Flamingos 4 - 1 Charlie (386999126)

The crowd of 12000 turning up at Wetlands today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Johnny Cash was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Olav Nielsen and Christiaan Vanhecke. The derby had been the talk of Victoria all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Flamingos had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Lineup: Gilyead - Forbes, Kellow, Arnold, Nohotai - Pearman, Quick, Hardy, Thaiday - Woakes, Frendo.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Charlie. The following players had been chosen: Mackie - Barresi, Molloy, Stuart, Larrain - Tam, MacKenzie, Peden, Robinson - Coomerang, Valiani.

Flamingos took the lead 15 minutes into the match after a magnificent free kick by D. Forbes that made the score 1 - 0. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit W. Arnold just fine. The rain made it hard for players like J. Woakes to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. After 30 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by L. Nohotai might have resulted in another goal for Flamingos. However, D. Mackie made a spectacular save. W. Hardy could have increased the lead after 31 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. Flamingos had to make a substitution after 32 minutes. A. Frendo limped off the field and was replaced by B. Rudd. S. Barresi levelled the score for Charlie, making it 1 - 1 on a free kick that went in by way of the right post. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Flamingos, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

C. Molloy, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. B. Rudd caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 73 minutes. This gave Flamingos the 2 - 1 lead. With 82 minutes played, the visitors could have drawn level after S. Barresi came through the middle, but his kick went wide. Cheers filled the stadium as M. Quick broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to Flamingos. Flamingos managed to extend their lead to 4 - 1 when W. Hardy cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Confident in their lead, Flamingos's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. S. Thaiday of Flamingos was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Flamingos enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

S. Thaiday performed admirably for Flamingos. W. Gilyead was a disappointment, however. Most important Charlie player was J. Tam. However, T. Stuart made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 1.