Taringa Leave It Late To Grab The Points
Acacia Ridge 1 (Jaimes 39’)
Taringa Rovers 2 (Karambasis 6’, Piovesana 90+1’) HT 1-1
Played at Ron Proud Field.
Taringa Rovers left it late, and would have been disappointed with anything other than a victory, but kick-started their 2017 Capital League 1 campaign with a 2-1 defeat of Acacia Ridge on Saturday evening at Ron Proud Field. Rovers dominated the early exchanges collecting a goal from broken play in the sixth minute when Omar Hamid ran to the byline and crossed for Sean Karambasis, who struck a neat finish in at the far post. Juan Jaimes is the king of getting in behind the backline so it was no surprise when he did just that and finished past the onrushing Taylor McGill who got a hand on the ball but was unlucky not to keep it out. In injury time, Taringa took a short corner and somehow a ball into the area hit the far post and rebounded along the goal-line for the simplest of tap-ins for Alessio Piovesana. Worries about the quality of the surface at Mortimer Road were unfounded with the ball running true despite being very hard underfoot and contributing to a high-bouncing game for both sides. A lot of time and energy was expended by both teams simply bringing the ball down to the ground and under control. Acacia Ridge like to play a 4-4-2 which tends to draw the opposition into playing narrower than necessary. Crosses were hard to come by with the game being compacted for long periods. Taringa will need to play with more width if they are to once again challenge for the post-season finals series. Ultimately, the better team won on the day with statistics, particularly total shots, heavily in their favour. A slump midway through the first half could have been fatal but plenty of teams will struggle to go to Ron Proud Field and win this season.
Coaches Reactions:
Zoran Simunovic (Acacia Ridge) “They were stronger, more physical, and faster than us but we were always going to struggle with five of our best players missing. I thought there was an offside question about the winning goal but they were deserved winners.” Adam Bennett (Taringa Rovers) “I thought we had the better chances all night and missed a few clear cut ones but got our just reward at the end there. I wasn’t happy with the overall performance but they are a good team and worked hard on the tight and bumpy pitch. We deserved the win.”
FBMedia Player Of The Match: Alessio Piovesana (Taringa Rovers)
As is often the case, this could have gone to either of the centre backs. They were under pressure from the nippy Jaimes and Perez-Vargas all night and performed their role to perfection. Alessio gets the nod because he scored the winner.
Match Stats:
Overall Possession: 44% - 56%
Shots on target: 2 - 7
Shots off target: 5 - 7
Corners: 3 - 13
Free kicks: 5 - 17
Offsides: 2 - 1
Yellow cards: 0 - 0
Red cards: 0 - 0 Team line-ups
Acacia Ridge: Samardzija, Mohamed, M. Simunovic, Zirojevic, Phiri, Navarro-Falcon, Carillo-Monroy, MacDougall, Salazar, Perez-Vargaz. Subs: Alvarez, Koldzo, Anthony, Bohorquez, Silipo. Taringa Rovers: McGill, Braybrook, Nicolaidis, Piovesana, Burton, Konneh, Tharumanathan, West, Hamid, Harrigan, Karambasis. Subs: Devereaux, Ede, Jackson, Sekulic.
Referee: Matt Skinner
