Towners out in first round of cup

Monday, 27 April 2009 00:00

Taking your chances is what winning matches is all about and the Dunsborough Towners failed in this area when they succumbed to 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bunbury Dynamo in the South West Times Knockout cup on Monday.

In truth, Dynamo was the better composed combination for much of the match.

But oddly it was the Towners that had the better clear cut chances to win the game and advance to the next round of the competition.

At the point where Dynamo held a 3-1 lead Dunsborough created three chances that really should have been converted with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Richard Olsen, Adam Shaw and Graeme Copeman found themselves unexpectedly in the clear following a favourable bounce of the ball.

On each occasion, however, they rushed the opportunity either directing the shots at the goalkeeper or slicing it well wide of the goal.

Dynamo got off to the perfect start with Ryan Pryce ghosting round the back of a Dunsborough defence pulled wide and square to tap home from close range in the third minute.

Unexpected moments can change the rhythm of a game and such a moment arrived in the 12th minute with a blatantly incorrect decision by the referee.

A goal kick by goalkeeper Cohen Sadlier dribbled out towards sweeper Terry McBride who intercepted the ball inside the penalty area.

In such a case the goal kick must be taken again because the ball is not in play until it has cleared the penalty area and the game as such is not considered live until that has occurred.

To everyone’s amazement the referee awarded an indirect free kick to Dynamo inside the penalty area ruling McBride should not have touched the ball until it was outside the penalty area virtually handing Dynamo and Pryce a second goal and, as it turned out, the game.

Certainly, the Towners received a lifeline through striker Chriss Tew who shrugged off close attention in the 36th minute to race in the penalty area and unleash a thunderous acute angled shot that left goalkeeper Ryan Montgomery grasping thin air.

Hopes of a comeback lasted two minutes when Dynamo, on a counter attack, struck back with the best goal of the match when a quick long diagonal cross from the right wing found captain Manny De Brito free on the left whose first time chip sailed inch perfect over Sadlier into the top right hand corner of the net.

In the second-half it was a more purposeful Dunsborough who took the game to Dynamo with  “Man of the Match” Adam Shaw working tirelessly in midfield and Sebastian Kovas looking more assured as each senior game passes


Even when reduced to ten men with Tew red-carded for kicking an opponent, the Towners looked capable of scoring a second goal and even forcing the game into extra time with a draw.

But in the final analysis they didn’t have the man power or the energy to overhaul a Dynamo that in essence was the better side on the day.

If there was an excuse for the Towners it was the fact that it was their second hard match in two days while Dynamo had not played for eight days having a scheduled bye in the Premier League because of the odd number of clubs in the competition.

It was significant that at Wednesday night’s training many of the Dunsborough platers complained of soreness and tired muscles from the weekend’s exertions.

Dunsborough Lineup;

Cohen Sadlier Brent Hillyard, Sam Holt, Chriss Tew, Mark Ferguson, Richard Olsen, Terry McBride, Stuart Gidley, Sebastian Kovacs, Graeme Copeman, Adam Shaw.

Substitutes: Jake Thompson, Jake Smith, Clint Thompson.

Goalscorers: Chriss Tew.

Man of the Match: Adam Shaw

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