Cup progress for the Men's 1s
/Kelburne Men’s 1s v Monarchs Men’s 1s
9/10/2022 - 12:00pm
Kelburne M1s 5-3 Monarchs M1s
Scorers: Sam Hunt, Andrew McGrane (2), Jay Berry and Iain Scholefield
The game started with both teams working hard to put their mark on the game. Kelburne were controlling the tempo of the game and were slowly building up momentum with lots of possession in the last third of the pitch. Kelburne were given their first real chance when Miles Goldie took a quick free hit to run into the circle and win a short corner. Similar to the league fixture Sum Hunt stepped up and put a strong flick high into the Monarchs Goal.
Monarchs were continuing to play long balls down the pitch that were being mopped up by the Kelburne defence. Iain Scholefield led the next charge on the Monarch goal by making a direct run up the middle of the park where he played a fantastic pass onto Andrew McGrane who calmly reversed the ball through the Monarchs goalkeeper.
The rest of the quarter was well controlled with Sam Hunt and Rory Donaldson intercepting a lot of Monarchs long balls.
The second quarter had started slow with Kelburne not making the connections they were making in the first quarter. This meant Monarchs were starting to create chances. With Monarchs pushing Kelburne back into their own “D” it was just a matter of time before they would manage to convert. Monarchs managed to win their first corner after Kelburne were slow to set up and long ball from the back went straight into the Kelburne circle which was followed by a sloppy tackle. The ball was injected to top Circle were Boag manged to fire the ball top right into the net. Monarchs gained momentum from the goal and were continuing to push hard and were becoming more physical to try and equalize before halftime. Their opportunity came with a strike from top circle which Kelburne’s keeper Logan McClure manged to stretch low left to stop the shot. Scott Peters who controlled the rebound perfectly to turn out of trouble and clear the ball.
Half-time Kelburne 2 – Monarchs 1
The second half continued to be a battle for both teams trying to get the next goal. Monarchs were continuing to throw long aerials and long crash balls into the Kelburne half, but they weren’t managing to convert into chances on goal. Kelburne were starting to put together great phases of play which manged to create another short corner for them. This one went to Jay Berry who made the Monarchs keeper pull out a great save to push the ball wide. As the quarter started to develop more harder challenges were going in. It boiled over when Miles Goldie had an altercation with a Monarchs player which saw both receive a 10-minute yellow. Monarchs reacted better to playing with 10 men and started putting pressure on the Kelburne defence. The next opportunity came from a Monarchs short corner where Boag flicked the ball and McClure produced a top quality save high to his right to deny Monarchs equaliser. This was short lived as shortly after, Monarchs won another corner. This was a poor injection but was taken to left of the goal where a quick reverse was hammered into the bottom corner. Both teams got back to full strength just before the end of the quarter. The last quarter was fast paced with Kelburne creating majority of chances. The breakthrough came with Dylan Bradley stealing possession and attacking the “D”. Dylan pulled the keeper out and slid the ball underneath him for Jay Berry to deflect into the empty goal. This newfound momentum pushed Kelburne on to create another attack on the Monarch circle. Tommy Austin started the attack with great skill bringing him over the 25 where he found Berry in the “D” who manged to work it round the keeper for Andrew McGrane sliding in back post to score his second of the game. Monarchs were fighting to get back into the game but with great saves from McClure kept the momentum with Kelburne. Kelburne continued to push with a great move down the left side of the pitch that allowed Jay Berry to attack the circle. Unfortunately, he was fouled which led Kelburne to be given a penalty flick. Iain Scholefield stepped up and slotted the ball bottom left. This didn’t stop Monarchs as they continued to play balls into the Kelburne circle which they were rewarded with consolation goal.
Full time Kelburne 5- Monarchs 3
Overall, it was a very exciting game which was enjoyed by a great Kelburne support which the team are very thankful for.
