Dunbar dig deep…but fall short!
2015 State League 2 Under 20s Preliminary Final
Dunbar Rovers 1-6 Camden Tigers
Valentine Sports Park (Field 3)
Glenwood

The 29th of August saw the Preliminary Final played out between second placed Dunbar Rovers and 3rd placed Camden Tigers at Football New South Wales’ Valentine Park.

Both of these team finished on the same amount of points, with only goal difference the difference and favouring Dunbar. Both sides won a game apiece before this encounter, so it was to be a mouth-watering affair on the cards. Coach Mike Dixon fielded what he thought was the strongest possible squad at his disposal to show Camden that he meant business from the off. Disappointment right before the kickoff though when quality attacking midfielder Marley Jackson was ruled out with yet another new injury. A cruel blow.

The game started with a fast pace with challenges flying in from all areas of the pitch as this was expected, as the previous meetings with Camden were very competitive. However, neither team was able to control the game in the way they set out to from the off, with possession changing rapidly. The ball was constantly being fought for in the midfield, and occasionally being found in dangerous areas.

Within 10 minutes, we suffered another cruel injury as key defender Luke Aston lunged in for a tackle in the Camden half and played no further role. As Luke’s injury was being assessed by Physio Oscar and Dunbar were down to 10 men, a dubious tug of David Richardson’s shirt & a dangerous through ball by Camden’s central midfielder set a Camden striker through on goal, with the ball bouncing & Dave pressuring him from behind, the Camden forward delightfully chipped he ball over Boothy’s fingertips and into the back of the net, to the dismay of the Dunbar faithful.

Dunbar started to gain control of the midfield, with Camilo on numerous occasions playing brilliant long diagonal through balls, exploiting Camden’s high defensive line. Plenty of whipped balls were being put into the Camden box, with the Camden goalkeeper looking shaky, punching the ball rather then catching it on numerous occasions. Having said all that though, we didn’t really look threatening enough in front of goal.

Another Dunbar chance came when a delightful free kick was whipped into the box, with Camden under the pump, a shaky clearance fell to the on-rushing feet of Dylan Deep-Jones, with a first time strike, his bullet of a shot had everyone in the ground watching in silence, but it just whistled past the top left hand corner.

The half time whistle blew, and Dunbar headed to the sheds confident from their performance late in the first half, but ultimately feeling that they should have put away the numerous chances that presented them selves in the final third.

The second half started with Dunbar firing on all cylinders. Mike’s wise words of fast, one-touch football seemed to resonate in the lads’ ears as brilliant football was on display in the early periods of the 2nd half, with Camden struggling to even get a touch of the ball. Alexi was being found on the left and wreaking havoc by whipping in dangerous crosses. Camillo, Miciah and Dylan were also exploiting the Camden Tigers defence by finding each other in good areas and putting in some shots and crosses.

Despite the relentless pressure in their half, Camden scored their 2nd from a fast counter-attack. A slight miscommunication at the back led to a ball being played across the top of the box and with one touch, the Camden attacker yet again found the back of the net with a accurate toe poke into the bottom right hand corner. That was ultimately the difference between the two sides. Camden had two chances to score up to this point and put two away. Dunbar didn’t – for the second week in a row. Simple as that.

Dunbar although feeling a little shell-shocked, were not demoralised by the goal & knew that they would have to lift as a team and produce a dream comeback. Unfortunately, this was not the case and it just went from bad to worse for the boys in blue. From a Dunbar corner, Tunahan Guner was ruled to have lashed out at the Camden player & left the referee with no choice but to give the Dunbar attacker his marching orders.

As a result of this, Dunbar had to push further forward in search of goals & this left the team vulnerable at the back & Camden exploited this with three more demoralising goals in very quick succession. After both Micaiah Te Rata and Andrew Moussallam succumbed to injury and as other substitutes had been made, a quick teamsheet change was made to allow reserve keeper Marcus Gabriel to come on in the unfamiliar left side of midfield position and did quite well. It must have been because he was wearing the 23 JACKSON shirt.

Determined to at least take something worth noting from this game, Dunbar were awarded a penalty in the last few minutes. Dylan stepped up to take the penalty and on first effort, his penalty was saved by the Camden goalkeeper but was later retaken, as there was an infringement by the Camden player in the box. On his 2nd attempt, Dylan again missed his penalty with the Camden keeper repeating what he did just moments before, but this time Camillo was on hand the tap in the rebound, 1-5 Dunbar Rovers.

In the final moments of the game, Camden broke away again and punished the vulnerable Dunbar defence with a brilliant counter attack. To add insult to injury, moments after the restart, Dunbar were down to 8 men on the field with injuries & no more substitutions and another red card, this time to Ziya Shamuel for a late challenge produced a second yellow.

Camden Tigers utilised the overage rule better than Dunbar on the day. Instead of the allowed 4 overage players, we went into the game with only 2 (one of those underdone after returning from injury). Our regular overage players Anthony Glasheen (rib injury) and Jonathan Smith (away) were badly missed. It was the story of our season really. At key times, we struggled to get our big players on the field and in the end we didn’t have the necessary goods to get through to the Grand Final. We wish Camden all the best next Saturday in the Grand Final against League Champions Southern Districts.

A very disappointing end to the season for the lads, but they should hold all their heads high as their contribution to the club in it’s first season in State League was MASSIVE! Without the help from the lads, Dunbar would not have reached their goal of winning the Club Championship. But, that’s football, if you don’t turn up on the day you get punished & that’s exactly what happened to the lads on this day.

A HUGE thanks must go to everyone involved at Dunbar Rovers Club, especially our Coaches; Mike Dixon, Daniel Fee & Will Cullen, Our Directors and backroom staff; Pedro, Quintin, Peter, Matt, Roy & Mark, our numerous sponsors & lastly our wonderful fans. None of these wonderful accomplishments could be achieved without you and it really means a lot.

Well…. I guess this is the end of this chapter in time for the Dunbar Rovers U20’s; it has been a pleasure to play and interact with each & every one of you. Hope to see you all very soon at the Awards Night and let’s all try & get behind our Dunbar Rovers First Grade next week in their Maiden Grand Final in State League 2 against Southern Districts at the same location, Valentine’s Sports Park. Over & out.

Match Reporter: David Booth

Man of the match: David Booth (ED: Self-appointed!)