Honours even between the Hawkesbury Commodores and Inner West Allstars

The women?s match had started well for Hawkesbury as Lauren Ralston had a double chance but after the keeper denied her first shot her second effort went over the bar, a sign of things to come for the locals. Four minutes in and Samantha Muscat stole the ball off Amy Sarandopoulos to go one on one with the Allstars? keeper Tani Rosekelly. She beat the keeper but saw the ball go the wrong side of the far post.
Then a double save, the first from a free kick, by the visiting goal keeper saw the Allstars quickly break forward and the ball fell to Renee Tomkins who stepped to her left and around her marker and fired the ball low into the far corner for the first goal of the match on the six minute mark.
An equaliser came to the Commodores in the tenth minute when a ball came in from the sideline to Ashley Connor on the edge of the area. She turned her defender and as the keeper quickly rushed to cut her shot off she slid it past and into the back of the net.
In the 14th minute a free kick went the way of the Allstars and the ball was laid off to Nicole Laws who managed to shoot the ball through all the traffic and into the back of the net to put her team back in front. Another freekick to the visitors a minute later came to nothing, as did efforts from the home side in the 18th (Connor shooting just past the post) and the 19th minute (Kathryn Mladineo almost flicking on a shot by Muscat.)
Into the second half and Mladineo backheaded a free kick just over the bar for the Commodores before a classic interchange of passes from Muscat, Ralston and Mladineo laid on a good chance which was not taken. Then Mladineo stole the ball from Dominique Caridad but an acrobatic Rosekelly in goals denied her shot.
A minute before the half hour and the Allstars demonstrated great passing all of their own but this time also showed how to finish it. Caridad played the ball to Koo Barbi on the right hand side and she passed it to an unmarked Sarandopoulos in the middle of the park who easily slotted home.
At 1-3 the match looked lost, especially as the Commodore?s long-range efforts were proving to be ineffective. Then with six minutes to go Muscat collected the ball in a dangerous position, dragged it back across her body and fired it into the back of the net to give the home side a sniff of a result. However the Allstars stood strong, with particular fine saves being made in goal by Rosekelly.
With two minutes to go the clincher should have gone the way of Caridad but her shot was saved by the brilliance of Michelle Dingwall in the Commodore?s goal. Then with the last kick of the game Ralston takes a crack at goal and sees it clip the wrong side of the cross bar and go over for no result.
The match was a fiery affair but more intensity was to come in the men?s match.
This game also started with action as Dean Storey had an early shot denied thanks to a great save from Lionel DeSouza in the Commodores goal. However two minutes later the Allstars were in front. Adrian Vizzari played the ball in from deep to Tim Mascarello who, whilst man marked, back flicked the ball into the path of the advancing Vizzari, who?s final effort was as good as the lead up work.
Three minutes later and the home side were also on the scoresheet with Bill Tsioumas demonstrating great skill with the ball in beating Robert Greenway in the Allstars goal to equalise. The Allstars tried to strike back quickly but the most pressure the Commodore?s got was from their own mistakes when playing the ball out of defence.
In the 13th minute two shots from Chris Dingwall were denied by Greenway with parries, but the second parry went to Tom Gecke who headed the ball home to give the local side the lead. In the same minute Vizarri played the ball to Joseph Foti who turned on it and shoots goal wards but just wide of the target. The following minute saw world class saves at both ends as first Greenway denied Tsioumas and then DeSouza denied Jeffrey Bugallo.
A speculative effort from distance by Daniel Murchison gave the Commodores a two-goal gap to go into the break with although there was time in between for Allstar?s Lachlan Wright to smash the post with his shot.
Early in the second half long range efforts from the likes of Dean Storey came to nothing for the visitors. At the other end Greenway was keeping his side in the match with a series of good saves. Then in the 32nd minute he could not deny Geckie a double as he had the ball laid to him by Murchison from the right and fired it home from distance.
Almost immediately the Allstars looked to have struck back but Bugallo?s brilliant volley was off-target.
Goals at either end in the 36th minute kept the difference in the score the same with Storey miss-kicking the ball into Chris Dingwall who saw the ball come of him and brother Scott sneak to the ball just before Greenway and toe poke the team?s fifth goal. However Allstars? Bugallo collected the ball from the kick off and fired home to make the score 5-2.
With ten minutes to go second half goal keeper for the Commodores, Shane Linton, pulled off a triple save before denying Joseph Foti after he completed a mazy run with a tricky shot. By this stage it was all the visitors with the locals managing efforts only on breaks, although one of these saw Scott Dingwall?s effort beat the keeper but canon off the post.
In the 46th minute Nino Fragassi broke away from the defence and smashed the ball home to give the visitors a third and the feeling a draw may be achievable but in the end it was the final goal of a hard fought, and entertaining, match.