2020 NL1 Trial registrations.
Preparations for season 2020 are now starting to build and we are taking registrations for players wanting to be part of our NL1 teams Under 14’s, 15’s, 16’s and Under 18’s.
Trial are held at Cook Park, MacArthur Street, Birmingham Gardens on the following dates-
Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football.
The first leg of the Gallagher Shield kicked off with South Cardiff playing home to Wallsend in another thrilling encounter to start the regular season.
The Red Devils got off to a fine start, with striker Ty Goldsmith scoring in the opening minute.
South Cardiff soon settled into the game and began to create chances and were ruthless in front of goal, notching four first-half goals to storm into the lead.
New recruit, Sam Ford, began his campaign with two goals, while fellow signing Hakan Canli and Ethan Spiers also got on the scoresheet.
A late Ty Goldsmith goal gave the Red Devils a slight chance of a comeback but it wasn’t to be as South Cardiff wrapped up the win and the advantage in the Gallagher Shield.
Captain-Coach, Denis Fajkovic, served his one-game suspension from the sideline and said he’s pleased with his side’s resilience to overcome a tough start to the game.
“Bit of a shaky start, but we talked about being patient as we’ve got the quality,” Fajkovic said.
“First half we played really well and the experience showed, disappointing second half but a lot of positives and it was really important to get that win and get the ball rolling for us.”
New signing, Dino Fajkovic was also making his debut and showed his quality in the impressive victory.
“The boys have only played one or two games together so the best is yet to come but we definitely want to push ourselves this year,” Fajkovic continued.
Wallsend were missing new defender Michael Wright due to suspension and coach Jesse Pryce says the first half wasn’t what they wanted.
“The formation wasn’t working too well in the first half, we had to make some changes and come out with a better attitude in the second half which I thought we did,” Pryce said.
“We gifted them a few goals and we had some injuries in the warm-up but we don’t want to make excuses and we’ll be raring to go for Round Two now.”
2019 NL1 Trial registrations.
Preparations for season 2019 are now starting to build and we are taking registrations for players wanting to be part of our NL1 teams Under 13’s, 14’s, 15’s, 17’s and Under 19’s.
Trial are held at Federal Park, Wallsend on the following dates-
Under 13’s – Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th September 5:30 for a 6pm start – 7:30pm
Under 14’s and 15’s – Tuesday 23rd and 30th October 5:30 for a 6pm start – 7:30pm
Under 17’s and 19’s – Wednesday 24th and 31st October 5:30 for a 6pm start – 7:30pm
New Lambton FC 2 (Dan Luther x2) drew with Wallsend FC 2 (Travas McCabe, Ty Goldsmith)
Sunday 12th August, 2:30pm, Alder Park
Wallsend’s season came to a disappointing end last week against the premiers, and they were once again halted as they couldn’t find victory for the third game in a row following a frustrating draw with New Lambton to end the year.
The Red Devils grabbed a fantastic early lead as Travas McCabe scored in under a minute, and star forward Ty Goldsmith also worked his way onto the scoresheet just twenty minutes later, doubling the lead.
But midfielder Dan Luther made sure that his side didn’t end their season on a low, equalising the game with two great goals just before half-time.
Both teams’ defence cancelled each other out in the second half, ending in a 2-2 draw and both would stay in their respective positions on the table.
New Lambton FC (9th) vs. Wallsend FC (6th)
Sunday 12th August, 2:30pm, Alder Park
Last weekend, Wallsend’s finals hopes came to a shattering end at home at the hands of the premiers, but they still have the potential to move up the table and finish as high as possible, as do New Lambton who’s season unfortunately never really got started.
The Red Devils can finish as high as fifth win a win, while the Eagles could find themselves in seventh, though neither side will want to finish their season with a loss.
New Lambton pulled off a big upset in the last fixture between these two teams, winning 3-1 at The Gardens, and in recent weeks have been finding victories having won three of their last five.
They’re coming up against a team with one of the best records when playing away from home this season. In the 11 matches Wallsend have played away from The Gardens, they’ve only lost three, and only against teams that are now featuring in the top four.
One accomplishment that is on the line this weekend is the Golden Boot that Wallsend forward Ty Goldsmith is currently fighting for against three others. A win for Wallsend will most likely mean a goal or two for Goldsmith and potentially result in him grabbing the award in just his first season.
Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football.
Wallsend FC 1 (Sam Bradshaw) def. by New Lambton 3 (Alex Ihlow, Riley Taylor, Josh Williams)
Sunday 27th 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 (7th) vs. New Lambton FC (11th)
Sunday 27th 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 19th 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.”
Story and photo courtesy of Northern NSW Football
Match of the Round
Wallsend FC 1 (Sam Bradshaw) def. by Thornton Redbacks FC 6 (Jake Millstead x2, Jye MacKellar, Tallan Martin, Patrick Wand, Trent Partridge)
Sunday 13th May, 2:30 pm, The Gardens
After both teams lost their first game of the season last weekend, it was the Redbacks who bounced back in style defeating the Red Devils with a dominant, high-scoring performance to evict Wallsend to outside the top four.
Although defensively is where Thornton has excelled this season, it was their attacking powers that were on show early as Jye MacKellar and Tallan Martin scored in prompt fashion for the visitors to give them a first-half lead.
Matters only worsened for the home side too as key men Ty Goldsmith, Matt Williams and Travas McCabe all needed to be substituted due to injuries, leaving Wallsend without any replacements for the remainder of the match.
Just minutes before halftime though, Wallsend created a glimmer of hope after being awarded a penalty that was calmly slotted away by Sam Bradshaw.
Thornton came out firing in the second half though and Patrick Wand doubled Thornton’s lead after scoring an incredible free kick that landed squarely in the top right corner.
Despite being beaten multiple times already in the match, Wallsend’s goalkeeper Joel Magnee showed his class making some great saves to keep Thornton at bay, but the Redbacks would be too hard to stop, and two goals to Jake Millstead and an impressive strike from Trent Partridge would seal a decisive victory and deal Wallsend their first back-to-back loss this season.
Thornton’s coach Gary Wand said the result and performance was the perfect reply to losing their first match last weekend and praised his side for their ability to adapt to changes.
“You can’t for any more than what happened today,” Wand said.
“We changed a few things going forward, but we just had to play like a team that’s one of the best sides in the comp, which we did.”
“When you win 6-1, you haven’t really got a bad player.”