The 23rd of August saw the major semi-final played out between second placed Dunbar Rovers and league winners Southern Districts at Football New South Wales’ Valentine Park. The squad was boosted by the return of many players from injury and this allowed Coach Mike Dixon to field a side stronger to what has been seen in recent weeks. The two previous meetings between the sides saw Southern Districts win 4-1 in both games.

The game started with a fast pace but without either team able to control the game in the way they set out to. The ball was constantly being fought for in the midfield, and occasionally being found in dangerous areas.
Early in the half, Boothy made a quality save when the Districts Striker received the ball splitting the Dunbar backline, travelled wide and hit the ball low and hard at goal. Boothy cut the angle down well and pushed the ball out for a corner.

One Dunbar chance came when Marley pounced on a 50-50 and drove into the box to be 1 on 1 with the keeper. Marley shot low and the keeper managed to keep it out of the net; however the ball was now loose in the box and a mad scramble for it followed. In the end the ball was cleared and the missed chance rued.
The half time whistle blew, and Dunbar headed to the sheds confident of their performance but ultimately feeling that they should have put away their chances.

The start of the second half started with Dunbar firing. Zach was being found on the left and wreaking havoc by whipping in dangerous crosses. Camillo, Marley and JT were also exploiting the Southern Districts defence by finding each other in good areas and putting in some shots and crosses.

Despite the relentless pressure in their half, Southern Districts scored when their midfielder managed to snake his way through a number of Dunbar players and fired a screamer into the right side of goal. Dunbar although feeling a little shell-shocked were not demoralised by the 74th minute goal.

Dunbar kept on piling the pressure in the attacking third and a goal felt just around the corner. Opportunities presented themselves but they could not be taken, and the final whistle blew.

Dunbar Rovers 0 – Southern Districts 1

As said by Mike in the post-match interview, finals football is results based. Despite the good footballing performance by the Dunbar lads, it didn’t get the desired result. The game played out to the same storyline, the last two times the teams have met. Southern Districts took their chances and the Dunbar Rovers did not.

Dunbar now has a must win clash against Camden Tigers on Aug 29th at Valentine Park. The winner of this match will meet Southern Districts in the Finals on the 5th of September.

Final Score: Southern Districts 1 – Dunbar Rovers 0

Match Reporter: Janagan Thangarajah