Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

Last weekend the Burdekin Panthers had three games. On Friday night the Division One Funkies lost 0-1 at home to Riverway JCU but on Saturday, the Premiers, away to league leaders MA Olympic won 2-1, and the Under 23s also away to MA Olympic won 3-1.

This week the Panthers are at home in all four grades. On Friday night, the Division One Funkies are at home to Estates Blue and on Saturday the Premiers, Under 23s and Ladies are all at home to Brothers.

The Ayr Anzac Club Premiers were raring to go to start the last round of fixtures for the season and were keen to hand Olympic their first loss of the season. The game started evenly with both teams struggling to create many clear chances. In the 35th minute, the Panthers forced Olympic to play the ball back to their keeper, and Jay Leckenby chased it down and got there first to score. The next ten minutes of the half were dominated by the Panthers who lead 1-0 at half time. The second half started similarly to the first but then a great through ball to Jay Leckenby put the striker in a one on one with the Olympic keeper and he calmly scored to make it 2-0. A few minutes later Elliot Dal Santo struck a thunderous shot, which was looking like being a goal of the season contender until the Olympic goalkeeper pulled off one a very good save.  From there Olympic started to push forward in the search of a goal and with ten minutes to go they found that goal with a well taken shot. This created a tense final ten minutes, but the Panthers finished the game out without letting Olympic create any real chances  to equalise, with the game finishing 2-1. 

The Burdekin Tyre Service Under 23s came to this game on the back of a good training week and the strongest squad yet assembled this season. Confidence was high and the Panthers wanted to put in a good showing against the old enemy. This confidence was matched with a gritty, energetic performance and at the quarter hour mark one of the Panthers new overseas contingent, Antoine, finished off a good move and the Burdekin were in the box seat. The game was being played in very windy and slightly wet conditions which made the contest a more even struggle. It wasn’t until the 76th minute that Damien Casella scored a well-earned goal and three minutes later Antoine scored his second to give the Panthers 3-0 lead. Olympic scored a late consolation goal four minutes from time but the Burdekin Reserves enjoyed the reward that was a rare treat, singing the team song at Olympics home ground. This is the third win in a row for the Reserves and fourth place on the ladder is in sight.

The Austral Masonry Funkies played at home on Friday night against Riverway JCU. The opening stages of the match were played mostly in the Burdekin defensive half as JCU controlled a lot of the ball. After twelve minutes JCU took the lead. The Funkies improved from this point on and managed to control the ball better in the midfield, however the final link up play to the forward line was still proving elusive. The half time score remained 1-0 to JCU. Burdekin started the second half well and were on top at times however the play continued to break down in the final third. The Funkies had a number of good chances and went close, but couldn’t be converted into an equalising goal. JCU also had a couple of chances that were shut down by some desperate Funkies defending. The final was 1-0 to JCU after a much improved effort from the Burdekin team.  

The Ayr Anzac Club Ladies forfeited their match against Olympic.

Masters

On a perfect night for a game, Spain played France in a pre-play of the Euro semi-final. France won 4-3 in a very close encounter with Baz Cross scoring the goal of the night and Deja View putting himself about a lot.

There are just eight weeks of Monday Night Masters left before Night Soccer kicks off on Tuesday 3rd September.

Juniors

There were no local games last weekend because of the school holidays, Final preparations are in process for our Annual Junior carnival on Sunday 14th July.  If you can help with the Carnival set up, your assistance would be greatly appreciated, from 1pm onwards this Saturday. There are no local fixtures this Saturday morning. Can’t wait for a great day Sunday!

‍