By Peter Stephenson
Winter sunshine greeted Barkers (9th) as they were on the road for the second week running for round 5 of Men’s State 2 South-East. North Frankston’s Monterey Reserve was the scene for the visit to Frankston Pines (10th), with Barkers hoping to stop the rot after three defeats in a row. Barkers made three changes to the side that lost 1-2 at Brandon Park, with Nick Andrejic, Eddie Clark and Geordie Scott replacing Paul McEvoy, Sean Perrin and Maxim Solovyev. Barkers had only ever lost once at Monterey, and had the extra incentive of supporting a teammate who had been touched by a family tragedy during the week.
An early chance saw Pines cut the ball back from the byline on the right before sending a shot wide. In fact, Barkers were lucky to survive the first 20 minutes with their goal intact, as Pines piled on the chances, but were continually thwarted by a string of saves from keeper Mark Naumowicz.
On 25 minutes, a Pines free-kick was sent long through the middle and bounced kindly for a forward, but the attempted lob was quickly snuffed out by the onrushing Naumowicz. Then finally Barkers had a half chance when a throw in found the head of Dan Higgins, whose downward header was held by Pines keeper Colby Jones diving low to his left.
Barkers now exploded into life in decisive fashion. Just after the half hour, the ball was played through to Scott, who ran on strongly and hit a low shot past Jones to give Barkers a 1-0 lead against the run of play. Three minutes later, Marcus Watson put an inviting ball in to Liam Seaye, who accepted the invitation to make it 2-0. Then Watson went on a solo run before having a shot blocked. As the game went into stoppage time, Clark put in a strong challenge to win the ball in midfield. He ran on unchallenged and shot from an angle on the left. As he did so, Pines defender Christian Malgioglio was running back and helped the ball into the net to give Barkers a remarkable half time lead: Frankston Pines 0-3 Mooroolbark.
As the second half began, Pines threatened on a couple of occasions, and it wasn’t until 58 minutes that Barkers had a decent attack. Sam Klepac had acres of room in midfield, sent a great ball through to Watson, then got the ball back before finding Watson again, whose shot was blocked. Then Naumowicz continued to earn his corn with a flying save from an angled shot on the right. Just after the hour, Seaye did sterling work on the right to win and keep the ball before crossing for Klepac, whose first-time shot curled narrowly wide.
Barkers now sensed the game was in the bag and played with freedom, especially Watson, who almost scored a superb goal having carried the ball from halfway. With 7 minutes to go, Solovyev collected the ball in midfield with the Pines defence stretched all over the place. He put the ball through for John-Paul Cooper, and continued running to the left wing. Cooper found Solovyev, who looked up and saw Watson lurking at the far post. An inviting delivery saw Watson acrobatically volley home from a tight angle to make it 4-0 for Barkers. Full-time: Frankston Pines 0-4 Mooroolbark.
This was a curious game. The first half hour was all Pines, but they are woefully short of strikers and that, combined with the excellence of Naumowicz, kept Barkers in the game when they could have been 3 down. Then Barkers went 3 up in next to no time, before a polished second half saw them home safely.
The reserves had a disappointing day. They were 3-0 down at the break before Julian Malander pulled one back from the penalty spot. Pines then made it 4-1 and Barkers had a goal inexplicably chalked off for offside. Full-time (reserves): Frankston Pines 4-1 Mooroolbark.
Elsewhere, the Men’s Over 35s lost 1-4 at Casey Comets. The junior season kicked off over the weekend – among the winners for Barkers were Boys’ Under 13 (4-1 away to Eastern Lions), Girls’ Under 17/18 (5-2 at home to Manningham) and Girls’ Under 13 (8-1 away to Brighton).
Next week’s senior fixtures see the men at home to Skye United (Saturday, 1pm and 3pm at Esther Park) and the women at home to Gippsland United (Sunday 7.30 pm at Esther Park). See you down the Kennel!
