By Peter Stephenson
The magic of the cup returned to Esther Park on Thursday night. Following a heroic performance to knock out State 1 side Malvern City in the third round of the Australia Cup, a rather different challenge presented itself in round four, as local rivals State 4 side Ringwood City were the visitors on a rainy night. Remarkably, this was the first meeting between the sides for 23 years, and a healthy crowd crammed undercover to watch the teams slug it out.
It didn’t take long for Barkers’ theoretical superiority to be translated into fact. On 13 minutes, captain Geordie Scott turned smartly and hit a snap shot just wide. Then on the quarter hour, the hard-running Maxim Solovyev sent the ball down the right for Scott. The Barkers captain looked to have taken the ball too wide, but squared the ball not the box, where John-Paul Cooper turned up at the far post to score from close range and put Barkers 1-0 up.
On 25 minutes, Solovyev went on a run on the right, cut inside and played a one-two with Paul McEvoy, then as he shaped to shoot, a tackle came in and the shot ballooned into a grateful keeper’s arms. Then five minutes later, forward Sam Klepac squared for Cooper, whose strong shot was deflected, but the keeper still managed to palm the ball wide with a good save.
Solovyev and Marcus Watson were linking up well on the right and, just after the half hour, they combined again to set up Klepac, who hit a first-time shot which sliced wide of the far post. Ringwood surely couldn’t hold out much longer against the red tide, and ten minutes before the break, McEvoy put a beautiful ball through for Solovyev to chase. He outpaced the defence and slotted the ball past the keeper inside his near post to double the lead. Two minutes before half-time, Watson hit an absolute screamer which forced the keeper to punch clear. Half-time: Mooroolbark 2-0 Ringwood City, with Barkers well on top.
Just a minute into the second half, Dan Higgins won a 50-50 ball in midfield and went on a storming run, crossing for Watson, who headed wide. Barkers then eased off for a while, but looked comfortable nonetheless. Just after the hour mark they became more threatening. A clever flick found Scott, who put the ball out to Solovyev on the left wing. He cut in and hit a low shot, but the keeper got a hand to it and saved. Then a clever backheel sent Barkers down the right wing. The cross was aimed at Watson, but the keeper came out well and snuffed the danger out. Another shot came in from Watson, before a rare Ringwood attack saw a header skewed well over the bar.
On 73 minutes Cooper collected the ball on halfway and went on a brilliant solo run, but as he entered the Ringwood box he took on one player too many and lost the ball. Then substitute Arash Sadgehi produced the moment of the night. The keeper missed a clearance and the ball found Sadeghi, who beat one man before shooting for goal while off balance, but the keeper fumbled and it was 3-0 for Barkers.
It was now only a question of how many Barkers would score as the game was put to bed as a contest. A free-kick was cleared out to Watson, who was off balance as he volleyed over. Just before the final whistle, a long ball found Watson. He put a low ball in for young debutant Julian Malander, who tried to pass the ball into the net but ended up finding the keeper. Full-time: Mooroolbark 3-0 Ringwood City.
This was a comfortable win for Barkers, but surely a sterner test awaits in round five, as most of the remaining 40 sides are Premier League outfits. Barkers’ State 2 South-East campaign resumes next Saturday with a trip to Freeway Reserve, Mulgrave to face Brandon Park – reserves at 1pm, seniors at 3pm. See you down the Kennel!
