bit of a sickening thud as he went into one of the advertising boards. Sign Kolstdog up to WWE I say!!. Nick then turned a defender and fed Liam who shot over. JS Chang’s starting debut was over in the 69th minute when Orlando replaced him. Another great run by Nick saw him pass out to Liam on the right flank. Liam played the ball into Thomson and his shot was saved at the base of the post by the keeper for another corner.
Nathan spoiled his copybook a little by being booked for a silly kicking the ball away. Rovers made a change with Bartlett coming and two minutes later birthday boy Mikey G came on for David, who had run tirelessly all day. A foul on Orlando lead to a free kick that then lead to a barrage of corners on the Rovers goal. Mikey G made a break down the right and passed forward to Liam. He chipped over the keeper but the ball landed on the roof of the net with the aid of a deflection. Liam was in the thick of the action again as another shot was deflected past the far post. From Callum’s corner, James had a partial header go wide. In a rare Rovers attack, Turner played in a recovered Freddi and his cross was blocked for a corner. Louie mistimed his punch to clear but the next header from outside the box luckily went wide.
Liam then beat Friday all ends up and when he was one on one with the keeper he tried to shoot through his legs. The Rovers keeper luckily saved with is legs. A bit of controversy then followed. One of the Rovers players was away down the right when Thomson came across and took him out late. Thomson was booked but he was very lucky it was not a red card instead. Just as the game was ending, a peach of a through ball went straight down the middle of the Rovers defence. Nick was away and as he approached the oncoming Rovers keeper he picked his spot and expertly hit his right foot shot past the keeper into the bottom corner for the match winning decider. There was still time for Niko to come on to make his first team debut in place of Leo for a couple of minutes at the end.
The final whistle went and the final score read Northern Rovers 0 East Coast Bays 2. Three more points in the bag but it was a hard battle to watch. Rovers were poor but we did not punish them more with the many corners & attacking chances we had. Congrats to both JS Chang and Niko for their milestones and now it is on to the next challenge of a 5pm night game against Ellerslie next Saturday night at Michaels Avenue. See you all there.
Final Score: Northern Rovers 0 vs East Coast Bays 2
Northern Rovers: A Capalbo, D Buckingham, T Webb, L Burney, J Bracken, G Freddi, T Damon, N Edwards, Y Mak, J McKeown, R Turner
Subs: K Friday 46, K Power 46, H Bartlett 77, F James 90
East Coast Bays: L Caunter, J Edgeler, N Maisey, C Simmonds, T Kim (N Elie 90), N Gaze, M Kolston, T Nkoy, D Brown (M Gaze 79), L Andersen, YS Chang (O Thorpe 69)
Goals: EC Bays: D Brown 16, N Gaze 93