Ballina Wins Handsomely over Workers

A confident Ballina line up travelled to Rec12 to make amends for the 5-0 loss at the hands of the Redmens in the ANZAC Cup pool game. The result was one that not even the Ballina faithful would have picked, with Ballina coming away 4-0 victors.

The game started in usual style, with Workers coming hard at the defence, with plenty of quick ball movement trying to bamboozle the back three. The well organised defenders handled everything with relative ease, and prevented Workers from getting a shot away on the part-time, fill-in goalkeeper. The Redmen pushed forward, but it was at the other end that opening started to show.

Good pressure from the Ballina midfield resulted in a Workers mistake, and Clint Colless found room in front of goal to slot home the opener inside the twenty minute mark. This was the last action from Colless, who was replaced soon after.

The scoreline remained that way into half time, resulting in a nervous halftime talk. Ballina knew first hand of the scoring power of Workers, and resumed the game with this in mind.

Once again the defence held strong, frustrating the potent midfield and strikers with tight marking and pressuring their options. The Workers team started to show the effects of beating their heads against the wall, and lost composure and shape.

Soon after, goalmouth pressure from the Ballina attack found Cerys Hawkins with a bouncing balll within range, and whipped home a second mark on the Workers goal sheet.

Then came the end of any thoughts of a Workers revival. More good, fluid passing in the midfield set Chris Shomberg away, only to be taking down in a vicious but clumsy challenge by the Red sweeper. The red card was shown without hesitation, and a disorganised Workers defence was now thrown into disarray.

Ballina came again, and this time Mat Jefferys received a bouncing ball, free inside the box. An acrobatic, aerial scissor-kick-dummy-stepover from Jefferys dazzled the goalkeeper, while Adam Izzard kindly supplied the finish.

This was soon followed by a through ball to Brendan Davis, free in the middle. He strolled up to the keeper and casually stroked the ball into the net for a 4-0 scoreline.

Workers were now yearning for the showers, and soon after Steve Morrisey made sure he got an early one, with a silly second yellow card. And then there were nine.

Ballina unfortunately couldn’t complete the payback, with time running out before the fifth could be found. But four goals against one of the premiership favourites in the more important premiership rounds feels just as good.

Credit must go to Luke Gooley, Phil Amery and Brendan Davis, who kept the main three of Workers utterly answerless to the quality defending that these three provided. This was the main catalyst to the capitulation of Workers, and allowed the holes for the Ballina attack to exploit.

Great efforts also be Tom Sines up front, who recieved good service from Cerys Hawkins and the effervescent Daniel Vincent.

Credit also to coach Peter Lang, who is pulling in the results that no one expected. A good start to the season with limited time speaks volumes for the way he has organised the Ballina Boys.

Reserve Grade Struggle to Find Form.

Traditionally, Ballina struggle to come away with a win from Workers, and this year was one of those years. Despite, going ahead early in the game, three quick replies from Workers before halftime ended hopes of a victory, and a late goal in the second half finished the 4-1 defeat.

James Tomlinson worked hard all day, showing great composure under heavy pressure. Adrian Price again provided some flare, while old warhorse Rodney Troughton held together a tattered Ballina defence.

The Reserve Boys are still looking to gel together, with this being only the second run together, and the first quality opposition. There is good signs for the future, and we hope to see them in the next couple of games.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 9th, 2006 at 10:05 am and is filed under Senior Mens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.