Four make debut in first up loss.
The Old Carey Seniors fell to a 2-0 defeat at Darbin in their Round 1 clash against Old Brighton.
Old Carey came into the game on the back of a string of encouraging pre-season performances, in which they had won their two previous games. With such a big build up to round 1, both teams would be forgiven for being nervous – and it showed.
In the first 5 minutes, Old Carey failed to get out of their own half, as they continually turned the ball over. Then, with only 6 minutes gone, a cross from out wide on the left drifted in towards the top of the box where Roediger and his opponent (John Salvage) contested for the ball. Despite the ball clearing both players, the referee deemed that Roediger had nudged Salvage under the ball and awarded a penalty. John Foschini stepped up and sent Paton the wrong way to hand Old Brighton the best start imaginable.
After the goal, Old Carey seemed to settle and worked their way back into the match. MacDonald and Skalkos began to gain control of the middle of the park, and Old Carey began to expose Old Brighton’s apparent weekness out wide.
As the half continued to progress, Chan, in his first game for Old Carey, had a glimps of goal but his shot went agonisingly wide of the upright. Amin then found himself a yard of space in the box , but could only find the side netting when he should have perhaps at least worked the keeper. These chances aside, neither team were able to test the opposing keeper, with only a couple of speculative long-range efforts to show despite both teams endeavours.
The match was evenly poised at half-time and Old Carey would have surely felt very much in the game despite being a goal behind. They continued their search for an equaliser in the second half, but again failed to see their possession, and set-pieces, amount to anything in the front third. After 65 minutes, Old Carey made their first substitution, with debutant Mariadason replaced by another debutant, Purcell. However, before Purcell had managed to touch the ball, Old Carey conceded a second goal after wide midfielder Kenshiro Kaneko managed to beat the off-side trap and cooly place the ball across Paton and into the far post after being one on one.
It was a harsh blow to the Old Carey team who had given little by way of chances since conceding the first goal. Much to Old Carey’s credit, however, they continued to fight hard and thought they had clawed one goal back when Amin flicked on a throw-in, and Purcell nodded the bouncing ball over the keeper and into the net. The referee however ruled that the game had stopped for Old Brighton to make a substitution, much to the surprise of the Old Carey and Old Brighton players and coaches alike.
Matthews soon entered the fray, making his first appearance in Senior football since 2006, coming on in place of Chan. By this stage, Old Carey were dictating terms and were continually asking questions of the Old Brighton defence. Again, Old Carey failed to make any real chances in the front third, but were handed a numerical advantage when an Old Brighton defender was sent off for dissent (swearing). The numbers were evened up little over 5 minutes later, when Purcell was deemed to have sworn at an Old Brighton player.
As Old Carey continued to push for a goal, Henson was brought on in place of Roediger. However despite all their hard work, the game was soon brought to a close by the referee, leaving the Seniors dissapointed to have crashed to a 2-0 openning round defeat.
