East Gosford 1 vs BUFC Fs

What a difference a day makes. After going down 4-1 to East Gosford 1 on Saturday 4 July at Duffy’s, Barnestoneworth Fs backed up on Sunday at 2pm to play the same team on their home turf. On Saturday we had a referee and two linesmen; on Sunday, unable to provide a referee for the game, East Gosford were forced to rely on the kind donation of the time of a young local soccer player. She proved to be a first-class and even-handed ref.

East Gosford 1 established an early lead when Terrigal let in a pretty soft goal in the first five minutes, but the team fought back and some passes that actually stuck gave Robert Ratay upfront the opportunity to nail one just minutes later.

Exerting continuous pressure on the East Gosford goal, Terrigal stepped it up a notch and put two balls over the crossbar, one wide and several directly into the arms of the keeper, including a sitter that had Brendan McCarthy cursing like a trooper and wishing for a few inches more height.

A sensational effort by Dave Prakesh to return from Cooma that morning to make the game saw him run on about fifteen minutes in, stiffening the midfield and enabling some welcome substitutions. Solid defence and the tactic of playing it down their end led to a second goal from Steve Head late in the second half.

Ahead at half time, Terrigal were determined to keep the lead, and repeated attacks through the centre were demolished by hard tackles and deft interceptions from Adam Chandler and Jason Bush. On the right wing, Tek Tea had an absolute blinder of a game, showing techniques even he didn’t know he possessed, and setting up several triangulations that were beautiful to watch.

Upfront, Steve Head, Ryan Bush and Justin O’Malley Jones all had solid games, while Chris Peers and Brett Fenton were indefatigable in the centres, stealing passes and sending it forward. On left wing, Will Belford kept his space and, despite some argy-bargy after being tripped near the goal, mostly kept his head too.

The pressure started to tell on East Gosford about twenty minutes in, with only a couple of substitutes to draw on, unlike the previous day when they’d had a seeming cast of thousands. A missed header from Jason Bush, a couple over the crossbar, one wide into the swamp, then finally Robert Ratay took a long pass from Anthony Broadbere who’d been creating havoc on the wing and lobbed one in.

3-1 with five minutes to go, East Gosford came back hard, but couldn’t penetrate the defence, with Simon Ashley-Binge saving several attempts in-goal. One of his goal kicks found Ryan Bush in the centre who passed to Chris Peers, who passed to Brett Fenton and so on to Robert Ratay who, only metres from the goal mouth, dribbled it in with ease.

After licking their wounds from yesterday’s defeat, victory, and with the same score-line, tasted sweet to Barnestoneworth F grade.

Final result: 4-1 to Terrigal.