Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

Last weekend the Burdekin Panthers had just three games. On Friday the Division 1 met Ingham in Townsville and lost 0-4. On Sunday the Premiers and Under 23s were both away to Brothers with the Under 23s winning 3-0 and the Premiers doing very well to draw 1-1. This weekend the Funkies are away to SES in Townsville on Friday night and the Premiers, Under 23s and Ladies are all at home to Warriors on Saturday.

The Ayr Anzac Club Premiers having played Brothers twice this year already, with a win and a loss, knew that this game was going to be a close one. Both teams settled into the game well and had decent patches of possession with neither goalkeeper having to do much. With five minutes to go in the first half, Brothers scored to lead 1-0 at half time. The Panthers were determined to cut down on some of their errors and push for an equaliser in the second half, having the better of the chances. As the game started to get physical, Burdekin lifted another level but to no avail. With a last ditch effort from a corner, Jaidyn Lambie-Fabbro went up for a header and was fouled in the box giving Burdekin a penalty. Matthew Kolb stepped up with nerves of steel to make it 1-1 with the last kick of the game. A well deserved point on the road as the Panthers look ahead to two home games. 

The Burdekin Tyre Service Under 23s travelled to Brothers with another changed squad due to injury and illness but still a capable side on paper. The Panthers opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when a ball was won at halfway and a good through pass played for Elliot Dal Santo to split the defence and score a good one on one goal. A lead preserved to half time that was certainly against the run of play. The second half started with a wounded Brothers side that came out from the break with some very good passing and movement, but again the Panthers defence was resolute and just kept stopping the attack. Burdekin’s second goal came from a good move involving Ryan Taylor and Jhett Jones with Dal Santo scoring his second goal and his third, and hat trick, came five minutes from a setpiece.

The Austral Masonry Funkies travelled to Townsville to play Ingham on Friday night. Burdekin spent the first ten minutes pinned in their own half as Ingham moved the ball around quickly. Ingham then opened the scoring and doubled their lead after 23 minutes when they were first to a loose ball after a corner. Ingham scored their third almost straight from the kickoff, two minutes later. Burdekin did manage to have some good possession for the rest of the half but couldn’t muster any meaningful attempts on goal. The second half was more even with both teams having periods of control. Unfortunately, Ingham extended their lead in the 68th minute. Burdekin managed to get a few balls in behind the Ingham defence but couldn’t finish any of the chances off. The final score was 4-0 to Ingham. Burdekin play SES in Townsville next Friday night.

The Under13 Panthers went down 6-1 to second place MAO on Saturday at Honeycombe's Park. A solid first half saw the Panthers go into the break 1-0 down. 
Will Shears tapped in a goal mouth scramble early in the second half, but, unfortunately in a recurring theme, the boys couldn’t match it with MAO for the second half and the game got away from them.

The Under 14/15 Panthers came up against Warriors, who are top of the table, on Saturday. Down 0-1at halftime, they had a disappointing 0-6 loss at full time. Special mention to Kashton Ferguson and Cale Bryan both working hard.  Hoping the team can get rid of injury and sickness for a better performance against Brothers this Saturday 25th May.  

Juniors

Another Saturday of fixtures for juniors were played in good conditions but with the sun still making us know it’s there!  A variety of Townsville clubs made their way down for the Under 8’s up. Our club appreciates you all coming down for the Saturday mornings and improving our local competition.  I can see from all the games, training, academy and JDS going on, that there is a marked improvement in our players skills and fitness.  

Some of our local club and JDS teams travel to Townsville this coming Saturday afternoon and Sunday for the Warriors carnival.  Good luck to all teams, do our club proud by playing in the best spirit but also go for those wins!

Masters

The colder weather brought a few more Masters into action and in a preview of the FA Cup Final, ManU beat Manchester City 4-1! Player of the Night was Jonty Davis. The Masters welcome old and new players, Monday nights at International Park, 6.30 kick off.

National and International

On the Socceroos front, there are two games coming up in the Asian World Cup qualifiers. They are away to Bangladesh on 6th June and home to Palestine on 11th June.
The Matildas have two matches against China in the lead up to the Paris Olympics. The first is at home on 31st May in Adelaide and the second, in Sydney on 3rd June. In the Paris Olympics, in their group Games, The Matildas play Germany on 26th July followed by Zambia on 29th July and USA on 1st August.
In the A League, it was the 2nd Leg of the semi-finals. Central Coast Mariners were held to a 0-0 draw at home but qualified, on aggregate, for this week’s Grand Final. They will meet Melbourne Victory who beat Wellington Phoenix 2-1 to win 2-1 on aggregate. The Final will be held at Central Coast’s stadium on Saturday at 7.45.
The EPL wound up on Sunday with both Arsenal and Manchester City winning but with City having won their game in hand it meant that they were Champions again, the fourth time in a row. Arsenal were runners up with Liverpool third, Aston Villa fourth and Angie’s Spurs fifth. At the foot of the table, Burnley, Luton and Sheffield Utd are all relegated.

Germany’s Bundesliga has also wound up with Bayer Leverkusen, champions seventeen points clear of Stuttgart. Bayern drop to third place and Leipzig finish fourth with Dortmund fifth. Leverkusen won twenty eight and drew six of their thirty four games. Darmstadt, Cologne and Bochum are all relegated.

In Italy’s Serie A, with one round left, Inter are already champions, nineteen points ahead of AC Milan who are assured of second place. Bologna and Juventus are contesting third place with Atlanta looking likely to finish fifth. Relegation is a battle with Salernitana and Sassuolo already down plus, possibly Udinese or, Empoli, Frosinone,Verona.

Spain’s La Liga also has one round left. Real Madrid are already champions, twelve points ahead of Barcelona with Girona, four points away in third place. Atletico will finish fourth and Bilbao fifth. At the foot of the table Almeria, Granada and Cadiz ate all relegated.

Finally in France, Ligue 1 has also wound up. PSG are champions nine points clear of Monaco. Brest finished third with Lille fourth and Nice fifth. In the relegation stakes, Clermont and Metz are both relegated.

A big couple of weeks starts on Thursday with the Europa League Final between Atalanta and Leverkusen and on Saturday it is the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Manchester Utd, plus the Scottish FA Cup Final between the two auld enemies Celtic and Rangers. Then, on Sunday Leeds Utd meet Southampton in the Championship pay off to see who gets promoted to the EPL.

This week’s quote is from Manchester Utd and Northern Ireland Star George Best “In 1969, I gave up women and alcohol – it was the worst 20 minutes of my life”.

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