THE Swan Hill men’s soccer team are just one win away from claiming their second Bendigo Amateur Soccer League Championship in three years after defeating Strathfieldsaye Colts United at the Ken Harrison Reserve on the weekend.
The 3-2 win moves the Swans 10 points clear of La Trobe University Red with just four rounds to play, with Swan Hill having the chance to top the table and claim the title when they host Golden City this Saturday.
Connor Brown was the hero for Swan Hill, with the striker scoring his third hat-trick of the season with three goals for the Swans.
Swan Hill men’s coach Tony Di Palma said he was thrilled with his teams performance as the match their second in six weeks following several forfeits.
“The second half not so much, but our first half was some of the best soccer I’ve seen this group play,” he said.
“It was next level, everyone was outstanding and the way the boys controlled the ball was very impressive.
“We run out of legs towards the end and they (Strathfieldsaye) were lucky to get a penalty in the last five minutes to reduce the margin, but other than that period we controlled the game pretty well.
“Conner (Brown) was great, but it was a team effort as well, Jason (Stokes) played despite being a bit under the weather and was brilliant, Cooper (Fox) was really good and Joseph Costa played his first game and was great, but they all stood up and the communication between the boys was first class.
“Bailey Johnson and Cal Croskery were fantastic as well, whatever they were asked to do they did and they are both absolute rising stars of our club.
“They (Strathfieldsaye) are a quality side and we changed our formation a bit and played a form of diamond formation, which worked well.
“I thought at the start we were playing a bit defensive maybe with the change of formation, but Strathfieldsaye played a very attacking game and tried to score straight away and it didn’t really work for them as we kept counter attacking and I don’t think they were prepared for it.”
The rest of the weekend saw mixed results for Swan Hill, with women and youth boys teams both suffering defeats, while the under 16 boys and girls secured a draw and win respectively.
The Swans youth boys team were unlucky not to secure their first win of the season when they went down 2-1 at home Strathdale SC.
Faizal Amran was the lone goal scorer for Swan Hill, who fought back after going one down in the first half.
The under 16 boys also went agonisingly close to securing their first win of the season, but were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw in their away match against Epsom Scorpions on Saturday.
Two first half goals to Chippa Partington and Sonny Tucker gave Swan Hill a two goal lead at half time, but the Swans were unable to hold on in the second half, with Epsom finishing stronger despite the best efforts of Fakhri Amran, who scored the Swans only second half goal.
After winning three of their past four matches, the Swan Hill women’s team were brought back to earth with a 7-0 loss away to second placed Castlemaine Goldfields.
With several key players missing, the Swans were no match for Castlemaine in the opening half, with the home side scoring six unanswered goals, before a second half fightback from Swan Hill avoided the score blowing out further.
Swan Hill’s under 16 girls won after Spring Gully Warriors forfeited, with the 3-0 win placing the Swans four matches clear in fourth position with just five games play.
