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Round 17 State Premier League: Fremantle 4-4 Mandurah City |
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
FREMANTLE’S SPIRIT SHATTERED BY O’CALLAGHAN
David Cox
Fremantle Spirit Coach Marc Wingell must be wondering what his side have to do to win this season.
3-0 to the good at the interval, Fremantle must have thought today was the day they would finally secure their first win of the campaign and keep their slim chances of survival alive.
Alas, a last gasp volley from Phil O’Callaghan secured a 4-4 draw for Mandurah in an absolutely rip-roaring, incident-packed game at Wauhop Park.
The hosts came out of the blocks firing all cylinders, playing like a team keen to belie their position on the ladder. Using a swift counter-attacking style to unsettle their opponents, and using the ball over the top of their opponents defence made fine use of Ben Kelly’s pace.
The breakthrough came after 16 minutes. Referee Ton Klaver clarified a disputed foul by Gary Collins on the nimble Callum Roberts; “The ball was a full two metres away when you attempted to make the challenge.”
Simon Elton-Bott whipped the ball in with venom and all David Rodgers had to do was connect to send the home crowd into raptures.
Three minutes later, Fremantle almost doubled their lead. Another Elton-Bott free kick was this time over hit, but Mandurah ‘keeper Michael Green had to be on his toes to tip the dipping ball out for a corner. The home side kept pressing and were making Mandurah look decidedly disorganised.
Fremantle got the reward their endeavour deserved midway through the first half. A static Mandurah defence were caught napping by a simple long ball. Kelly was the first to react and he produced a brilliant finish with the outside of his right foot; dinking the ball over the on-rushing Green from a tight angle.
Mandurah were at sixes and sevens, unable to cope with the lively Francisco Jorquere who was controlling the game from the midfield.
On the half hour it was three. A cross from Adrian McBride caused panic in the box and was only half cleared. In the next passage of play a goalmouth scramble ensued. Llewellyn Bake and Kelly both had chances to score but it was Rodgers who grabbed his second and put what looked like an unassailable lead on the scoreboard.
Mandurah became more composed on the ball as the half came to a close. However, these ten minutes were not enough for Coach Stuart Currie to see the positives as he laid into his troops at the break.
The message must have got through as Mandurah showed glimpses of their early season form in this second half, dominating possession and scoring four.
Despite the marked improvement, the visitors were also aided by two specific incidents in the first five minutes of the half.
First, a late tackle on playmaker Jorquere saw him leave the field with perpetrator Andy Brown only receiving yellow card.
Then four minutes later a passage of play more at home on the rugby field, saw frustrations boil over and Elton-Bott was given his marching orders for dissent.
Fremantle were lucky not to have been reduced to nine as in the build-up to Elton-Bott’s dismissal, sweeper Peter Vukmirovic had left his mark on Christian Paschewitz with a horrendous late challenge that went unpunished.
Paschewitz had the perfect response seconds later when the free kick from the sending-off was swung over and he rose to nod home.
With the deficit reduced to two, the home crowd would be forgiven for becoming nervy, especially when five minutes later Paschewitz fired over when the ball sat up invitingly inside the box.
From the resulting goal kick, remarkably the lead was then restored to three. Roberts hooked the long kick into the box and with Rodgers sniffing for his hat trick; Chris Currie sent a looping header over Green and into his own net.
A lesser side may have crumbled as that goal could have been interpreted as the final nail in the coffin, but Mandurah maintained the intensity with which they had started the half.
Fremantle were wobbling. None more so than the big Vukmirovic who was having a torrid time, not only with O’Callaghan’s pace but also the Mandurah bench. Distracted at every break in play he was very fortunate not to give away a penalty when O’Callaghan roared past him.
It was no surprise when he was replaced minutes late by young Michael Draper.
Unfortunately one of Draper’s first acts was to give away a penalty. A clear trip just inside the box saw O’Callaghan dispatch the spot kick and the score become 4-2.
The last 20 minutes were all Mandurah. Substitute Robbie Cuthbert and Gary Attrill both had golden chances while O’Callaghan had a chance for his second but dragged the shot wide.
With nine minutes remaining he made amends when confusion in the Fremantle midfield saw him latch onto an innocuous long ball. With limited options, his mind was suddenly made up when Steve Grant raced from his line and O’Callaghan simply knocked the ball first time over him into the empty net.
It looked like Fremantle had survived the inevitable onslaught but O’Callaghan broke their hearts by completing his hat-trick with almost the last kick of the game, slamming in a volley from the edge of the box when the ball had failed to be cleared on two occasions.
Wingell was understandably distraught at the final whistle: “It’s the same old story, we haven’t been able to hang on for the full 90. The sending off for a bit of swearing changed the game, whereas the tackle on Cisco has gone relatively unpunished.”
Whereas Currie was happier than at half-time, he still had some choice words for his charges: “I gave them a bit on honesty at half-time. They’re in there now and happy with a point but we’ve played a side who have only scored 12 goals all season and four of them against us here today. The first half performance was a disgrace and I told them so. We worked for it second half and deserved what we got.”
Next week Fremantle will be looking for that elusive first win against Swan I.C. whilst Mandurah welcome improving Armadale.
Fremantle Spirit: S.Grant, P.Vukmirovic (M.Draper 63’), T.Straker, A.McBride, L.Bake, S.Elton-Bott, B.Kelly, D.Rodgers, C.Roberts, F.Jorquere (J.Barerra 47’), J.Moffat, (not used: D.McBride (GK), J.Pottier, C.Hayes).
Yellow Cards: C.Roberts 64’.
Red Cards: S.Elton-Bott 50’ (Dissent).
Mandurah City: M.Green, Scurries, R.McDarby, J.Bonser, A.Brown, C.Paschkewitz, P.O’Callaghan, R.Townsend, G.Attrill, C.Wylie, G.Collins (R.Cuthbert 68’), (not used: D.Ainslie (GK), J.Hesketh, J.Loreto, J.Bright).
Yellow Cards: A.Brown 46’, M.Green 64’
Red Cards: N/A.
STATISTICS
Full Time: 4-4 Half Time: 3-0
Goals: D.Rodgers (Fre) 16’, B.Kelly (Fre) 23’, D.Rodgers (Fre) 31’, C.Paschkewitz (Man) 50’ Own Goal (Fre) 56’, P.O’Callaghan 69’ (Pen), 81, 90.
Referee: Ton Klaver
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