Report : Mooroolbark v Clayton

[ http://www.claytonsoccerclub.com ]

Mooroolbark 1, Clayton S.C 2 Goal scorer Kali Alwin (2) Line up: Nick May; Arnauts (C), Barakat, Riviere; Dell’Aquila, Mazzeo, Lee (Fitti), Petta, Torcasio (Jarred); Alwin, Kramar. Clayton played an away game against the only undefeated side in the league. A win for Clayton will put them on equal points, while a loss would push them six points behind leading into the second half of the season. Clayton had a total of 5 players out with Captain David Schulberg out with a back injury, Michael Tartaglia out suspended, Michael Sham-Ngyuen still recovering from an ankle injury and Gonzalez Fuentes out with an Achilles problem as well as Sava Illiadis missing in action. Coach John Liakopoulos had to assemble a squad to challenge the undefeated Morrolbark. An entertaining first half saw end to end action as Clayton shot to an early lead through Kali Alwin, which came from a good build up through the defence and midfield. But after 30 minutes the opposition started to threaten as Clayton slowed down from playing the style that John Liakopoulos has brought back to the club this year. Soon after Morrolbark equalized to make it all square going into the second half. The second half wasn’t quite the high standard that the match of the round had promised yet strong defensive work from Ricky Barakat and Vince Riviere as well as a solid performance from Johnny Dell’ Aquila in his first start for the club this season saw Clayton keep the score even. Damien Petta found his second wind and started to make darting runs through the midfield which helped create opportunities for the striking pair of Kali Alwin and Silvio Kramar. A flick on from a long throw in by Silvio Kramar found Kali Alwin’s feet and he took the ball on to make it 2-1 to Clayton. Morrolbark piled on the pressure and some good efforts in Nick May in goals stirred Clayton on to hold on for Victory for seventh time this year and move onto Equal points with the previously undefeated Morrolbark. Next week Clayton has a tricky encounter against Nunawading which ended 1-1 on the first day of the season. The game will be played at Mahoneys road reserve next Saturday at 3pm.