The Robertson Cup Resides In Sutherland With the Crounlla Seagulls FC Reigning Victorious

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Cronulla Seagulls FC were crowned Robertson Cup champions in emphatic style, crushing Balmain & District FC, 5-nil in a one-sided contest this afternoon at Valentine Sports Park.

Thomas Nunn was the star of the show for the Seagulls, the striker bagged himself a hat-trick while Mitchell Lucas and Andrew Banning completed the scoresheet in a contest that the Sutherland Shire Football Association side dominated from the off.

The Seagulls showed their intent in the opening five minutes, Mitchell Lucas drove an effort right at the Balmain keeper that the custodian needed to have two bites to snaffle.

Second time was a charm for Lucas. Thomas Makowiak drove decisively into the area before he smartly squared the ball for Lucas to arrow home. 1-nil.

Nunn then fired another warning to the stung Balmain side. The Seagulls winger found a pocket of space before he rifled an effort that fell kindly to the Balmain keeper as the Cronulla side continued to assert their dominance.

In response Balmain’s Thomas Eccles showed a silky touch to trap the ball in the 26th minute before he thrashed an effort wide, as Balmain looked to find their rhythm.

Cronulla were the ones that found their rhtyhm though, Nunn again taking on defenders, weaving past a handful of them before he arrowed the effort into the bottom corner for 2-nil.

From there Nunn added a second in the 36th minute. Once again, his pace on show as he slalomed through the Balmain defense then the striker picked his spot well to make it 3-nil, and a comprehensive first half for the Seagulls.

Trying to find a route back into the contest, Balmain had the first opportunity of the second half as Sebastien Ferreira turned well to wriggle free of a defender before forcing a fantastic save from Seagulls keeper Brandon Hanslow.

Their resistance was shortlived, Lucas again in the thick of the action, dancing through the Balmain defense before the ball fell kindly to Andrew Banning, volleying home  a fourth goal that set the Robertson Cup on course for the Shire.

Nunn had one final trick up his sleeve for the contest, completing his hat-trick in the 66th minute. Striding confidently into the area, Nunn hammered the ball past Balmain’s keeper at the near post for a five-star performance in the bright sunshine for Cronulla Seagulls FC.

A delighted Cronulla Seagulls coach, Michael Harrington expressed his joy at his side’s performance and finally getting his hands on the Robertson Cup.

“Yes it’s nice to win such a prestigious trophy. As a player we got to the final but were defeated, so a win today means that we finally got there,”

“There was a period of 20 minutes when it was a back and forth game. Every chance we got we, we were clinical in front of goal today.” finished Harrington.

MATCH STATS

Sunday 22 July 2018

Valentine Sports Park

Referee: Liam Cole

Assistant Referees: Mitchell Renton & Jake McCahon

Balmain & District FC 0

Cronulla Seagulls FC 5

Balmain & District FC: 5 THACKWAY William 17 BASS Matthew 18 DUMESICH Harrison 19 DUMMETT Noah 20 FERREIRA Benjamin 21 FERREIRA Sebastien 22 STRETTON Gus 23 BICEGO Dominic 26 ECCLES Thomas 30 RADFORD Ben 34 LANDELS Noah 36 COOPER James 37 CUSCUNA Gianluca 38 McKAY Izac 39 MESSER Shintaro 41 WHITE Christian 44 HARMAN Joseph

Coach: Paul Cuscuna Coach: Lucas Da Silva Pacheco Manager: David Messer

Yellow cards: McKay

Red cards: nil

Cronulla Seagulls FC: 1 HANSLOW Brandon 2 BANNING Andrew 4 HARRINGTON Benjamin 6 ANDERSON Mike 7 KOVANIS Timothy 8 MAKOWIAK Thomas 9 NUNN Thomas 10 TURNER Matthew 11 DELFINO Aaron 12 WHITESIDE Murray 13 KNIGHT Jacob 14 KHOURY Anthony 18 CARDAMIS Alexander 19 GLENNAN Ben 21 LUCAS Mitchell 44 BUSBY Christopher 77 PEACHEY Adam 80 MEDWAY Darcy

Coach: Michael Harrington Assistant Coach: George Koulouris Manager: Jeffrey Harrington

Yellow cards: nil

Red cards: nil