A scrappy second half didn't derail the attempts of a perfect start to the season for Yoogali SC, as they were able to pick up a 2-1 win over Weston Molonglo at Solar Mad Stadium
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Yoogali SC started the stronger of the two sides but weren't able to find the final ball to finish some of their opportunities.
That was until Mitch Bagiante was able to pick up the ball at the top of the box after a charge down shot from Isaac Donadel and was able to curl the ball from outside the box into the top corner to give his side the lead just before the half-hour mark.
Yoogali SC made it two five minutes later with Joey Preece able to turn the Weston defence inside out before being brought down in the box to see a penalty awarded, and Bagiante step up and made no mistake from the spot.
Weston was able to pull one back towards the end of the first half with a deflection from Luke Pandolfo, seeing the ball just finish out of reach of Michael De Paoli in goal to make it 2-1 at the break.
Yoogali SC coach Luke Santolin felt his side could have been further ahead had they been more clinical going forward.
"Last year, we probably would have been 2-0 up after about 10 minutes, we were just blowing teams away, but we didn't take our chances," he said.
"Mitch's first goal was beautiful, and obviously, the penalty gave us some breathing space, but we probably made it harder than it needed to be."
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The home side had a couple of great chances in the second half and could have blown Weston off the park if not for the visitor's keeper, who made a couple of great reflex saves to keep the margin at one goal.
There was a late scare for the Yoogali side as Weston thought they had a good shout for a penalty, but their appeals were waved off, and the home side was able to hold on and take the three points.
Santolin felt his side were affected by fatigue which could be a product of not playing as many preseason games as they might have liked.
"You could tell in our decision making that there was fatigue both mentally and physically," he said.
"What makes us strong is that we are clean more often than not, but we were turning the ball over, and we made life a bit tricky for ourselves."
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