Westcoast 3 - 0 darklads (390168083)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 18000 at Welcome To The Westside today. Rogério Imperial was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mitică Cucu and Peter Lagerby. Westcoast started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Yates - Langstone, Coghlan, Duncan, Perlstein - Erskine, Wigley, Kes, Houston - Turner, Bunce.

darklads had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Wark - Cowcher, Dew, Cadle, Mutter - Spruce, Barker Thompson, Humberstone, Esmonde-Cleary - Lilly, Bradley.

Y. Dew received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 2 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. Many thought D. Houston ought to have been awarded a penalty 13 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around H. Wark after a determined run through the middle. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when K. Esmonde-Cleary slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against Z. Yates, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. 29 minutes into the game, K. Esmonde-Cleary had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. 30 minutes into the game Westcoast managed a counterattack, but J. Perlstein took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. After 33 minutes, R. Turner came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Westcoast the lead. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to darklads, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

A swift counterattack by Westcoast resulted in a free kick that R. Langstone elegantly twisted into the goal - 2 - 0! After 72 minutes, Westcoast sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached R. Turner, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 3 - 0. By now, the players in Westcoast felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Coming from the right, R. Langstone almost managed to score another goal for Westcoast, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Westcoast's A. Wigley was shown a yellow card after 88 minutes for slicing down an opponent. With 89 minutes played, N. Bradley of darklads fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Possession was split evenly between the teams.

The most dominating Westcoast player was without a doubt R. Duncan. Z. Yates turned in a dismal performance, however. darklads's top performer was clearly J. Barker Thompson. H. Wark on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 0.