Rovers in Thrilling Win

30 April 2013 Written by HRSC

Hamersley Rovers 4:3 Kingsley SC

A return to the usual glorious Perth Sunday sunshine saw a return to winning ways for Hamersley Rovers Firsts as they took on Kingsley at Carine.

Hamersley started the afternoon brightly and their first chance came on 5 minutes, Ryan Williams latching on to a through ball and seeing his effort, a volleyed flick with his right foot, bounce just wide of the keepers left hand post.

Another chance presented itself moments later, as pressure on the edge of the Kingsley box eventually caused the ball to fall to Dan Guggisberg, whose strike was on target but lacked the power to seriously trouble the Kingsley keeper.

On 22 minutes, however, Hamersley found themselves a goal behind when a Kingsley short corner eventually found its way into the box as the long, blond curls of former Rovers player Jesse Higgins rose above all others and planted his header firmly away from Hamersley keeper Ian Norgrove.

Norgrove was called into action again on 30 minutes when the referee deemed that a Kingsley player had been pushed in the Hamersley penalty box. There were few complaints from the Hamersley players and the Kingsley penalty taker converted, leaving Hamersley two goals down and needing a reaction to bring themselves back into the game.

It came two minutes later, as a Declan Peters cross so very nearly found the forward roving Glenn Arkins, his well timed run spotted expertly by Peters but the cross just too high. A moment later it was Peters’ turn to be on the receiving end of a smart cross from Dan Fowler, the former’s angled header just wide of the frame.

Rovers were right back in the game and yet another chance presented itself on 36 minutes when Williams got himself on another great cross from Peters, the tall striker not quite able to place his header on target on this occasion.

The momentum dropped off slightly before half time but Williams created a chance for himself just before the interval as he muscled his way through the Kingsley defence and fired from close range, the shot somehow kept out by the diminutive Kingsley No.1.

As the half time whistle blew, Hamersley hadn’t got themselves on the scoresheet, but their reaction to going two goals behind had shown that there was plenty still to play for in the second half.

The second half began slowly, both sides working hard without reaching each other’s penalty boxes. That all changed on 55 minutes however, as Hamersley’s Ryan ‘Razor’ Sochanik slipped a trademark inch perfect pass through to Williams, who burst onto it with pace and dispatched a fierce strike across goal, the keeper getting a hand to it but not preventing Fowler from following up and scoring Hamersley’s first of the afternoon from close range.

Moments later a thunderbolt strike from distance from Conor Fullard brought a fine save as Hamersley sensed frailty in the Kingsley defence.

Their second goal came moments later. Another excellent ball was slid through to Williams, whose clever run saw him elude the defenders and neatly finish past the keeper with his left foot to put Hamersley level. It was no more than the home side deserved and reinforced the home fans’ belief that a Hamersley Rovers side is never to be underestimated.

After their second, however, Hamersley lost some momentum and the. game again slipped into a lull period until a dangerous 75^th minute shot by a Kingsley player produced a fine save from Norgrove, the Hamersley No.1 tipping the goal bound strike onto the post and away from trouble.

With 10 minutes of the 90 remaining, Kingsley again found themselves in the lead, as their No. 7 smuggled himself through, worked his way wide of Norgrove and tucked the ball in, Ben Ashton just unable to block the finish with a stretching defensive slide.

Things went from bad to worse a minute later when Arkins, in an off-the-ball incident, was deemed to have made physical contact with a Kingsley player and was shown a straight red. The home crowd, who felt that there had been some contact the other way in the incident, met the decision with some disbelief.

Hamersley were down but by no means out. An equaliser came after some excellent passing play from Fullard, Sochanik and Peters resulted in an inch perfect driven cross from Fullard, met with aplomb by Fowler at the front post.

Then delight for the home crowd came in the form of a Williams free-kick. From well outside the box, the big striker curled the ball with deadly accuracy around the wall and into the far right corner of the goal, silencing the travelling support and sending the Hamersley crowd into rapture.

A long period of stoppage time saw another fine Norgrove save and a heroic Fullard header off the line, but Rovers stayed strong to claim their second home win of the season.

It was an excellent result that will help put to bed the uncharacteristically flat performance of the previous week, and one that will further buoy the team spirit of the Hamersley lads as they look ahead to Round 4.

Hamersley Rovers Reserves 2:3 Kingsley Reserves

The early kick-off saw Hamersley reserves drop their first points of the season with a narrow loss to Kingsley reserves.

Hamersley found themselves two goals down after just 5 minutes from a penalty and a well worked cross and strike. The score remained the same as Rovers headed into the interval, but the home side had shown that they had the ability to take the game to Kingsley.

The second half saw Rovers go further behind as a cross from the right was struck sweetly on the volley by the Kingsley player.

It would be a real test for the home side to get anything back at this point, but Matt Austin did get one back for the home team moments later, as a delightful ball saw Austin clean through with only the keeper to beat, the Rovers player making no mistake as he expertly slotted the ball away to his right.

Rovers sensed a comeback and as a sensational drive from the edge of the box from Dave ‘Fingers’ Howell nestled in the top corner, the comeback was indeed on.

Hamersley piled on the pressure in the latter stages of the game and a number of chances went close, keeper Dave Wood even making a foray into the box in a last final attempt to level the game, but to no avail.

In the end the three goal deficit proved too much, though the Ressies can take heart from the way they came back into the game and can build on their overall positive start to the season in Round 4.