After a horrendous couple of weeks the Senior First Team showed tremendous character and class to get back on track with a convincing win away from home. Lee James completed his first hat trick of the year midway through the second half and ranked high with 2 goal assists. Dimce Jimmy Taneski added 2 to his tally and the 6:0 scoreline was rounded off by Jono Mcgahern. An impressive and solid performance all round from the whole squad.
Balga opened the scoring in the 7th minute with James completing a great move down the right flank. James was once again involved 10 minutes later when he put through Taneski who showed great composure and found the back of the net to double Balga’s advantage. Taneski added a second to his tally in the 30th minute with a solo run through the middle of the park.
At half time, Balga assistant coaches Amir Dzamastagic and Lindsay Duddy stressed the importance of continuing the hard work from the first half. Their words were rewarded in the first minute of the second half with Mcgahern putting away a great assist by Balga’s new signing Vlad Naumovski. Not long after James added his second and Balga’s 5th with a thunderous strike from the right.
James complete his hat trick halfway through the second half by tapping the ball into the back of the net from close range.
The boys coming off the bench, Vlad Naumovski, Ali Elhassan and George Duku made a big impact and have given the manager a problem every team dreams off. Lyon Varney, Jono Mcgahern and the skipper, Kyall Osborne, dominated in the middle of the park and gave former Balga player Daniel a horrid afternoon. The back line looked a lot more convincing. Gareth Crawley was slotted into the hart of the defense, his second appearance since signing for Balga SC, and played a major role that gave the defense a strong reassurance.
Ellenbrook battled all day and showed grit with several promising opportunities but were let down in the final third. They also had a couple penalty claims which were ultimately turned down by the referee.
James heaped praise on his teammates “the service was great today”, “we all connected” said James.
Balga SC take on Fremantle City FC in Round 12 of the Football West All Flags State League 2 on Saturday July 11. It will no doubt be a tough challenge to overcome however if Balga can hit the ground running and continue where they left off on the weekend they will be confident in coming away from Hilton Reserve with all three points.
In other results on the day, the Senior Reserves team move to the 4th spot on the ladder with a convincing 4:1 win and the 18s get a point in a 3:3 draw.