Pirates leave it late to knockout Taipans

Two late goals from Roderigo Teixeira sealed the win for the Pirates and dealt a knockout blow to the South Coast Taipans season in a tense and competitive elimination encounter.
The Taipans had the majority of the opening exchanges with Darrell Fernandes twice going close to giving his side the lead.
The Pirates were threatening but their firepower upfront was somewhat restricted as the Taipans marked Pirates striker Roderigo Teixiera very closely.
Botany keeper Omar Aly produced a great save to keep the scores level after a nice 3 man move from the Taipans.
The Taipans plan was working well but Botany have so much attacking talent at their disposal it only takes one moment for the game to change and halfway through the first period Denny Dutra escaped down the left flank fired a in shot which was parried by the keeper and from an acute angle smashed the rebound into net. 
As the game opened up both keepers were being regularly called upon. Omar Aly saved well from the Taipans Shane Soutter and Shane Borg saved brilliantly from Teixiera.
With the Pirates gradually taking control of play they soon extended their lead when Marko Kraljevic swooped to slam the ball home from close range to make it 2-0
Shane Borg then made two outstanding saves firstly to deny Teixiera again and then to tip a Chris Bello shot onto the crossbar.
Botany made it 3-0 when Marko Kraljevic intercepted a loose pass ran the ball out of defence rounded the last defender and slotted the ball home for a marvellous goal.
Moments later the Taipans deservedly pulled a goal back when Ben Greenwood received the ball from a swift counter attack and crashed the ball home to make it 1-3 going into the break.
With the Pirates holding a two goal lead the Taipans went on the offensive in the second half which eventually produced dividends. The Taipans were awarded a freekick outside the area which Darrell Fernandes curled around the wall and Russell Crighton was on the spot to tip the ball past the keeper.
Almost straight after the restart Dean Triffitt was on hand to fire the ball home to make it 3-3. South Coast had courageously fought back from 0-3 down to level the game.
With scores level the game swung from end to end. Taipans keeper Jay Digger made a great save to deny a Teixiera header, Aly Omar saved well from Taipans Gareth Gardner and the Pirates Chris Bello produced a great block to deny Gareth Gardner again and Teixeira was denied twice from giving the Pirates the lead.
Finally the deadlock was broken from a sublime piece of skill from Kraljevic. From a corner Kraljevic feigned to pass the ball back toward halfway, the defence moved out for a split second only for Kraljevic to then slip a ball across the goal to the unmarked Teixiera to tap home.
South Coast applied heavy pressure on the Pirates and pressed hard upcourt in search of an equaliser. Aly Omar saved well from Ben Greenwood and Darrell Fernandes.
With so many Taipans players thrown forward Denny Dutra in the dying minutes collected the ball and with skill and pace dribbled through the middle of the court slipped the ball to Teixiera who swept the ball home. 
The same situation occurred moments later when Kraljevic ran the ball out of defence with Roderigo Teixiera again brilliantly looming in support to sweep the ball home to make it 6-3.
The final score did not do justice to South Coast who gave everything and determinedly fought back from three goals down but in the end the great attacking skills of the Pirates won the day and sees them through to next weeks second semi final.