Round Three Match Report

North Caulfield v Doncaster Rovers Report

Round 3 State League Div.2 South East Sunday 29th April 2007

Reserves: North Caulfield 0 v Doncaster Rovers 6

Seniors: North Caulfield 0 v Doncaster Rovers 2

Doncaster Rovers visited Anderson Reserve the home of Port Melbourne SC which was being used by North Caulfield as their home ground for this once a year Sunday fixture. The name of the ground and the quality of the pitch seemed like a good omen as our two teams walked away with 6 points and having scored 8 goals between them.

But the question on everybody’s lips was whether they were at the right fixture when the seniors ran out in the unusual look of white tops, red shorts, yes red and yellow socks! A clash of strips due to the Football Federation listing the shorts and sock colours for the opposition incorrectly caused a headache for and the team having to borrow shorts from Port Melbourne.

Whilst North Caulfield is newly promoted to the league they were not to be taken lightly as they are coached by ex-NSL and Premier League coach Kenny Murphy who has instilled discipline into the team and recruited over the off season. Meanwhile Rovers Coach Joe Biskic had to tinker with his winning combination of last week due to Jason Vukadin being away and Jeff Stefanidis still being absent due to his wife delivering his first born.

Doncaster Rovers started confidently and immediately took control of the midfield, with attacks being launched down both the right and left wings. Ramzi Nasser playing wide right and Shayan Alinejad playing wide left this week to allow Tony Alessandrino back upfront, after missing last week with injury, caused the Nth Caulfield defence quite a headache. Michael Santoro and Rob Ardesi were combining well from the central midfield positions with the wingers to stretch the opposition defence.

On the 18th minute mark Ardesi combined with Alinejad on the left, Ardesi then cut in and unleashed a low shot to the far corner of the goal beating the dive of goalkeeper Gutworth in the Nth Caulfield goal only to see the ball hit the right side post and bounce away from the goal. Rovers built on this and pegged the opposition into their half and patiently pushed the ball around creating openings. Upfront Gerry McAleer and Tony Alessandrino constantly moved around and made space making it difficult for the defenders to track them.

The breakthrough for the first goal came in the 23rd minute when the hardworking young John Strateas collected the ball in his own half played a short pass to Santoro who played a quick pass to Nasser on the right, Nasser held the ball up and then slipped it through to the overlapping Santoro who left his defender in his wake and crossed a low hard drive to the near post to meet the outstretched boot of Alessandrino who put the ball across the line before Gutworth could get to it.

As expected Nth Caulfield raised the tempo early in the second half and launched some long balls trying to find Piers Stammers up front but if the defence didn’t deal with it then the confident Manny Pappas in the Rovers goal certainly did. There was however one anxious moment in the 59th minute when the Nth Caulfield supporters had thought the ball had gone in at the near post but Pappas and the sweeper Alan Macinkovic ushered the ball into the side netting.

The young 18 year old Strateas in midfield was simply cutting out every attack that Nth Caulfield attempted to launch and the even younger 17 year old Shayan Alinejad kept turning the defenders inside out on the left. A spell of pressure by Rovers created 4 consecutive corners with the most dangerous meeting the head of Ross Cardillo who directed his strong header just over the bar.

Referee Richard Savva caused concern again for the Rovers when he whistled for handball with the game still poised at 1-0, everyone thought it was going to be a repeat of the game against Diamond Valley when he gave a penalty for handball on the edge of the area, but this time it was a free kick. The thunderous strike struck Ardesi in the wall and the danger cleared.

Rovers now dominated the game and Captain Ardesi again found his shot from the distance not wanting to go in the net with the ball striking the cross bar. The game was sealed when Route One was employed to good affect, Pappas released a long kick from goals on to the head of McAleer who knocked it on to Alessandrino running through, the ball bounced once and he hit a half volley from 20 metres in to the top right corner of the goal.

The reserves moved to the top of the ladder with an emphatic 6-0 demolition of the opposition, stroking the ball around confidently they dominated possession and showed clinical finishing.

After two weeks on the road its back home to Anderson Park for the Friday night clash against Northcote City. In the seniors Northcote will be attempting to bounce back from defeat whereas Rovers will want to build on a good start to the season, whilst in the reserves it’s first versus third. Kick off times for Friday 4th May 2007 is 6.30pm for the reserves and 8.30pm for the seniors.

STEVE HARGITAY
Club President