Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

Last weekend the Burdekin Panthers had four games, winning two, drawing one and losing one. On Friday the Division 1 met Saints Eagles Souths in Townsville and drew 2-2. On Saturday the Premiers, Under 23s and Women Premiers were all at home to Warriors. The Premiers won 5-0, the Under 23s won 2-1 but the Women Premiers lost 0-7.

This weekend the Funkies are away to Wulguru Roosters in Townsville on Friday night and the Premiers, Under 23s and Ladies are all at home to Estates on Saturday.

The Ayr Anzac Club Premiers knew that despite playing a team yet to win a game, the Panthers needed to keep up the intensity. The opening minutes were fairly even with neither team doing much to gain the upper hand. The after fifteen minutes Jay Leckenby calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net. From there the nerves settled and the Panthers game plan kicked into gear. Not long after Elliott Dal Santo scored a goal from a through ball from Jack Gimson and Matthew Kolb made it 3-0 by half time. The second half started as the first had ended with Kai Goodman making it 4-0 five minutes after the restart. Matthew Kolb then put the result out of Warriors reach in the 65th minute to make it 5-0. From there Burdekin worked on retaining possession to make sure they kept a clean sheet. A great all round effort from everyone on the team to help the Panthers stay on track for the top 4. The Ayr Anzac Club Player of the Week was Ryan Scodellaro.

The Burdekin Tyre Service Under 23s enjoyed home ground advantage against Warriors and looked to avenge the loss from Round 1. Hopes were high for a good performance but Burdekin started slowly and again struggled with ball control and pass execution. Warriors were given a lot of possession in the first half and they had many chances to score. Fortunately, they only scored one goal and Burdekin were able to stay in the game. Five minutes into the second half the scores were tied when Damien Casella scored from very good buildup play. From that point the confidence of Burdekin grew and control of the game shifted to the home team. By the 70th minute Burdekin had scored again, a headed goal by Connor Sexton. The effort given by every player was the deciding factor to stay in the game early, and then take control and win it by the end.

The Austral Masonry Funkies travelled to Townsville on Friday night to play SES. The first half started very physically, with both teams charging into tackles. Burdekin gave away a free kick in a dangerous area after 18 minutes and SES converted this into a goal. Burdekin were undeterred and continued to try and hold their own and after a slight fracas the game settled down and Burdekin managed to create a few changes. One of these was converted by Chris Achille from a Brad Wright through ball. Unfortunately, the Funkies then managed to surrender the lead again almost directly after the kick off, to go into half time down 2-1. Both teams had chances throughout the second half with poor shooting and some good saves from David Bryen preventing any change in the score. Then with eight minutes left Chris Achille pounced on a mistake from the SES keeper to score his second and lock the game up.

The Under 13 Panthers went down 5-1 to MAO White at Honey combe’s park on Saturday. Leading 1-0 at halftime after a good goal from Brady Wilshere, the boys’ intensity dropped off after MAO equalised early in the second half and then continued to score with little resistance from the Burdekin team. The Under 13's have a double header this weekend with an away game on Saturday and a home game on Sunday.

The Under 14/15 Panthers had a great win on the weekend against Brothers. 3-1 ahead at half time they went on to win 4-3 with goals from Brayden Card (2), Max Kelly and Caleb Formalin. The whole team played well with a special mention to goalkeeper Zack Durrant who made some great saves keeping the Panthers in front the whole game.

Juniors

Saturday fixtures were played in great conditions again this weekend.  There were some late forfeits from Townsville teams which meant last minute changes to the draw and also the canteen roster, and we thank everyone for being very helpful with this.

On Saturday afternoon and night, and all day Sunday, the Townsville Warriors Football Club held their annual Bobby Hagger Junior Carnival. Burdekin nominated 14 club and JDS teams from Under 6's through to Under 13's. The Burdekin teams matched the Townsville teams and even more with some great results all round, and with teams making semi-finals, finals and being crowned champions!  It is hoped all the players enjoyed themselves playing on different fields and against different opposition.  They will come back now after that carnival and improve again this weekend.

Estates hold their annual carnival this coming Sunday, good luck to all junior teams travelling to Townsville to take part.

Masters

A good turn out on Monday with some Masters getting ready for the Mooney Cup on 15th June. This week, in a replay of the Championship play-off Southampton beat Leeds Utd 1-0, again. Player of the Night was Drew Bursey. The Masters welcome old and new players, Monday nights at International Park, 6.30 kick off.

National and International

The Socceroos have two games coming up in the Asian World Cup qualifiers. They are away to Bangladesh next Thursday, 6th June and then at home to Palestine the following Tuesday, 11th June.
The Matildas have two matches against China in the lead up to the Paris Olympics. The first is in Adelaide on Friday and the second, in Sydney, the following Monday, 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. The Matilda’s have a tough group, USA is ranked 4th, Germany 5th and Zambia 65th. Oz is presently 12th.
In the A League Grand Final Central Coast beat Melbourne Victory 3-1 after extra time to complete the Triple, A League Premiership, Grand Final and AFC Cup.
In England Southampton beat Leeds Utd 1-0 in the Championship play off and is promoted to the EPL nest season along with Leicester and Ipswich.
In Europe it was Cup Final time with, in England ManU beating Manchester City 2-1, whilst in Scotland Celtic beat Rangers 1-0, and in Germany Leverkusen defeated Kaiserslautern 1-0. In France PSG beat Lyon 1-0 and in Italy, Juventus defeated Atalanta 1-0.
In Italy’s Serie A, it is almost over with Inter champions, nineteen points ahead of AC Milan who are assured of second place. Juventus could finish in third place but Atlanta might drop them to fourth if they beat Fiorentina. Relegated are Salernitana, Sassuolo and Frosinone.

Spain’s La Liga also has one round left. Real Madrid are champions, ten 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.

This week’s quote is from Liverpool Manager Bill Shankly. “For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting the other side”.

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