The Bears were first to have a chance on goal in the 9th min when a Mick Holt corner lead to a goalmouth scramble.
Magic could have stung the Bears with good chances in the 12th and 16th minutes. The later being a free header that luckily for the Bears was poorly directed and bounced harmlessly wide.
Robbie Turnbull won the ball in the midfield and then played a great through ball for Rhys Tippett. Tippett took the ball into the box and looked to be running away from the goals when he opened his body and hit a perfectly timed curling shot into the opposite corner of the Magic goal to give the Bears a 1-0 lead after the 18th min.
The game was being played at an extremely fast pace and the Bears could well have been ahead by more after Luke Walker headed wide in the 20th min and Tippett failed to beat the keeper from another through ball in the 22nd min.
Magic started to test the Bears defence and could have squared things up almost immediately after Tippett's chance but luckily for the Bears the ball across the goal somehow beat everybody and rolled harmlessly out of play. The Bears defence were not so lucky in the 26th min when Magic broke through to beat Tim Pratt and even the scores up at 1-1.
The match continued to be at a fast pace but neither side found a way to find the net again before the referee called an end to the first half.
The 2nd half was started the better by Magic and they made the Bears defence pay for some non existent marking with a 59th min goal to take the lead 1-2.
Magic could have extended their lead just 2 mins later when they again exploited the Bears lack of marking, but the free header lacked the quality needed and the score remained at 1-2.
Carl Thornton was starting to cause some problems for the Magic defence down the right and his 65th min ball into the box almost gave the Bears the equaliser.
Rhys Tippett has been the one to benefit from some great through balls in the game but this time he turned provider when he played Jason Cowburn through in the 78th min. Cowburn was clearly full of confidence after his last round Hat-Trick as he attempted to hit the ball from the edge of the box but unfortunately the shot was miss hit and never troubled the keeper.
Robbie Turnbull provided the ball for Tippett to score from in the first half and he was almost the provider again in the 89th min when he played Luke Walker through. Walker chose to pull the trigger and fired his shot into the side netting instead of crossing the ball to the 3 players waiting on the back post. This was final chance of the game with the score 1-2 at the final whistle.
U/23's have jumped into the top 4 after beating Magic 2-1. It's great to see back-to-back wins after the
run of draws experienced by the young side. Max Wallington added to his goal tally and the senior statesman of the 23's Graham Kaiser was the other to find the net.
U/18's frustrating season continued with a comprehensive 0-5 defeat.
Next week the Bears travel to Hamilton to take on the inform Hamilton Olympic.
C'MON YOU BEARS!!!!!!!!
