Saints Slay Snakes In Opener
St George Willawong 8 (Krkeljas 15’, 17’, 19’, 59’, 69’; Greci 35’, Skavo 42’, Perkic 63') Caboolture 1 (Bargh 34’) HT: 5-1
Played at St George’s Park.
St George came out firing to inflict a savage defeat on Caboolture in Sunday evening’s Capital League 3 clash. A four minute first half hat-trick to Aleksa Kekeljas set them on their way and they ran over their opposition from then on with Krkeljas ending the match with five goals. The match began in steamy conditions and light rain began falling after five minutes, causing spectators to scurry for shelter as it increased. The first 15 minutes were fairly even with neither side creating any meaningful opportunities. Then the flood gates opened on the field with a flurry of goals from Krkeljas in a mesmerizing four minute spell, with the 1st probably the best of those as he evaded a tackle on the right wing, entered the box and curled a left footer round Caboolture keeper Asher Livsey. Caboolture got one back on 34 minutes, when Lewis Bargh, struck a ball from wide out on the right which caught Thomas Sutherland out as it flew into the top corner and this seemed to rally them. But just two minutes later, Livsey spilled a ball from a free kick that he should have gathered and David Grecl was on hand to prod it home. The Saints added another goal just before the break when a long range shot from Sanjin Skavo took a deflection with Livsey wrong-footed. The rain cleared for the 2nd half and Caboolture were better early on and had a great chance on 58 minutes when a cross from the right reached Bargh at the back post but he could only send it back across goal. St George responded with 3 more goals in ten minutes, including two more for Krkeljas, with Mario Perkic getting a deserved goal for his industrious play throughout the contest. The result was a long way from the tight matches between these two teams in 2016. St George may have set a marker for the season while Caboolture can only improve on that showing once they have their best team on the park.
Coaches Reactions:
Bojan Vilic - St George Willawong, “It was a very good win for us, but is only the start of the season. The conditions were hard tonight but I thought we adjusted better to them. Our style of play tonight was not what we desired but it worked better for us.” Nathan Walker - Caboolture, “It wasn’t a good start to the season for us. We were missing a few of our regular players who will be back next week. Their return should give us a boost.”
Team line-ups
St George Willawong: Sutherland (GK), Alsallakh (68’), Duligal, Grecl, Krkeljas (73’), Opacic (61’), Perkic, Radmilovic, Rados, Skavo, Stojicic (Dimitrije, Subs: Stevens-Robert (73’), Stojicic (Danilo) (68’), Graovac (61’) Caboolture: Livsey (GK), Arnison, Baines, Bargh, Cleary, Heaney (57’), Henderson, Makwelo (63’), Maticic, Sheumack, Worthington Subs: Scott (63’), Krohn (57’)
Referee: Jim Roddy
