Saints Claim Comfortable Victory Over Bardon
Bardon Athletic 1 (Johnston 61’) St George Willawong 4 (Sarramea 31', 42’ pen, Weedy 72’, 79’)
HT 0-2
Played at Bowman Park
St George made the task of winning back to back titles a little easier with a 4-1 win over Bardon Latrobe in an at times feisty match on Saturday afternoon at Bowman Park. Bardon very nearly scored an own goal in the eighth minute but it took until the 31st minute for St George to open the scoring through Anthony Sarramea, who expertly lobbed the goalkeeper despite some strong calls for offside in the lead-up play. Eleven minutes later, Sarramea scored a second from the penalty spot and with the halftime scoreline standing at 2-0, it seemed the game was effectively over. But Bardon had other ideas, and when they received a penalty of their own had to rely on Lachlan Johnston to give them a lifetime when he followed in after the spot-kick was saved and crashed the ball into the roof of the net. All hopes of a comeback were extinguished however by David Weedy who scored twice, both times after beating a static backline and finishing one on one with the keeper. This certainly wasn’t a great game of football between two teams who have played better this season and will surely do the same between now and September. With space at a premium on the smallish pitch, Saints were the better team but didn’t set the world on fire, often looking as if they were waiting for their opponents to make an error, which worked perfectly despite not being particularly pretty to watch. Latrobe were guilty of putting too much pressure on themselves by constantly playing chancy balls back to the keeper, a tactic which nearly cost them two more goals and virtually ensured that the resulting long clearances were fired to outnumbered strikers up front. But they did have their moments, not least when they had just scored and almost collected another penalty but the foul was called just outside the box which they almost converted from. The difference between the teams today was organisation as well as recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, which St George did much better and is one of the main reasons they are currently top of the table. Bardon are a work in progress, the club as well as the players, and have over-performed in 2017 so a finals appearance would really be the icing on the cake, but they are now relying on Westside to lose at least once before they meet in the final game of the season. In a midfield scrap containing some hefty challenges, excellent performances were few and far between but special mention should go to both goalkeepers who produced some spectacular moments.
FB Media Player Of The Match: David Weedy (St George Willawong) No real standout in the game but Weedy gets the nod because of his two goals, although he could have had more. The most dangerous player on the field.
Team line-ups
Bardon Latrobe: Barber, Powell, Castillo. Hamilton, Johnston, Bertram, Smart, Tolson, Allen, Pratten, Mavric.
Subs: Jones, Moloney, Boardman.
St George Willawong: Petrovic, Jovanovic, Rados, Kataric, Burke, Weedy, Hersi, Sarramea, Zonjic, Weedy, Skavo.
Subs: Dordic, Grecl, Radmilov. REFEREE: Grant McCormick
