Last Saturday afternoon was a cold miserable day. Howling gales were lashing the Kiama township with winds strong enough to blow a dog off a chain. The few hardy souls in attendance at the Kiama Leisure Centre were battered and blistered by the gusting winds that attacked from the snow covered mountains to the south west and made it a very uncomfortable part of the world to be perched on. But at 4.40pm a ray of sunlight shone down from the heavens and it seemed to be the best part of the world to be at that particular time as the referee blew full time in a soccer match where Kiama beat Port Kembla 4 – 3 in Round 13 of the Illawarra Premier League.
This was a match that had everything you could want in a game of football. There was drama, skill, bravery, desperation and at times a little luck. It was a tragedy that so few ventured into the howling gale to watch the game as it was an absolute beauty. Even the gales could not detract from the spectacle. But what made the win even more special for Kiama and its hardy bunch of supporters was the way that the boys fought back from being 3 – 1 down four minutes after half time to snatch the winner late in the game.
This game was a crunch match for the young Kiama side and they needed to turn things around and get on the winning trail or the season was going to be a long struggle into relegation. Coach Brod Creighton made a few changes to the side and brought in young ‘keeper James Terry for an ill Tidswell, new signing Manny Mavrides for Gallagher and persevered with his altered formation with Boardman in the forward line and Wright in midfield.
Port, for there part, are not enjoying the successful season they normally have and are sitting in fourth place, a situation that they were not happy about. They were also very keen to make amends for the 2 – 0 loss they suffered against Kiama earlier in the season, the Quarriers only other win so far. They fielded a side with a number of new signings brought in to bolster their charge towards the semi finals.
The game was played in terrible conditions but both sets of players must be commended for the display they put on. It was only on occasion that the weather was allowed to affect the play with the odd pass going astray in the gale.
Kiama opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Jovanov hit a long speculative ball into the Port penalty box from a free kick thirty meters out. With a combination of natural spin on the ball and a bit of assistance from the wind the ball looped in towards goal and bamboozled the ‘keeper in the air. This was lucky for Kiama and unlucky for Port but it was about time the Quarriers got a slice of good luck.
The match was on an even keel for the remainder of the half as both sides pushed and probed each other in a good display of intelligent soccer. The Quarriers had a great chance to double their lead on the 40-minute mark when Wright had a great shot saved by the keeper. The ball rebounded out to Mavrides who took his shot on the run and kept it low. Port’s keeper did well to regain his feet and scurry back across his goal to make a second save.
Port had their own slice of bad luck midway through the half when they hit the woodwork with two efforts. One was just a long range clearance gone bad that was pushed onto the post by the wind while the other was a terrific shot from outside the box that hit the crossbar. In other games both of these would have gone in.
Two minutes before half time Kiama went to sleep. They must have been thinking about oranges at halftime because Port were allowed to waltz through the middle of the park and grab an equalizer. This is not a good time to concede a goal, not that there ever is, and it allowed Port to go in at half time with their tails up.
The first four minutes of the second half were an absolute nightmare for the Quarriers as they came back on the park with their minds elsewhere. Port scored two goals in four minutes and tore gaping holes in the Kiama defence to take the lead 3 – 1. This was disastrous for the home side and it looked like Port might go on and score a bag full of goals and run up a cricket score. They were being allowed to do whatever they wanted to a pedestrian Kiama defence.
To their credit the Quarriers stabilized themselves and regrouped. It would have been easy for panic to set in but it was nowhere to be seen. The players seemed to shrug their shoulders and say, “right, lets sort this one out”, and they did. In remarkable style.
Nathan Wright struck the first blow in the fight back after sixty minutes. He latched onto a ball twenty meters out and surprised everybody as he unleashed a volley that screamed past the goalie and hit the back of the net. This boy will not score a better goal than this one. The score was 3 – 2 but it did seem that it was only a consolation goal.
But better was to come and seven minutes later Nick Gallagher, on as a replacement, plowed home the equalizer with his first touch of the ball. He took a perfectly flighted ball from Boardman and out sprinted the defence hitting his shot from just inside the box past a diving goalie.
The 3 – 3 shoreline seemed impossible for the hardy Kiama supporters to believe but better was to come. Gallagher had a second effort a few minutes later and from a similar position was swamped by the defence as the ball bounced up as he lined up the shot.
Ten minutes from time the Quarriers had Wright upended just outside the penalty box on the left side of the park. Throwing caution to the wind (pardon the pun) and deciding that a win was on the cards Creighton ordered his big men up from the defence and threw them into attack for the free kick. Jovanov hit a curling ball across the penalty box and Brad Tuohy was on the far post to head home the winner.
Kiama 4 – 3. Could this be possible? Many people at the ground were not sure. But there was still ten minutes to go and from Kiama’s recent run of luck it was highly likely that Port would come back with an equalizer or even a winner. But they didn’t. Not due to luck or anything like that. It was down to Kiama’s excellent play. The Quarriers did not shut up shop but continued to push forward and they were looking for more goals even as the referee blew full time.
This was a memorable game for the Quarriers. They battled and fought all match and were justly rewarded for their tenacity and guts. Port were disappointed but in the end they were well beaten by a side that wanted the win more than they did.
It is hard to pick out a man of the match after a display like this as all of the players had big games. Boardman, Jovanov and Merriman were all great, as was Gillespie, Gardner and Broad. The Kiama Leagues Club Man of the Match was a tough one to pick and went to livewire midfielder Nathan Wright. A powerful game that featured a number of surges into the attack coupled with a goal gave him the edge over the other contenders.
Kiama’s Reserve Grade went down 2- 0 to a quality Port side but once again deserved a better result. Port’s first goal was an absolute joke. Young keeper Kiel Zerner caught a high cross and was then flattened by two attackers. The ball bounced loose when he hit the ground and the referee allowed a goal. Terrible decision. In fairness, Port’s second goal was a screamer from a free kick twenty meters out in the second last minute but the Quarriers had their own chances go missing by centimeters at the other end. Man of the Match for Kiama was defender Craig Barrass in a polished display.
The Youth Grade were also on the end of a 2 – 0 shoreline against a very classy Port Kembla. The kids played well but in the end could not take points from a hand picked Port. Port Kembla spend nearly as much money on their Youth Team as they do on the First Grade and this was a very classy team they have put together. The difference between the two teams is not great, but Port Kembla seem to have a quicker response in front of goals. Best for Kiama and the Man of the Match was Chris Gardner who was a bit of a standout with this performance.
Next week Kiama are away to Coniston at JJ Kelly Park, Wollongong. Coniston have hit a winning streak and are leading the table. Kiama will be very happy to have a go at the number one outfit and if they can reproduce the form from last week have nothing to fear. All up it should be a tremendous match and all supporters are welcome with First Grade kicking off at 3.00pm.