New Farm Take a Stroll in the Park
New Farm Utd 3 (Humphrey 5’, 54’; J Stamatis 62’) Western Spirit 1 (Kljajic 68’) HT: 1-0 Played at New Farm Park
In a game littered with errors and stoppages, New Farm came out on top of Western Spirit. After getting into a three goal lead early in the second half, a quick reply for Western Spirit had New Farm a little jittery but they held on to record the win. Spirit made all the running from the kick-off and the game barely left New Farm’s half in the first five minutes. On one occasion that it did get to the Western Spirit area from a free kick crossed in from the right, the ball reached the back post where it was laid off to Jarred Humphrey who drove the ball under the diving Chris Morrall in the Spirit goal from 18 yards out. The half was punctured by stoppages for fouls and off-sides. Spirit were guilty of being caught off-side on numerous occasions as New Farm were holding a high line in defence. Neither side was able to hold onto the ball for any length of time in a very scrappy half of football. New Farm keeper, Peter Stamatis was a little lucky in the 14th minute when he came out of his area to clear a through ball but ended up handling the ball due to an unexpected bounce. Referee Phillip Tracey deemed it was not denying a goal scoring opportunity and issued Stamatis with a Yellow Card. From the resultant free kick the ball rebounded from the wall where it was lobbed back into the area and an excellent chance was squandered by Spirit with a header straight to Stamatis from eight yards out. The visitors had a number of other opportunities but most ended with tame shots straight at the New Farm keeper. The best chance they had came in the 31st minute when a good passing move ended with the ball reaching Lukas Kljajic ten yards out. It seemed he must score but Stamatis was equal to it and palmed the ball away.
The second half continued the trend of turning over the ball and numerous stoppages, but on 53 minutes, a New Farm free kick from the left ended with a shot saved by Morrall but with the ball bouncing up in the air, Jarred Humphrey was quickest to react and he headed the ball home for United's second. The best goal of the day came on 62 minutes for New Farm when Loic Morgan beat his opponent on the left and crossed the ball to Samuel Innes who teed it up for James Stamatis to rifle home and the match looked in the bag at 3-0. But six minutes later, Kljajic managed to beat the offside trap, running onto a through ball and blasting the ball past Stamatis to reduce the deficit and give Spirit some hope. Spirit then pushed forward in search of more goals but were unable to create any meaningful opportunities. New Farm had chances to increase their lead but were unable to get anything on target. Both sides would be disappointed with their inability to maintain possession and the field cannot be blamed as it was in very good condition. Spirit will lick their wounds and refocus on their next match while New Farm will be pleased to chalk up another win this campaign.
Coaches Reactions:
Fabio Zullo (New Farm Utd): “It was a very good win in a scrappy game, but we’re very happy to take the points. We are building towards improving each week. We have been lacking that killer punch. I’m proud of the effort and really proud of the boys.”
Matthew Raub (Western Spirit): “We were trying to get in behind them today but were getting caught off-side. We had enough chances to win the game but we didn’t take our chances. They had their chances and they took them. We will need to work on our finishing and tidying up our defence.”
Team line-ups
New Farm Utd: P Stamatis (GK), Bilsborough, Humphrey, Window, Gow, Dalton (72’), Ashmole (36’), Innes, Morgan, Reece, J Stamatis.
Subs: Ramos-Meyer (36’), Tavli (72’).
Western Spirit: Morrall (GK), Jarrett, Wybranowski, Ryu, Fernandez, Dunne (75’), T Walters, Arena, K Walters, Kljajic, Watson (52’).
Subs: Muir (52’), Hancock (75’). REFEREE: Phillip Tracey
