KIAMA THUMP SHELLHARBOUR CITY

 

Last Saturday afternoon the Kiama Quarriers thumped local rivals Shellharbour City 5 – 0 in Round 9 of the Illawarra First Division Soccer Competition.  The win capped a busy week for the Club who had earlier successfully appeared before the ISA Board in relation to a deferred game.  The match has been re-scheduled after Kiama convinced the Board that it had not been notified of the replay for the washed out game against Warilla Wanderers. 

 

Incredibly, even after winning the case and clearly showing that they had not been informed of the re-scheduled game, the Quarriers have been fined by the ISA for not playing the match. Going into this game the Quarriers were in fourth place behind a trio of clubs one point above it.  Kiama has the washed out game to play and are still undefeated. 

 

Shellharbour City has had a tough year so far and were in trouble from the time the match started.  The Quarriers were at full strength with a substitutes bench full of quality, and were looking to pile on some goals.  The first thirty minutes of the half were fairly frustrating for the Quarriers as they consistently tore though a very flimsy City defence only to waste chances in front of goal.  In this period strikers Luke Bedford and Jimmy Berry missed a few absolute sitters while midfielder Brad Boardman nearly demolished the cross bar with a twenty metre drive.

 

It was only a matter of time before the dam burst and the first goal fell to Bedford with a great header at thirty-eight minutes.  He showed great courage in going into a challenge on the edge of the box after a long ball through, to beat the keeper with a looping header. 

 

Four minutes later defender Jody Beringer scored the goal of the match and it was a beauty.  He pushed forward in to the middle of the park with the ball and laid a neat pass on to Jim Berry.  Berry drew the defence and back-healed the ball into Bringer's path.  The big defender hit a rocket of a left foot drive that near tore the net of the back of the goal from twenty-two metres out.  Up until this goal Beringer only stood on his left foot and had never chanced his luck with a shot on it, thinking that it was diseased or not working properly.  What a goal! 

 

The score was a quite respectable 2 – 0 at the break but Kiama wasted no time in getting back on the boil in the second half.  They continually pulled the City defence out of shape and had a number of efforts well saved by a valiant home team goalkeeper who was the only thing stopping City from suffering a very large defeat indeed.

 

In a short stanza of ten minutes Kiama added another three goals with Bedford getting his hat trick and Jim Berry coming up with a great effort to hit the back of the net. If the Quarriers were to be criticized it must be for letting City off the hook so easy.  The final score was 5 – 0 but the Quarriers should have scored eight or nine goals, such was their superiority.  In fact the last ten minutes of the game was a very casual affair with City actually getting back on an even par with the Kiama side, who, by that stage, were coasting along with little or no interest.

 

Kiama played well all over the park and had plenty of back up coming off the bench as the game wore on.  It is hard to single out a player who shone more than others but young Jai Cartwright was impressive in midfield, as was defender Mick Broad.  The Kiama Leagues Club Man of the Match was midfield controller Marc Price who put in a blinder against his old club.  Price is an older head on the park that puts his foot on the ball to slow things down when needed.

 

Coach Brod Creighton was a very happy coach after the match and said, “The boys played really well today and enjoyed the game.  We probably should be a bit hungrier in front of goals but that is something we can work on.  We have a few guys sitting on the bench who are pushing the others to hold their places so it is getting really interesting to see who goes in each Saturday.”