It was a match to forget for the Weston Bears as they went down 5-3 to Lake Macquarie in the Northern NSW Football State League yesterday....
Read more online at the Maitland Mercury
The Bears were back at home and looking to put a stop to the mid season slump that has seen them go from Premiership contenders to struggling to hang on to a top 4 spot against 2nd place Lake Macquarie. The day was also the Old Boys Day and Sponsors Day but Lakes spoilt the party taking the game 5-3 to dent the Bears top 4 hopes.
Lakes took the lead in the 13th min but the Bears almost hit back immediately when Jamie Subat found the upright only a minute after they went behind. Lakes found another goal before the half time break when they played a through ball to a player who was allowed to play on although he was clearly in an offside position. The player then took the ball towards goal before cutting it back for the Lakes striker to out muscle the Bears defence and find the bottom corner to make the score 0-2.
The Bears started the 2nd half stronger than the first but failed to convert their early chances. Lakes never had the same problems in front of goal and put the Bears down another in the 53rd minute to push the score out to 0-3.
Mick Ryan pulled one back for the Bears in the 60th min to give them a small sniff at snatching a draw but Lakes put an end to those hopes when they found the net for the 4th time in the 74th minute. Robbie Turnbull climbed high 5 minutes later from the edge of the 18 yard box with a fantastic header that thumped into the junction of the post and crossbar before being cleared for a counter attack that lead to Lakes scoring and making it 1-5.
In a welcome change for the Bears they were on the receiving end of a dubious penalty call by the match official when the Lakes player had the ball cannon into his hand in the box. The Bears poor conversion of spot kicks looked to have been continued when Brad Swancott saved Mick Ryans attempt, but luckily for the Bears the Linesman ruled that Swancott had moved off his line early so Ryan was given a second chance at the spot kick, Ryan did convert this time but the comedy of errors continued when the referee ruled that a Bears player had encroached and the shot had to be taken again. Ryan kept his nerve through all this and calmly slotted home the 3rd attempt to bring the score to 2-5 after 84 minutes.
Corey Fletcher gave the score line some respectability in the 87th minute when he found the net to make the score 3-5. Bears keeper Tim Pratt who was playing his 100th First Grade game made several quality saves during the game to keep the Bears from what could well have been an embarrassing score line.
U/23's finally found some form with a dominating 4-0 win. Dave Field scored a hat-trick against his former club while Joel Page scored the other goal. U/19's were called off due to the wet weather.
Next Sunday the Bears will look to get their season back on track with a win or risk slipping out of finals contention when they travel over the Blue Gum to take on the last placed West Wallsend.
C'MON YOU BEARS!!!!!!!!
The 3 Bears junior games against Hamilton Olympic set down for Thomas & Coffey Park on Saturday are OFF.
