Nathan Morris lived up to his reputation as a dead-ball specialist scoring the winner in the dying of minutes of his 200th game for the Weston Bears yesterday.
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With the Bears and Edgeworth locked at 2-2 and five minutes on the clock, Morris stepped up from the best part of 30 metres and ripped a curling free kick over the wall, off the left post and into the net.
Edgeworth goalkeeper Jim Fogarty was left rooted to the spot and, like the healthy crowd present, he was but a spectator to Morris’ brilliance.
“I could not have scripted it any better,” an ecstatic Morris said after the game.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time, in my career and for all these boys.
“There’s been some good ones over the years, but that one certainly tops it.”
Ten minutes earlier the fairy tale couldn’t have looked more improbable.
After leading through a rare goal from Bears skipper Carl Thornton – the result of another Morris free kick – Edgeworth slowly
overpowered the home side and led 2-1 after 75 minutes through Dylan Holz and Alex Johnson-Young goals.
Liam Thornton, who played further forward as coach Steve Piggott switched to a 4-4-2 formation, reacted quickest to a deflected Robbie Turnbull shot and tapped in from close range in the 78th minute.
Morris’ free kick gave the Bears back the lead they had relinquished in the 39th minute, and they desperately defended late on to claim the three points that moves them back into the top five.
Despite working on a number of other set-piece variations on the training track during the week, Piggott knew exactly what would unfold when the free kick was awarded.
“It was some free kick – he told me that if he thought he was in range he was going to take and I’ve got to go with that,” he said.
“It was the game breaker and today his little bit of brilliance has won us three points.”
Morris became just the fourth Weston player to reach the 200-game milestone in the 50 years the club has been in the state league, and he admitted it was a special moment.
“I didn’t realise just how special it was until this week,” he said.
“The amount of support I’ve had throughout the week– players from different clubs, players in different divisions – all the messages I got was unbelievable, and I’d like to thank those people.
“It was massive.”
Elsewhere in round, 14 Charlestown shocked Northern NSW NPL frontrunner Newcastle Jets Youth 5-0, Lambton overpowered Hamilton 4-0, Adamstown staved off relegation fears with a 5-2 defeat of Lakes and Broadmeadow’s disappointing season continued with a 1-1 draw at South Cardiff.
