Langy equal league leaders after Cranbourne win
Posted: 9 August, 2007
| Langwarrin | 1 | — | 0 | Casey Comets |
| Stuart Craig | ||||
Round 17: Langwarrin v Casey Comets — 4 August, 2007
After surviving the tough and bruising encounter at North Geelong, Langy returned home to play against local rivals Casey Comets. Thomas Admadzai and Ali Memedovski returned to the senior squad on the bench, whilst Stuart Craig replaced Caleb Nicholes in the starting side who was missing due to a fractured eye socket. Whilst Langy are fighting for promotion at the top of the table, Casey are fighting against relegation at the other, but as we all know in local derbies that table positions count for very little.
As with the first meeting at the start of the season, this match started in typical local derby fashion, with tackles flying in from both teams. The game was quickly turned into a midfield battle, with Adam Poole, Stuart Craig and Shane Tagleferro working hard to get on top. The experience of Sam Herir down the right was causing the Comets problems as numerous crosses were delivered into the box but unfortunately Karl Cochrane and Tim Paton were unable to get onto the end of them.
Langy took the lead after 40 minutes through Stuart Craig, and whilst it wasn’t the prettiest goal, it could prove to be very important. After the Comets had failed to clear a ball from the box, Barry Tulloch was able to cross the ball into the six yard box, where under immense pressure the Comets keeper was only able to scramble the ball to the feet of Stuart Craig who thumped the ball into the back of the net. The goal was no less than Langy deserved and they went into the break with a one goal cushion.
The second half continued like the first, with Langy in control. Chris Jones had very little to do with his defence of Dave Breslin, Chris Quinn and Brian Macnicol continuing their good form. Langy had chances to go further ahead with good chances falling to Poole and Herir, but Cranbourne were able to somehow keep them out.
With time running out for Cranbourne to hit back, Gus made changes to freshen up the side. Thomas Admadzai replaced the tiring Stuart Craig, whilst Ben Caffrey and Ali Memedovski came on for the hard-working strike team of Tim Paton and Karl Cochrane. Whilst not scoring freely, this forward pairing have the ability to work hard and create many chances for their team mates, and always ensure that the opposition defence are under immense pressure.
Late on Ali Memedovski had a good chance to seal the win after good link up play from Barry Tulloch and Ben Caffrey, but the young striker was only able to direct the ball past the post. With the final whistle sounding not long after that effort, Langy had won their 4th consecutive game, and were sitting on the top of the 1st division for the first time in the clubs history. After Sundays draw between Bentleigh and Pines, Langy are 2nd on the ladder, with only goal difference separating Langy and rivals Pines.
This week Langy travel to Knights stadium to face Coburg United who are only a point of the pace. Langy have been on an 11 match unbeaten streak since the last meeting of these sides in round 6 when Coburg came away from Lawton park with a 5-0 win. A big crowd should be on hand to witness this massive clash, and note the it is a late kick-off of 3pm for the ressies and 5pm for the seniors.
