Barossa was pumped for the challenge to play against current leaders in JSL B, Hallett Cove. They had one new addition to the team in Morrison Bennett, which would give Barossa the luxury of having 1 on the bench.
Once again, Barossa started off well playing confidently with many strong passes and tackles. Their form was interrupted when the Cove striker took the ball from the Barossa defence and thundered home their first. Barossa kept their chins up and didn’t concede anymore in the first half. Barossa waited for a while to score their first with Ben Kramer having a close-range effort saved by the Cove keeper. Finally, Barossa managed to peg it back to 1-1. Morrison took the ball down the right wing and took on a long shot outside the area. It missed the top left corner but Athan Triandafyllidis picked the ball up deep into the area and dribbled it through 3 Cove defenders before placing it into the bottom left of the goal.Barossa went into half-time positive with Athan’s late effort levelling the teams at the break.
The boys started the 2nd half off slowly and Cove pounced on this opportunity with one of the Cove wingers smashing home a volley off a corner to make it 2-1 in the 48th minute. Barossa kept a positive mindset knowing they were still well placed in the game. Unfortunately, after the referee’s controversial call, Cove was awarded a penalty. Their taker scored to make it 3-1 in the 58th minute. It was hard for Barossa to come back from this, but luck was on their side when a corner from Athan bobbled all the way in after a miscommunication in the Cove defence. Then, once again the referee made another debatable decision and awarded Cove their 2nd penalty. Their taker scored from the opportunity and made it 4-2 with 15 minutes to go.
Barossa didn’t give up, and after a good link-up play between Ollie Wade and Morrison on the right wing, Morrison smashed home a screamer from just outside the box. With 10 minutes to play, Barossa kept up the pressure and came so close to an equaliser after a good ball from Ollie to Ben, who just brushed his shot over the crossbar. This turned out to be Barossa’s final effort on goal and the game ended 4-3. The lads were disappointed they couldn’t snatch a point but knew they could have won if a few of the controversial decisions had gone their way. The match was a massive improvement from their last result vs Cove where they lost 6-0. Overall, it was a strong performance leading into Barossa’s game at home to 3rd placed Fulham next week.
Match report by Ollie Wade