Game of the round
Kahibah FC – Wallsend FC 7-1

Kahibah FC coach Mat Moncrieff said he was proud of his side as they secured second place in the league table following a dominant 7-1 win over Wallsend FC at Kahibah Oval on Saturday.

Kahibah welcomed numerous former players and their families to the venue for its Old Boys’ Day game and provided them with an entertaining day, which included five goals in the first half.

The team’s leading scorer, Tyson Masters, opened the scoring in the 19th.^th Minute and Dan Byrne doubled their lead in the 27th.^th.

Liam Whitehead increased the lead to 3-0 two minutes later, but Wallsend countered in the 38th minute.^th Minute when Cooper Gallard converted a penalty.

Byrne and Masters both scored in the final five minutes of the first half and Kahibah went into the break with a 5-1 lead.

The excitement continued into the second verse when 15-year-old Cooper Ross scored his first goal in the first grade in the 62nd minute.^and Minute before Ewan Kelly scored in the 74th minute.^th Kahibah stormed to a 7-1 victory.

The home team’s Alumni Day celebrations included Riley Ferguson receiving a framed jersey from Matt Lee for reaching his 100-game milestone earlier in the season and Danny Hanlson presenting Jaidyn Kianou with ‘The Pollo’ medal for the best player on the field.

Moncrieff said it was a special day and he was proud of his men who secured second place in the table.

“We wanted to win the competition, but we weren’t good enough to take down the mighty BelSwans,” said Moncrieff.

“We are proud of second place, but we are definitely not completely satisfied. But it is definitely a step in the right direction and we have created a good basis for our next coach (Blair Newham).

“We wanted to improve our goal scoring rate this year and we have done that. We have also brought a few new players into the first division so there is a lot to build on next year.”

“But now we will wait and see how we do in the next small competition to see whether we can get promoted or not.”

“Graduation Day there was huge. It’s the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.”

“We sang the song in the clubhouse after the game and there were probably 200 people singing along. It was great.”

“The pitch was awful and we were lucky to be able to play on it. We scored a couple of goals early on, mainly due to Wallsend’s mistakes, and from there we got going. We didn’t miss too many chances.

“It was one of those days when ugly football had to be played on a wet, slippery pitch and we were simply better at it than them.”

Kahibah thanked the referees and Wallsend for playing the game on what they described as a wet and sub-par pitch.

Wallsend coach Chris Gallagher admitted that Kahibah was too good that day and that his team had not adapted to the conditions as well as the home side.

“We were really dominated from kickoff,” Gallagher said.

“Kahibah was simply a much better team. They have gotten stronger and stronger this year. They are well coached and I think they can do well.”

“We can’t really play direct. We don’t have the speed or the physical presence in attack. But in this game under these conditions you had to be direct. We still tried to move the ball at times, but overall it was a good learning experience for our players.”

Wallsend finished bottom of the table with eight points after two wins, two draws and 20 losses, but Gallagher said they had laid a good foundation for the coming years.

“It was a year of survival for us,” Gallagher said.

“We have been trying to get some community links back within the Wallsend community so that we can continue with a pitch and also find some more sponsors so that we can recruit more players.

“We are also trying to rebuild our youth so that we can build for the future.”

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Thornton Redbacks FC – South Cardiff FC 0-6

South Cardiff FC manager Perry Mellon said he was pleased to end the season on a positive note after they beat Thornton Redbacks 6-0 at Thornton Park on Saturday.

The Gunners opened the scoring in the 20th minute.^th Minute by Justin Banek, who doubled the away team’s lead 15 minutes later.

Southy went into the break with a 2-0 lead and needed just eight minutes of the second period to triple their advantage when Alex Phillips slotted the ball into the net.

Mellon’s men won a penalty in the 55th minute.^th Minute Anthony Carter took over and he made no mistake as he scored for the first time this season to make it 4-0.

Brendon King scored the fifth goal of the game in the 67th minute.^th Minute as Southy’s top scorer this season added his 11^th the campaign.

One of the Gunners’ best players this year was rewarded for his efforts with his first goal of the season in the 74th minute.^th Minute when left-back Jordan Clark scored to make it 6-0.

Mellon said he was pleased with the way his team ended a frustrating year for the Gunners.

“We played pretty well and it was nice to finish the season on a good note,” Mellon said.

“We had some chances and took advantage of most of them.

“There was nothing at stake, so we just relaxed and everything took care of itself. It was the first time I didn’t give a pre-game or halftime speech, I just said, ‘Go have fun, guys.'”

South Cardiff finished the season in sixth place with 30 points after nine wins, three draws and twelve defeats, while Thornton finished eighth with 25 points after six wins, seven draws and eleven defeats.

Both teams were in the top four at times at the beginning of the year, but struggled to string together wins in the second half of the season.

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Cessnock City Hornets FC – West Wallsend SFC 2-0

It was a bittersweet end to the season for Cessnock City on Saturday as the Hornets beat promotion hopefuls West Wallsend 2-0 at Turner Park.

The win was their fifth in seven consecutive games in which they lost only one game.

While it was an exciting end to the year, it left coaches, players and fans wondering what could have been if they had gotten things under control earlier in the season.

The Hornets were forced to make an early substitution when Josh Maguire was replaced by Jed Horder in the 15th minute.^th Minute.

The substitute made a big contribution when he slotted the ball into the net 11 minutes later to give Cessnock a 1-0 lead. That goal was Horder’s first of the 2024 season.

The home team went into halftime with a one-goal lead and doubled this in the 58th minute.^th Minute when their best scorer Zac Kronholm put the ball in the net for the 18^th time this year.

Neither team could score again in the final half hour and Cessnock finished the season with a 2-0 win on their old day. They finished seventh in the league table with 29 points, having won nine games, drawn two and lost 13.

West Wallsend’s defeat left them fourth in the table as they remained on 38 points. They won 11, drew five and lost eight in the regular season. They will face Adamstown Rosebud in the promotion play-off next weekend.

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Singleton Strikers FC 1-1 Toronto Awaba FC

Singleton Strikers and Toronto Awaba FC played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in their final game of the regular season on Saturday.

It was the Strikers’ Old Boys’ Day at Howe Park and their striker Joel Barner brought the crowd to their feet in the 10th minute.^th Minute when he shot the ball into the net.

Barner charged onto a long ball that had gotten behind the Toronto defense and sunk his one-on-one shot off the post into the bottom right corner.

The Stags equalised with a stunning goal in the 40th minute.^th Minute by defender Kade Howland, when his long-range shot rebounded off the left post.

So the score was 1:1 and it remained that way until the end.

The draw secured Toronto third place in the table with 41 points.

The Stags won eleven games, drew eight and lost five to secure a place in the promotion playoffs where they will face Kahibah this weekend.

Singleton finished the regular season with a three-game unbeaten streak but missed out on a win to finish just three points behind West Wallsend on 35 points. Doug West’s men won ten games this season, drew five and lost nine.

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Belmont Swansea United FC had a bye.