DOUBLE-figure wins for both senior squads provided the highlights for Swan Hill in the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League at the weekend.
Swan Hill’s men’s team continued their unbeaten start to the season, with the Swans taking another big step towards locking away top spot with a dominant 13-1 away win over the Deniliquin Wanderers.
Striker Conner Brown again proved to be the chief destroyer for the Swans’ men’s team, adding four goals to his season tally of 12 to take a stranglehold on the BASL Division 2 leading goal scorer award.
The Swans had seven individual goal scorers, with Cooper Fox and Jason Stokes each scoring two goals and Brady Dalton, Gareth Johansen, Tom Paddon and Jake Cameron also finding the back of the net.
Joining the men on the winners’ list were Swan Hill’s women’s team, who secured their first points of the season with a commanding performance over rivals Epsom.
After the Swans scored three times within the first 10 minutes, the Stingers were able to hold the Swans at bay for the remainder of the first half, with the home side taking a 3-0 lead into the break.
A change in formation brought about a change in fortunes for the Swans in the second half, according to women’s captain Sarah Scott, with Swan Hill producing a devastating seven-goal burst to run away comfortable 10-0 winners.
“We had a lot going our way,” Scott said.
“(Epsom) were short on players and to be honest did a really good job to come up and play with the squad they did, but at the end of the day we still had to go out there and complete the job.
“For our first win to be by that margin is a credit to the girls.
“It was a great result and it was great for our girls to get some reward for their effort.
“Our first 10 minutes was some of our best football we’ve played in years, but we lost our way a little bit for the remainder of the first half.
“We just got away from what we’ve been working on at training and what put us in that position over the first 10 minutes.
“We changed our formation up at half-time and switched to a 4-4-2 formation and that made a bit of a difference to the way we moved the ball through the midfield.
“All in all it was a great result and one that I don’t think anybody would have thought possible last year.”
Ruby Smith opened proceedings with the opening goal after five minutes, while Malyna Tants finished the match as the leading goal scorer with three goals.
Kimberley Patterson, Skye Bennett and Ella Semeia, who made her senior women’s debut, all finished the game with two goals.
Swan Hill’s junior BASL teams weren’t as fortunate, with with the youth boys, under-16 boys and under-16 girls all suffering close defeats at home at the weekend.
The youth boys went down to Spring Gully United 3-1 in a competitive performance, with Bailey Johnson finishing as Swan Hill’s lone goal scorer, while the under-16 boys are also chasing their first win of the season after suffered a heartbreaking loss 3-2 loss to Kyneton at home, with Chippa Partington and Angus Transton the scorers.
The final match of the round saw Swan Hill’s under-16 girls take on Castlemaine Gold at home, with the Swans falling 4-1 to the second-placed Castlemaine, with Ella Semeia following her two-goal performance for Swan Hill’s women’s team by scoring the girls’ only goal in the defeat.
