By Peter Stephenson
The final day of the season arrived in State 2 South-East. At Esther Park, Barkers (third) took on North Caulfield (11th). Remarkably, five teams were vying for the second promotion spot. Only one of Old Scotch, Barkers, Peninsula Strikers, Doncaster Rovers and Skye United would join champions Collingwood City in being promoted to State 1 South-East for 2022-23. The permutations were too numerous to mention, but put simply, if Barkers won, they would need Old Scotch to drop points against bottom side Monbulk Rangers, in order to secure promotion.
The Kennel was alive with expectation in the late winter sunshine as kick-off drew near. The reserves had just enjoyed their biggest win of the season, 8-0, with goals from Lucky Dube (2), Jared Mangnall (2), Harry Rushton (2), Chris Barber and Chris Wilson.
Barkers had most of the early possession as Caulfield began slowly and hesitantly. After 10 minutes a long ball found Sam Klepac, who ran on and shot wide under pressure. The ensuing corner led to a scramble in the box, but nobody could get a clear sight of goal. A minute later, Barkers’ next attack saw a tame shot from Arash Sadeghi held by Caulfield keeper Jake Hudson-Thompson.
Barkers’ seemed to be most dangerous from set pieces, and on the quarter hour, a corner on the left was swung in by Liam Seaye, and Brett Tronconi, making his 246th appearance, headed over. Two minutes later, Seaye curled a free-kick into the box and found the head of Dan Higgins, who came close with a header. The closest Barkers came to goal in the early stages was from a Sean Perrin corner on 21 minutes. He struck a ball in from the right which would have gone straight in, had not Hudson-Thompson punched off his line. Yet another corner then saw Tronconi head wide as Barkers mounted attack after attack.
Next Barkers worked the ball over to Perrin on the far side of the box, but the ball rolled just beyond his control and Hudson-Thompson gathered. On the half hour, Paul McEvoy chipped a neat ball across the box for Klepac, who nodded just over. Then Perrin hit a low, hard cross from the left. It arrived at Klepac’s feet so quickly that he managed to clear the bar from about two yards out.
After all this pressure, it was almost inevitable that Caulfield would give Barkers a rude awakening. Almost. On 34 minutes, what appeared a clean Barkers tackle to win the ball was adjudged worthy of a penalty to Caulfield. It was going to be one of those days. The spot-kick was hit low to mark Naumowicz’s left, and amazingly, the keeper got enough of his hand on it to deflect the ball onto the post and to safety. Not only that, but Barkers went straight up the other end and Steve Nittoli scored from close range to give Barkers a 1-0 lead.
The football gods began to smile on Barkers, and four minutes later, Sadeghi won a good tackle and shot for goal. The shot was blocked by the keeper, but Scott was well-placed to follow up and make it 2-0, which remained the half-time score. This football Gods? It turns out they have divided loyalties, as news filtered through that Old Scotch were 2-0 up against Monbulk.
The second half was much quieter from Barkers’ viewpoint as Caulfield finally began to play. On 50 minutes, Jude Jankelowitz shot and drew a save from Naumowicz. Then, however, a sumptuous passing move from Barkers saw Nittoli, Maxim Solovyev and Klepac link up well before the latter shot at the keeper. On 66 minutes, a Perrin corner from the right saw a header from Dan Higgins booted off the Caulfield goal-line, then Scott and Klepac combined for a Klepac shot which Hudson-Thompson saved comfortably. Klepac then had a header blocked, after which a sublime pass from Scott saw Klepac shoot and hit the post.
Now came Caulfield’s best period of the match. On 73 minutes, Jankelowitz ran on to the ball and hit the inside of the post, then another forward ran down the right before forcing Naumowicz to save with his feet.
Ironically, Barkers then put the game to bed. Seaye hit a corner from the left, Klepac headed towards goal, and when the ball came back out, Scott followed up with his second of the game to make it 3-0. Caulfield pulled one back in the 81st minute with a penalty from Jankelowitz, but the game was safe and ended Mooroolbark 3-1 North Caulfield.
Sadly this was not enough, as Old Scotch beat Monbulk 5-0 to finish second. Barkers, having gone through the season undefeated at home, finished a credible third. They can now look back on a season where they exceeded expectations, and anticipate with satisfaction the club’s first presentation night for three years.
