Season 2006 - Round 11 - A Team - Southern Knights vs Ingle Farm

A TEAM MATCH REPORT

ROUND 11
SOUTHERN KNIGHTS vs INGLE FARM
GALLOWAY RD, O'SULLIVAN BEACH
SUNDAY, JULY 2nd, 2006

Ingle Farm's mid-season slump continued yesterday with its third loss in four matches as it succumbed to 5th-placed Southern Knights away at O'Sullivan Beach. Farm's topsy-turvey season appears to be spiraling into a season of fizz, as the gap widens at the top of the table.

No doubt it was an uphill task for Farm to travel down South and bring home the biscuits against the vastly improved Knights, however a committed team, which set out to win the league at the start of the season, will need to win such matches in trying conditions, to succeed this season.

Knights started the match well on top furiously attacking Farm who were battling to keep the home team out. Only solid defending and some good saves kept Farm in it.

After 25 minutes, Knights opened the scoring. Knight's unmarked striker got in behind Farm's defense and beat the keeper one-on-one. 1 - 0 to Knights.

Farm's midfield tried to lift the team after the goal. Brendan Altus was winning the hard balls while Ricky Simpson moved the ball forward well. However Farm rarely tested the Knights keeper during the first half.

Reasonable first half performances came from Farm's Dave Ennis, Marty Lara and Anthony Staltari, Altus and Simpson, however it was a disappointing team performance that made few inroads into Knights half.

Halftime: Southern Knights 1, Ingle Farm 0.

After the break, both teams had chances to score. In the 47th minute Knights narrowly missed an opportunity, while Dave Ennis fired a shot that narrowly missed for Farm.

In the 66th minute Farm finally struck. A free kick was cleverly headed down by Chris Ennis that found striker Torsten Rutter who finished well from 6 yards. 1 - 1.

The goal seemed to sting the Knights as Farm lifted all over the park. Farm missed some good opportunities in the next 10 minutes which proved to be costly.

Farm's Leon Hannessen narrowly missed the target when his bullet header went just wide of the post, a half chance that fell to Rutter was not taken from 12 yards and Dave Ennis missed Farm's best chance, one-on-one with the keeper, sadly Ennis miss-hit his shot from 10 yards out..

However against the run of play the referee awarded Knights a controversial penalty when the home team's striker clashed with Farm's keeper in a 50/50 ball just inside the box.

The decision seemed harsh on Farm, however the referee deemed keeper Colin Smith's challenge to be a foul. The resulting spot kick was hit high into Farm's net. 2 - 1 to Knights.

Farm had been kicked in the guts again. Heads dropped as the complexion of the game suddenly changed.

Daniel Giorgetti was introduced with 20 minutes to go for his first appearance at first-team level. The young striker acquited himself well during the match, even coming close to scoring for the 1st team with a half-chance in the 77th minute.

However things did not improve for Ingle Farm when in the 82nd minute a disgraceful goal was let in from a corner after the ball was misjudged badly. 3 - 1 to Knights.

In the 89th minute, Rutter scored again for Farm - bringing the score back to 3 - 2. But it was too little too late for the visitors.

Frustrated Paul Simpson sent out an ominous warning for Farm players when he later said that he was "Sick of conceding sloppy goals."

Final Score: Southern Knights 3, Ingle Farm 2.

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ROUND 11 - B TEAM