Shoalhaven Football
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Manyana 1
Shoalhaven Heads 1
MANYANA were tipped as competition favorites, but Shoalhaven Heads may now be the team to watch after you could not split the two sides on Saturday at Manyana Sports Field.
Both teams got one goal on the scoreboard in the first half, but the score remained unchanged during the second to end in a 1-all draw.
Manyana looked strong from the blow of the first whistle and quickly gained possession of the game.
Manyana scored in the first 10 minutes after they were awarded a free kick following a scramble with the Heads goalkeeper.
Brandon Perosh put that away to put the score at 1-nil.
Manyana continued to push Heads, with Heads goalkeeper David Crapp making some great saves to keep his team in the game.
Heads found their feet during the later half of the first half and through some individual brilliance by Tim White, scored their goal a few minutes before the break.
White made his way through Manyana’s defence to finally chip the ball over the goalkeeper’s head from just outside the box and take the score to 1-all at half-time.
“I just told my team to be patient, keep their structure, keep talking in defence and hopefully a second goal would come,” said Manyana coach Matt Tooley, who also filled in as a player for this game.
“But unfortunately it didn’t,” he added.
The second half was battle for both teams as they tried to keep the other side from scoring.
The Heads back line of David Crapp, Jy Findlay, Brad Page, Roy Miller and Alex Birrell worked brilliantly to deflect any heat from the Manyana attack and at the final whistle, the score was unchanged.
Shoalhaven Heads coach Ross Tasker said he thought it was a good result for his team considering earlier expectations.
Tasker said it was a great team effort for his team’s opening game.
“Jy Findlay was outstanding, Tim White was impressive, and Ian Martin worked his guts out in the middle,” he said.
Manyana coach Matt Tooley said his best players included Perosh, Mitch Butel in the midfield and Tim Dixon in defence.
“I think we played well as a team for our first proper game. We played well as a team, kept our structure and were pretty consistent over the 90 minutes so I think there are some good positive signs there,” he said.
Manyana will face Illaroo next week at Sharman Park.
“I don’t know much about what they have got line-up wise, but we expect to go up there and do the simple things right and improve each week,” Tooley said.
Heads will have a home game next weekend against St Georges Basin.
“I rate Basin. They are a young side and will be a good test for us,” Tasker said.
“They won’t want to be beaten 9-1 two weeks in a row so if we keep a clean sheet against them we will be happy, if we snag a goal or two, even better.”