James Murphy
APOLLO 3 d GAMBIER CENTRALS 1
THE weekend’s match of the round in Limestone Coast men’s soccer had Apollo near untouchable when it claimed a strong 3-1 win over Gambier Centrals.
The two clubs entered the round knowing it would be a tough outing, with both pushing for top-two positions.
Billy Pearce gave Apollo reason to celebrate early in the piece and his goal in the 11th minute set things in motion for the hosts.
From there the first half was an arm wrestle as both teams fought for ascendancy.
Centrals pushed hard but were unable to level the playing field, but did prevent Apollo from furthering its hold on the game.
That was until the second half, where Pearce popped up again with a goal in the 51st minute to hand the home team a two-goal buffer.
Intensity levels rose greatly from that moment and Centrals had some dangerous runs into attack.
Eventually the Lions found a goal through the ever-reliable Sam Shoemark to bring it back to a one-goal game.
The scoreline is often a dangerous one but Apollo did well to quench any momentum Centrals had built up.
Apollo kept generating its own chances threatened to break the game open, eventually earning a penalty in the 74th minute to ice the game.
Chris Bytheway put the ball past Centrals’ keeper Alex Hill to conclude the scoring for the day and from there it was a tough slog to the final whistle.
Centrals did not back down until then, but the Apollo defence stood tall on the day to keep the margin at 3-1.
INTERNATIONAL 7 d NARACOORTE 0
The trip to Naracoorte proved rewarding for International on Sunday and the boys in black and blue returned home with a percentage-boosting win.
As a result Inter now sits on top of the leaderboard by goal difference, with the top four all level on two wins each.
The writing was on the wall early when Sam Bueti fired off two quick goals to set up a lead Inter would only build on.
From there neither team was able to finish off its chances until the 32nd minute, when Inter’s Cedar Sopha converted to make it a three-goal lead.
That is how the margin remained at half time and Naracoorte was faced with a tough task if it was to make a comeback.
After the break Matt Bueti started to get some reward for his work up forward and his first of three goals came in the 57th minute.
From there both teams swung some changes but Naracoorte was unable to stem the flow and Matt Bueti fired again at the 74-minute mark.
Christian Cella scored the next goal, before a late goal from Matt Bueti completed his hat-trick and handed inter a 7-0 victory.
This weekend will present Inter with a greater challenge when it visits Gambier Centrals for Round 5.
The meeting should produce an entertaining clash between the heavyweight clubs, but over at Malseed Park there will be equal intrigue when Blue Lake hosts Apollo.
The top four is as close as ever this season and both matches could easily go either way.
