 JUNIORS:
U15 Preston Lions JFC v Green Gully
Sunday 10
August
2008
(Bill Korunovski) - This was a long
awaited rematch since Gully snatched a victory in our
first meeting of the season. The Preston U15 boys were all
fired up and ready to take on the challenge of facing the
current league leaders.
The day was very cold and wet and playing conditions very
tough for both sides. Green Gully won the toss and chose
to kick with the wind in the first half. Preston was under
constant pressure from the word go. However the Lions were
equal to the task with the goalkeeper Andrew
Karafillis
making many brilliant saves to keep
Preston in the fight.
The latter part of the first half saw Gully break through
the middle and score the opening goal which looked like
the beginning of the end for Preston. Dark clouds covered
the ground at half time and hail started to pelt down
sending all the spectators running for shelter.
The second half saw a revived Preston team take the field
and this time they had the wind at their backs. The boys
looked very hungry for the ball and outplayed the Gully
boys in all parts of the field. Then with a quick counter,
the ball was played through to the unmarked Daniel
Pendovski who had a 50/50 with the keeper sending the ball
in the top left corner of the net to make it his fifth
goal of the season and to level the game. It was not over
yet, with the Lions having plenty of momentum and time up
their sleeves.
Gully were getting frustrated and started tackling hard
and carelessly, they took one of our players down which
was clearly a foul. Preston players had stopped expecting
the free for the foul but the referees whistle never came
which allowed Gully to send a ball through and score a
goal. The referee then went over to his official linesman
to discuss the goal which was disallowed as it looked like
it was scored from an offside position. Luckily the
referee brought his own linesmen to the game so there
could be no disputing the decision.
Then it happened, Michael Korunovski broke through the
defense with defenders hot on his trail pushing him wider
and wider, as he somehow managed to put the ball over the
keeper from an impossible angle to score. The whole team
jumped for joy and Michael and the team ran to the bench
to celebrate with the coach and team manager. The Gully
payers were devastated and their coach was in shock.
The Preston boys were holding their own on their home
ground, with time running out and Gully having had two red
carded players sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct and
dangerous tackles the game looked like it was in the bag.
However, with two minutes to go they managed to score and
equalizer through a defensive error which no one can be
blamed for under the wet, windy and very muddy conditions
the game was played in.
This is a wakeup call to all the other teams that Preston
can play and match it with the best of them. The only
downside to the match was Robbie Milicic was also sent off
after receiving a second yellow card during the match and
has been ruled out for our last two games of the season.
Preston Lions JFC 2
Green Gully
Cavaliers
2
BT Connor Reserve
2008 Squad Members
1 Andrew Karafillis, 2 Duglas Mendez, 3 John Stojcevski, 4
Tony Themistokleous, 5 Chris Kitanoski, 6 Alex
Rostankovski, 7 Steven Gusevski, 8 Daniel Petrovski, 9
Michael Korunovski, 10 Daniel Pendovski, 11 Ben Cundari,
12 Dejan Kupresak, 13 Jason Petrovski, 14 Jovan Mavrov, 15
Robert Milicic, 16 Thomas Meletis |
