May 19, 2014
By Martin Stern
Football South Burnett
The 2014 President’s Cup was played in Kingaroy on Saturday afternoon, and the Nanango Panthers made a clean sweep of it.
The President’s Cup is a mid-season competition where the top two teams after two rounds (ie. after each team has played each other twice) play against one other.
It’s a special event, and the weekly Evolution Solar South Burnett Football League competition took a one-week holiday to accommodate it.
The Cup always provides a great day of football, and a very good crowd turned out at Tom Alford Oval to watch the region’s current top squads battle it out.
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The first match of the afternoon was the Second Division clash, with Barambah up against Nanango.
Barambah got off to a good start when Brendan Kelly put them ahead in the 5th minute, but were caught napping in the 18th minute when Damien Corson latched on to a through ball to equalise.
Then in the 26th minute, David Ashby found some space out wide and ran in with only the keeper to beat to give Nanango a 2-1 lead.
But in the 34th minute – when Barambah were awarded a penalty – John Shaw made no mistake to put his side level.
This to-ing and fro-ing kept the match reasonably even in the first half, but cracks started to appear in the Barambah defence soon after the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Ayden Connolly broke through Barambah’s offside trap and only had the keeper to beat to give the lead back to Nanango.
Then three minutes later, it was Connolly again who collected the ball in front of goal and spun around two defenders to score.
Nanango went even further ahead and put the result out of doubt when Karl Pichlis scored in the 71st minute.
Barambah would have been disappointed with this result, especially with their defence.
But Nanango did well and won with the pace of their youngsters.
Best for Nanango was Ayden Connolly who looked dangerous every time he got the ball, while Sam Kemp was Barambah’s best.
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The Women’s Division match between Nanango and Wests was a bit of an arm wrestle.
But it was Nanango that took one of the rare opportunities in the game when Cassie Evans scored from a Wests’ goalmouth mistake in the 11th minute.
As things turned out, this was the only real opportunity Nanango had to score in a game that turned out to be one of the most evenly matched of the day.
Neither side stamped their authority on this game, and neither team settled down to play smart football.
All the same, both sides really put their hearts into it and it proved an exciting – if at times frustrating – game to watch.
Both teams had a couple of chances, too, but in the end it was a 1-0 win to Nanango.
Maxine Evans was best on the park for the Panthers, while Katrina Parsons was the day’s best for Wests.
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Nanango were favoured to win the First Division match against Barambah.
But Barambah have been a thorn in Nanango’s side over the past couple of years and if anyone was going to pull off a surprise win against the Panthers, it was them.
Both sides played good attacking football.
Nanango went ahead in the 9th minute through a screamer from Kieran Askin.
Both teams had a few chances to score in the first half but on a whole it was a battle in the midfield.
Seven minutes into the second half Nanango struck again – this time through Kieran Mangan.
Barambah was still in the game but they were unable to find any to break through Nanango’s stoic defence.
In the end, the match finished with a 2-0 win to Nanango but Barambah can hold their heads high as their team continues to improve week after week.
Best on the park for Nanango was Kieran Askin and for Barambah, Sheldon Livingston was Barambah’s best.
Congratulations to Nanango on yet another milestone achievement.
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Results:
- Division 1: Nanango 2 (Kieran Askin, 9th, Kieran Mangan 52nd) Barambah 0
- Women’s Division: Nanango 1 (Cassie Kelly 11th) Wests 0
- Division 2: Nanango 5 ( Ayden Connolly 50th, 53rd, Damien Corson 18th, David Ashby 26th, Karl Pichlis 71st) Barambah 2 (Brendan Kelly 5th, John Shaw 34th)
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Next Week:
The Evolution Solar South Burnett Football League competition will resume with Round 7 next week. Senior matches will be played in Kingaroy and Nanango.
In Kingaroy: Wests v Gunners (Updated May 21)
- 2nd Division: 3:00pm
- Women’s Division: Deferred. It is envisaged the match will be played midweek in a fortnight’s time.
- 1st Division: 5:00pm
In Murgon: Barambah v Panthers
- 2nd Division: 3:00pm
- Women’s Division: 5:00pm
- 1st Division: 7:00pm
