June 9, 2016
Nanango’s ferocious Panthers swept the field in Round 9 of this year’s South Burnett Football competition last Saturday, securing wins against their opponents in all three divisions.
Barambah also showed they were in good form with two wins of their own – one by a very large margin.
The losers on the day were Kingaroy teams Wests and Gunners.
Wests mananged to secure one victory when they played Barambah’s under strength First Division side and delivered them a punishing 8-1 drubbing.
This scoreline reversed an identical 8-1 thrashing the Bears had delivered to Wests in their 2nd Division clash earlier in the day.
But Gunners – to everyone’s surprise – failed to put a single point on the league table, which is only the second time this season the side has come out of the park empty-handed.
Perhaps it was an off day for the purple and golds … perhaps it was the weather …
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Saturday’s miserably wet and cold conditions failed to deter either players and fans, who flocked to Kingaroy’s Tom Alford Oval for a bumper day of soccer.
The day’s matches had originally been scheduled to be held at both the Kingaroy and Nanango soccer fields, but the unavailability of the Burnett Street grounds meant all matches had to be played at Kingaroy instead.
This created a real derby for footy fans, with Gunners and Nanango’s 2nd Division sides kicking off proceedings at noon in tightly choreographed set of six matches that stretched all the way to the final clash between Gunners and Nanango’s First Division squads at 7:30pm.
It also provided a rare opportunity to assess all the teams side by side mid-way through the season.
The first two of the day’s games were played in rain which – at times – threatened to turn torrential.
Panthers only narrowly beat Gunners 2-1 in the opening match, but in the second game Barambah showed their form with a thumping 8-1 victory over Wests, during which the rain fell so heavily that at times it was hard to see the ball.
By the time the Women’s Division took to the field, though, the storms had begun to break up into light, occasional drizzle.
Barambah’s ladies took their match against Wests women 2-1 in a hard-fought competition where both teams seemed to be closely matched.
But they were followed by the Panthers women, who delivered a punishing 12-0 victory against the luckless Gunnettes despite being a short a player.
The Gunnettes have yet to win a match this season, but to their credit they never let their heads drop and fought on to the bitter end in late afternoon conditions that had spectators reaching for their blankets and thermoses.
In the First Division games, Wests secured revenge against Barambah for their 2nd Division loss earlier in the day with an 8-1 victory over the under-strength northern side.
But Panthers First Division continued to show their dominance over all comers with a 4-1 victory against Gunners.
It was the Panthers ninth straight victory this season.
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Results – Round 9
- Division 1: Nanango 4 – Gunners 1
- Division 1: Wests 8 – Barambah 1
- Women’s Division: Barambah 2 – Wests 1
- Women’s Division: Nanango 12 – Gunnettes 0
- Division 2: Nanango 2 – Gunners 1
- Division 2: Barambah 8 – Wests 1
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Next Week – Saturday, June 11
There will be no games next Saturday because of the Zone Championships.
The 2016 South Burnett Football competition will resume with Round 10 on Saturday, June 18, with games at Kingaroy (Wests v Gunners) and Wondai (Barambah v Nanango).
Matches at both grounds will be played at 2:00pm (2nd Division), 3:30pm (Women’s Division) and 5:00pm (1st Division).
Junior soccer will also resume on Saturday, June 18 at the Nanango Soccer Fields in Burnett Street.
