The Bears could have taken the lead 10 mins later following some good lead up work from Tyson Fletcher and Rob Macbeth. Fletcher took the ball down the right flank and held off 3 defenders before playing the ball back to Macbeth. Macbeth then found a free Subat who pulled the trigger but unfortunately for the Bears Subat's shot failed to trouble the Magic's keeper.
Broadmeadow Magic's first chance came in the 22nd min when their danger man Peter Haynes found room on the right. He then picked out a Magic attacker with his ball across goal but the chance was headed high over the Bears goal.
Club Captain Chris Cousins was ruled to have brought down a Magic attacker in the box in the 28th min (although match footage of the incident proved the penalty was wrongly given) and awarded a penalty. Magic made no mistake with the spot kick and put the Bears down 0-1.
The Bears were appearing to struggle with the Magic attack for the remainder of the half but the score remained the same till half time.
Supporters of the Bears were hoping for a better 2nd half. After 50mins they were cheering as Matt Toohey pushed forward and placed a great low volley into the bottom left hand corner of the Magic's goal to square things up at 1-1.
6 minutes later Nathan Morris almost did the same again with a free kick from the same distance only this time on the other side of the field. Morris struck the free kick well but this time the ball just missed the left hand side of the Magic goal.
Jamie Subat came close in the 66th min when he got in behind the defence on the left but the Magic keeper stood tall and wide and blocked Subat's shot.
Broadmeadow Magic could and should have levelled the scores in the 71st min but they rushed the shot and sent it high over the bar.
Rhys Tippett has turned into the Bears equivalent of a Super Sub this season and he was causing headaches for the Magic defence with 2 fantastic chances. The first being in the 72nd min when he fought off his defender and looked to be goal bound, the defender recovered well and forced Tippett wide of the goal which forced him to shoot from a narrow angle that the keeper did well to save. The 2nd chance came with only seconds left in the match when he again pressured the Magic's defender and caused a mix up but unfortunately he wasn't able to rap his foot around the ball enough to put it inside the post and the match ended with a hard fought 2-1 victory for the Bears.
This win was even more sweeter as it was the Bears first in a regular season match at Wanderers Oval since 2004. They won a Semi Final against Broadmeadow Magic at Wanderers Oval in 2008 but this was the first time the Bears have taken home the 3 points from Wanderers in 6 seasons.
The U/23's threw 3 very important points away with a poor 2nd half that sees the young Bears drop out of the top 4. The side took a deserved 1-0 lead to the break after Joel Page converted a spot kick but they failed to finish the game off and Magic scored 3 2nd half goals and if it wasn't for a great game from keeper Paul Marrone the score could have been much worse for the Bears.
U/18's match was postponed due the recent bad weather.
Next Sunday the Bears are back home at Thomas & Coffey Park against South Cardiff. The Bears have not met Southy this season but the matches between the 2 clubs are always a hard fought and physical match. The Bears will also be desperate to win to keep on a roll and do what they have not done for over 2 seasons and enjoy 3 wins on the trot.
Gates Open at 9:45am.
C'MON YOU BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!
