By Peter Stephenson
Mooroolbark Soccer Club’s men (eighth) visited a cold, wet Anderson Park to play Doncaster (10th), on a run of five games without a win. Barkers made four changes to the side that lost 0-1 to Bayside Argonauts, with Ahren Angulo, Ray Markley, Christian Porcaro and Geordie Scott being replaced by Ben Cooper, Anthony Di Crea (having his first start), Steve Nittoli and Aaron Porcaro.
Doncaster looked lively early on, and on nine minutes a free kick was floated over the wall, causing Mark Naumowicz to punch clear. Barkers’ main threat was the shooting of Daniel Aye, and a lay back to him saw a low shot hit wide.
On the quarter hour, the hosts’ Mitchell Yoannidis played a one-two to put himself clear, but his shot was blocked by Chris Potter. As the rain cascaded down onto a pitch with more sand than the Copacabana, Barkers won a free kick on the left. A.Porcaro sent the ball to the far post, but it was slightly overhit – maybe a sand wedge would have done the trick.
Naumowicz had to get busy late in the half when he collided with a forward in a full-blooded tackle and came off worst, then a quick Donny break through the middle saw him save with his foot. Right on half time, Liam Seaye put a corner under the Donny crossbar, which keeper Gabriel Vallese punched clear. Half-time 0-0, with most of the crowd wondering why they hadn’t stayed at home.
In the first minute of the second half, Jerome Valadon muscled off a defender and got to the byline, but his cut back found nobody on the end of it. The ball was played back into Aye, who hit a shot which fizzed past the far post. Three minutes later Barkers worked the ball nicely down the left and played the ball in for Aye, who hit a long shot just wide.
On 52 minutes, Donny came closest to scoring so far when they played the ball in from the left, and a header was cleared off the line, but the ref called a foul on Naumowicz. From the next Donny attack, Barkers cleared the ball long to Maxim Solovyev. He crossed from the left for Valadon, who turned and shot wide.
The deadlock was finally broken on the hour. Donny’s Luca Perna controlled the ball well with his first touch, and hit a dipping shot against the bar. The rebound was headed towards goal but Naumowicz pulled off a great reaction save, then the third attempt was headed home by Stefan Cardamone.
The game then got physical, as meetings between these sides often do, before some more football broke out to break up the free kicks. On 72 minutes Donny broke down the right, leading to a shot which hit the post, then Potter headed a Barkers chance over the bar. Donny’s Daniel Piazza crossed from the left, Naumowicz got a hand to the cross, the ball reared up and the header was cleared off the line, and that was more or less that. Full time: Rovers 1-0 Barkers.
For Barkers, this was the same result as last week, but against an inferior side, and this was far from Barkers’ best. They sorely miss Scott and Ross Clark up front and have now gone three games without scoring. They need two points from their remaining three games to avoid relegation to State 3.
