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MERRIMAC CLASS WINS Long time rivals Merrimac and the United Eagles put on a great display in the 2010 First Divsion Grand Final. The Mac's struggled for the first fifteen minutes as the Eagles kept playing long balls over to their speed men up front. Through this style of play the Eagles went to a 1-0 lead early. Great keeping from Brendan Sparke kept Merrimac in the game. Merrimac coach Dean Milosevic got the backline to mark up tighter and not give the Eagles any room. This tactic worked immediately and captain Cameron Watson and his backs Graeme Johnston and Richard Hrehoresin started to dominate from the backline and began to give great service to wide midfielders Ryan Britten and Chris Matheou. Playing just in front of Watson, the enforcer Jason Maitland started to run the show through the middle, laying off quality ball to midfielders Owen Formosa and Ross Weaver. Good link up work between the trio saw strikers Mark Joncheff and Jamie Boelen create some chances on goal, only to be denied by the Eagles keeper, who by now looked like he was going to be in for a busy night. With a lot of the first half play going down the right side of the pitch young gun Ryan Britten was having a field day putting in crosses to Boelen and Joncheff, and it wasn't long before Merrimac would see a result from all of the forward play, and it was up to marquee showman Jamie Boelen who beat six Eagles players with fancy foot work and a never say die attitude in chasing a ball that took two deflections off Eagles men and then preceded to tuck the ball past the keeper in the six yard box, after starting the move himself twenty meters out. At that point you had that feeling we were in for a very special night. Twelve minutes out from halftime the magic of Jamie Boelen was on show again as he hit one low and hard into the bottom corner to the left of an Eagles keeper, who by now was probably thinking he should of stayed at home, instead of witnessing the big smiling grin of Boelen. Just when things looked to be goimg to plan Chris Matheou put his hand up seven minutes out and said he couldn't continue due to a chest virus. It was a valuable contribution from Matheou and a shame he had to be replaced with a half still to play. With such a strong bench to choose from, Milosevic sent 2009 players player Justin Whitehead on to take Matheou's spot at left midfield. Whitehead made an impact straight away, and showed no signs of a knee injury which had forced him to the side lines for the past six weeks. The halftime score of 2-1 was a fair result and kept both teams and supporters on their toes. The second half saw the Eagles make two changes as they tried to stem the tide from turning even further into Merrimac's favour. However that didn't seem to work as Whitehead made a dash down the left five minutes after the break, and cross one in from near the by line to find a diving Mark Joncheff getting his size eleven boot to the ball to stretch the lead out to 3-1. With Formosa and Weaver controlling the midfield and doing a mountain of running, the Eagles had no answers at all, and were really struggling. Milosevic added some fresh legs in the 65th minute and it was flyer Murray Goodwin replacing goal scorer Joncheff who played a superb part in the night including hitting the back of the net. Goodwin who was returning from an ankle sprain he recieved seven weeks ago didn't look hampered by the injury set back at all. A few minutes later against the run of play the Eagles pegged one back and made it 3-2 with twenty three minutes to go plus injury time. It wasn't long before Goodwin took matters into his own hands and slotted one nicely past the Eagles keeper. At 4-2 Milosevic made his final change and it was captain couragous Cameron Watson succumbing to a foot injury that saw replacement Andy Dayney play the final twenty minutes. It is a credit to Dayney to see him back after a month out with a severe leg injury. The lead could have been more if Ross Weaver's header had of been six inches lower, but as in the first half he just couldn't get the ball down. Two good headers that deserved better. With the game being played in the Eagles half, it was Jamie Boelen who put himself back in the picture when he recieved a penalty for a trip and a shirt pull in the box. Boelen took the kick and as expected showed no sympathy toward the Eagles shot stopper who on this day wasn't stopping many. At 5-2 it looked all but over, the only problem was no one told the Eagles. Again they jagged a goal out of the blue, but at 5-3 the hill seemed to high to climb. That was until the referee gave the Eagles a dubious penalty for hands in the back from Andy Dayney. Having seen footage of the incident, there was no way it was a penalty. Justice was done however with the penalty spraying wide and not forcing a save from Sparke. With five minutes to go Hrehoresin, Dayney and Johnston locked it up and held possesion well inthe backline not giving the Eagles anything to pin their hopes on for a miracle comeback. With the referee blowing full time after three minutes were added on, Merrimac were deservedwinners and the Eagles were lucky it wasn't a bigger margin. To rap up the double in the 2010Premiership and Grand Final it was a great achievement by coach Dean Milosevic, manger John Benigno and all players that played throughout the season. Players that contributed at some stage of the year THANKYOU FIRST DIVISION : 1 Brendan Sparke : 2 Richard Hrehoresin : 3 Mark Johncheff : 4 Cameron Watson (c) 5 : Owen Formosa : 6 Graeme Johnston : 7 Jason Maitland : 8 Andy Dayney : 9 Jamie Boelen : 10 Ross Weaver : 11 Ryan Britten : 12 Murray Goodwin : 13 Justin Whitehead : 14 Chris Matheou : GK Michael Scuteri : Sam Weaver: John Costello : Daniel Bodikian 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Contact us. Junior club information contact email : 18 Fairways Drive, Clear Island Waters |
