Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football.

Wallsend FC 1 (Sam Bradshaw) def. by New Lambton 3 (Alex Ihlow, Riley Taylor, Josh Williams)

Sunday 27^th May, 2:30 pm, The Gardens

After starting their season in spectacular fashion and being undefeated after the first seven rounds, Wallsend now sits in eighth place following their third straight loss, this time coming to the hands of last-place New Lambton who grabbed their second victory under new coach Jim Foley.

Wallsend was quick to fire early through their towering forward Sam Bradshaw, but despite going down early, the Eagles stuck to their guns and continued to work their way back into the contest.

New Lambton soon began to show some dominance over the match, and shockingly went into the halftime break with the lead after scoring two goals through Josh Williams and Riley Taylor.

The Red Devils pressed to try and find an equaliser, but in their attempt to push forward, Alex Ihlow was able to grab one against the run of play to double his team’s lead and secure just their second victory of the season.

With that win, the Eagles once again move up from the bottom of the table and Foley admitted that he felt his players were deserving of it after the amount of effort they’ve put in since his arrival.

“It’s still early days in our rebuilding process but today’s three points is a source of great encouragement,” Foley said.

“It’s a great reward for the attitude and application of all the players in the club.”

Story and photo courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Wallsend FC (7^th) vs. New Lambton FC (11^th)
Sunday 27^th May, 2:30 pm, The Gardens 

After starting the season six games undefeated, Wallsend has now lost their last three and have tumbled out of the top four and into seventh.

New Lambton on the other hand, sit on the bottom of the table once again. However, since the induction of new coach Jim Foley, the Eagles have started to show some signs of the potential that their young team acquires, having only lost once in their past five games.

For New Lambton to win though, they’ll need to shut down Wallsend’s threatening attack, just as their last few oppositions have done.

In the first six weeks of the competition, Wallsend was averaging just under three goals a game, but in their past three losses, have averaged less than one goal.

When these two teams faced off last season, both sides collected a home victory so look for this game to yet again be another close one.

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Match of the Round

Cooks Hill United 4 (Lee Ashton x3, Nick Russell) def. Wallsend FC 1 (Sam Bradshaw)

Saturday 19^th May, 2:30 pm, Newcastle Athletics Field

Cooks Hill successfully carved their authority on the competition following a dominant victory over Wallsend and in the process, retained their position at the top of the table.

The odds were always stacked against the Red Devils with injuries to key attacking men Ty Goldsmith and Travas McCabe but despite that, it would be the away side who took the early advantage through Sam Bradshaw who made it 1-0 and netted his sixth of the year so far.

Their shock lead didn’t last long though after Wallsend’s Tom Adams was deemed to have made a foul in the box leading to a penalty kick that was coolly slotted away by Nick Russell to equalise the score.

With only ten minutes remaining in the first half, Cooks Hill made their possession and control of the game finally count as Lee Ashton converted a brilliant solo effort with a stunning finish after beating the Wallsend defence with ease.

Just moments after scoring his first though, he would double his tally for the match after a deflected shot dribbled across the line to double Cooks Hill’s lead as they headed into the half-time break.

The second half saw both sides tussle in gaining control throughout the middle of the park but resulted in neither team being able to create any clear-cut chances.

That was until a Wallsend defensive error would be pounced upon by Ashton once again who made no mistakes in front of goal to complete a terrific hat-trick and seal Cooks Hill’s tenth straight league win at the AthField and Wallsend’s third straight loss.

Wallsend coach Ben Edwards stated he didn’t believe that the score wasn’t a true indication of how well his team performed.

“My thought on the result was that it didn’t reflect how we played,” Edwards said.

“The 4-1 score-line shows Cooks Hill dominated us, but if you were there watching, I think you’d see we had it on them in points of the game.

“We matched it with them big time. We went 1-0 up, and then to have a penalty, that a lot of people are confused about, go against us, it deflated the boys.

“2-1 probably would have been a fair result of the game…I felt we did a lot better than the score-line shows.”

Cooks Hill coach Graham Law displayed his happiness for the way his team played but also praised Wallsend for their performance without their star players.

“I was again very happy with how we controlled the game,” said Law.

“It was enjoyable to play a team that try to play football and when they [Wallsend] get their key players back, they will threaten the top four.”

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Match of the Round
Cooks Hill United (1st) vs. Wallsend FC (5th)
Saturday 19th May, 2:30 pm, Newcastle Athletics Field

With coach Graham Law’s return to Cooks Hill last weekend, the league leaders proved once again why they’re the team to beat and this Saturday they come up against a Wallsend side that’s only won one game from their past five outings.

This match will mark Cooks Hill’s seventh match at home at the AthField, and the Cookers are yet to even drop a point whilst playing there, however, the Red Devils have already shown this year that their attack can be deadly when it’s firing.

That may be difficult for Wallsend though, following injuries to Ty Goldsmith, Matt Williams and Travas McCabe who collectively have scored 10 of the team’s 17 goals this season as they play a team who have only conceded two goals this season at the Newcastle Athletics Field.

Wallsend coach Ben Edwards suggested that although his injured players are still not officially ruled out of this weekend’s clash, the next few weeks’ focus will be on younger reserve players stepping up to replace their hurt stars in order to scrape out results.

“I won’t risk them at this part of the season – We’ve still got a long time to go so I’d prefer saving them for the second half of the season,” Edwards stated.

“Hopefully some of the young blokes put up a performance that stands up and shows that they want to be in first grade and then we’ll try and reset when they [the injured players] start coming back.”

When asked of the impact Law’s return will have on Cooks Hill, Edwards joked saying, “I was hoping we had them when he was away” and confessed that he was ready for one of their toughest games of the year.

“I’m expecting them to be quality as always.

“They’re a team that when they get a chance, they take it.

“Hopefully we can outwork them in the midfield and put the pressure to stop that ball getting to their attack up front.”