THE Swan Hill men’s soccer returned to form in a big way on the weekend, thrashing rivals Bendigo Amateur Soccer League rivals Deniliquin Wanderers 11-1.
Swans striker Conner Brown proved to be unstoppable for the Wanderers, with Brown booting six goals in the rout to move within one goal of Spring Gully United’s William Harding as the League 2 golden boot.
It was a dominant display from Swan Hill, with captain Cooper Fox also netting a hat-trick and Liam Baldwin a brace in the 10 goal win.
But it’s Brown who was the star according to Swan Hill men’s coach Tony Di Palma, who was full of praise for his team’s leading goal scorer.
“Conner probably hadn’t been at his absolute best over the first few games, but he came out firing and showed how damaging he can be (on Saturday),” Di Palma told The Guardian post-match.
“The mentality and the attitude that he went into the game with was just a class above what I expected.
“His positivity and his positioning, he was in the right spot every time and even though the boys made it easy for him to score, he was the one that had to finish it off and he did it with class.
“Jai Wright was another that impressed me, he was sending them through from the backline and would flow through the midfield and every single pass he made to Conner was perfect.
“He (Wright) just has an understanding of the game and knows exactly what his role is.
“Cooper played his typical captain’s game, he led the boys with the right attitude and set up so much of our play – all-in-all it was a good team game from everyone though.”
After sharing the points with Golden City six days earlier, Swan Hill were intent on imparting their influence on the game early, with Baldwin opening the scoring in the seventh minute for the Swans.
From then on it was the Conner Brown show, with the Swans striker scoring in the 17th, 21st, 33rd and 34th minutes, with Fox also scoring his first two goals before half time to give the visitors a 7-0 lead at the main break.
Brown didn’t have to wait long for his fifth goal of the match, which came one minute into the second half, with his last goal coming 20 minutes later.
“I think being a larger win, it’s given the boys a bit of a boost,” Di Palma said.
“We still didn’t have our best team and we had a few out, but the encouragement, the structure and the play that they showed was top notch and that’s what we’ve been working on.
“Since our League Cup game against Eaglehawk, where we got smashed off the park so to speak, I think the boys took on how a League 1 team can actually play and they’ve kind of taken on board what they saw and have started putting that into practice ourselves.
“Our structure was great, our attitude was fantastic and our game play was first class, I couldn’t have asked for any more to be honest.”
Swan Hill’s men’s team weren’t the only side to walk away with the three points from the weekend, with the clubs women’s side also returning to form with a 3-1 win over Latrobe University SC on Saturday.
Swan Hill winger Skye Bennett opened the scoring for the visitors in the ninth minute, with the score remaining at 1-0 for the majority of the second half despite the Swans’ dominance in possession and time in forward half.
Latrobe equalised in the 40th minute from a well taken corner, with the teams going into the break locked at 1-all.
That was where the score looked destined to stay until seven minutes before full-time, when Swan Hill striker Trinity Shelton put the Swans back in front, with Charley Baskin ensuring victory with her first goal in the final minute giving the Swans a well deserved 3-1 win.
Despite being made to work hard to secure the three points, Swan Hill women’s assistant coach Emma Pitts was proud of her squad for the resilience showed to continue pushing hard in the dying minutes.
“On reflection, it was a win where we showed a bit of character I felt,” Pitts said.
“We dominated the game, we owned possession and had so many good chances to score but we were just unable to find the back of the net.
“Yeah, we should have probably won by more, but at the same time it would have been really easy for our girls to throw the towel in as the ball just didn’t seem to be bouncing our way.
“In the past, we probably would have done exactly that and walked away with a point each, but we persisted and eventually it turned.
“Although we may not have been at our absolute best, sometimes they are the memorable wins, when you can still get the job done despite not playing as well as you would hope to.”
Completely a clean sweep for Swan Hill over the weekend was Swan Hill’s under 16 boys team, who secured a 2-0 win over Strathfieldsaye Colts United.
Swan Hill’s Oliver Miliado opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the match, but it was a long and anxious wait for the Swans’ second goal, which came from the boot Chippa Partington in the 79th minute.
