The Bears went straight on the attack from the resulting goal kick. Jamie Subat played a wonderful ball through to Mick Ryan who showed plenty of strength to hold off the 2 defenders and let rip with a perfectly placed shot that beat the keeper for a early 1-0 lead.
Tim Pratt is having a great season between sticks for the Bears and he again kept the Bears in front with a great save in the 9th min. Phoenix continued pushing forward and they almost levelled the scores 4 mins later but the Bears defence backed up their keeper and scrambled well to clear the ball off the line.
Jamie Subat's determination almost paid off in the 18th min when he out muscled the phoenix defender close to the goal line and played the ball across the goals only to see the chance go begging.
Possession was evenly shared for the remainder of the half but both sides failed to test the opposition's keeper. Chris Cousins came the closest when he almost headed the Bears further in front. Cousins climbed well but headed over the bar from the perfectly placed Nathan Morris free kick in the 45th min.
Phoenix came out of the sheds the better of the 2 sides and they could have levelled things up in the 63rd min if their shot was on target.
Rob Macbeth has been extremely unlucky in front of goal this season and the hard luck continued when he again had 2 fantastic opportunities denied.
The Bears Midfield and Backs were starting to show the effect of keeping out the Phoenix attack and in the 79th min Phoenix looked certain to score until Tim Pratt made an excellent diving save and parried the ball around the post for a corner. The Bears luck had run out a minute later when a Phoenix attacker ran onto a through ball, the Bears players made the mistake of stopping and appealing to the referee and linesman for offside which allowed the attacker to advance towards Pratt and calmly put the ball out of his reach and level the scores at 1-1.
Bears Super Sub Rhys Tippett was again making an impact off the bench and he almost snatched a late 90th min winner for the Bears but the shot was wide of the mark.
With the game 3mins into added time Nathan Morris stepped up for a free kick wide on the left, put a fantastic kick into the area for Rob Macbeth who once again saw his excellent attempted header somehow saved by the keeper and tipped wide for a corner. Morris again stepped up to take the corner and just like the free kick his ball into the area found a climbing Rob Macbeth but this time his header flew past the keeper and smashed into the back of the net to give the Bears a very important 2-1 win.
U/23's needed a win to get their season back on track after the horror run of recent weeks has seen them slip out of the top 4. The side were strengthened by the addition of the Bears new signing Corey Fletcher and also Rhys Tippett. The extra depth was clear to see with the side racking up a hard fought 3-2 win to get their season back on track. Goal scorers were Rhys Tippett, Ethan Carusi and Kurt Tunnicliffe.
U/18's competed well but were unable to break down the Phoenix defence and had to settle for a 0-0 draw.
Next week the Bears make the trip to South Cardiff's Ulinga Oval in an attempt to extend their winning run to 6 games. The Bears battled hard and came away with a 3-0 win against South Cardiff last time the sides met at Thomas and Coffey Park 3 weeks ago.
C'MON YOU BEARS!!!!!
