June 29, 2015
by Martin Stern
Wests and Gunners both took to the field for the local 1st Division derby with depleted lineups on Saturday.
Thomas Carroll, Ben Mensur, Russ Hutfield, Sheldon Livingston, Jayden Mollenhauer, and Gary and Daniel Favier were missing from Wests.
And Tin Tran, Torren Anderton, Luke Vandenberg, Callum Cook and Simon Linnane were missing from Gunners lineup.
Despite the absence of these players, spectators were treated to a very entertaining match.
Gunners took the attack to Wests early, and they had to dig deep in defence.
Wests worked their offside trap well, which frustrated Gunners until the 28th minute when Brendan Kelly made the break through to give Gunners the lead.
Two minutes later, Gunners were awarded a penalty for a reckless tackle.
Neil Gurnett stepped up and made no mistake to make it 2-0.
Gunners continued to put Wests under pressure until half time, but Wests tightened their defence.
In the second half, Wests started to press Gunners.
Brandon Smith pulled a goal back for Wests in the 54th with a powerful shot from just inside the box which went in off the crossbar.
West continued to press but Gunners countered by flooding their midfield, which made things difficult for Wests.
In the end it was Gunners that came up with the points in a hard-fought win.
* * *
In the Women’s game Wests were too good for Gunnettes.
Gunnettes did well to keep Wests scoreless in the first half of their Women’s Division match thanks to the goalkeeping of Rahab Murray and some frantic defence.
But the Gunnettes tired in the second half, and soon paid the price.
Hayley Hunter scored two quick goals, followed by a goal from Tess Buzzo.
Hunter completed her hat trick soon after to give Wests a comfortable 4-0 win.
* * *
In Second Division, the Wests wagon rolled on towards the Minor Premiership with a 1-0 win.
Both teams battled hard in the first half, but were let down with some poor passing and poor finishing.
The match was still up for grabs in the second half until Alex Firman put his side in front after some poor Gunners defending.
Both teams had chances, but again were let down by poor finishing.
* * *
Results
In Kingaroy::
- Division 2: Wests 1 (Alex Firman) – Gunners 0
- Women’s: Wests 4 (Haley Hunter 3, Tessa Buzzo) – Gunners 0
- Division 1: Gunners 2 (Brendan Kelly, Neil Gurnett) – Wests 1 (Brandon Smith)
In Nanango:
- Division 2: Barambah 2 (Sam Kemp 51st, Ayden Connolly 73rd) – Nanango 0
- Women’s: Nanango 4 (Jacqui Downie 41st, Cass Kelly 55th, Raegan Campbell 51st, Jess Ehrlich 38th) – Barambah 0
- Division 1: Nanango 3 (Brad Porter 11th, 24th, Thomas Mangan 17th) – Barambah 0
There won’t be any games next weekend because of the Winter school vacation, but the senior competition will resume on July 11.
Nanango will play Wests in all three divisions at Nanango; and in Kingaroy, Gunners will play Barambah in two divisions.
