A Matt Comerford contender for goal of the year sparked a second-half Maitland FC rally to almost snatch a draw against Lambton Jaffas after trailing 0-3 at half-time.
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Deep near the attacking right corner, Comerford appeared to be crossing the ball at first but it continued to bend and gather speed and ended in the back of the net.
Matt Thompson followed up with a second from close range, at the end of a Comerford cross, and with 15 minutes to go momentum had swung firmly Maitland’s way and the Jaffas had to draw on all their experience and defensive nous to keep the Magpies at bay.
“I’m proud of the boys the response in the second half was what we asked for but you can’t give a three goal lead away to a side like that,” Magpies coach Mick Bolch said after the game in which Maitland were missing four senior players from the starting line up and lost Josh Dutton-Black on minutes into the game with injury.
“We’ve got to regroup and get a few boys back next weekend and prepare for (Broadmeadow) Magic.
“I’m not worried about who was missing as the young boys who came in did very well.”
The Magpies fielded their youngest team of the year with key defenders Alex Read and Grant Brown, midfielder Matt Swan and dynamic forward Ryan Clarke all sidelined.
Chris Fayers took a midfield role and was joined in the starting line-up by Zac Thomas, Louis Townsend and James Tassell who all acquitted themselves very well, particularly in the second-half comeback.
Matt Thompson and Carl Thornton led from the front as usual and Comerford, Andrew Swan, Liam Thornton and keeper Matt Trott refused to concede their cause was lost at half-time and pushed themselves to turn Maitland’s forturnes after what Bolch described as the team’s worst half of the year..
“We changed our shape for the second half which worked for us,” Bolch said.
“Momentum is a big thing. We spoke at half-time about not conceding in the first 15 minutes of the second half and if we got the first goal it would put us in the game.
“A great strike for Matt Comerford, it’s got to be goal of the year for sure, and then we got another one with 15 minutes to go and we had all the momentum but were just unable to get the equaliser.
“At the end of the day the game goes for 90 minutes and we weren’t good for the first 45 minutes and we just didn’t get there even though we had a good second 45 minutes.
“We nearly got there in the end.
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t turn up in the first half.”