EYES ON THE PRIZE: Wests’ Gavin Wylie and YSC’s George Hancock compete for the ball in their round six Riverina Premier League match.
YOOGALI Soccer Club dominated its Regional Premier League clash against Wests Soccer Club on Saturday night, but it didn’t pay off until late in the second half.
YSC snatched a 2-1 victory from Wests after a goalless first half gave way to a physically demanding second at EW Moore Oval.
Despite YSC having the majority of possession, Wests were the first to score, putting one through off the boot of Damon Mazzarolo midway through the second half.
Moments later, the men in yellow and blue were celebrating their first goal, following it up quickly with a second.
James Taylor and Grant Davidson put the points on the board but there was no shortage of attempts from the rest of the team.
After a long stint on the sidelines for most of the season, there was more frustration for coach Ryan Spencer who, despite multiple attempts, couldn’t find the back of the net.
“We made hard work of it; I don’t remember ever being so dominant in a game and being unable to score for so long,” Spencer said.
“The one thing we did throughout the whole game was believe we could do it, even when they scored.
“We created that many chances and the best thing is that we finally scored not long after they did. Then we got the second one through and we were absolutely delighted to take the points.”
Despite a few injury scares throughout the match, YSC came away unscarred.
Wests weren’t so lucky, with Joe Preece going down late in the second with a suspected broken foot.
He was cleared of a break after the match but ligament damage is likely to keep him off the field for three to four weeks.
Magpies player Ross Morgan said Preece would be a big loss to a team still looking for its first win in the premier league.
“Joe has been a bright spark this season; he has provided a lot of highlights for us so far, so to lose him is really disappointing,” Morgan said.
But Wests had plenty of positives to take away from the match.
“It’s the first time we’ve been in a position where we could’ve won, but we knew from the beginning they were always going to score so we really needed to
follow it up,” Morgan said.
“It was one of the best performances we’ve had percentage-wise this season and we had two or three good chances for goals.
“The best thing is that we took the chances we’d created – we scored a goal and had one goal disallowed, so we’ve got to be happy with that.”
