Football returned to the Hill this past weekend with the return of Broken Hill Soccer Association (BHSA) action.
ST. JOES 2-2 ALMA
Goal Scorers: Krzysztof Wierzejski (Alma), Fletcher Kollinac (Alma), Pat Nash (St Joes), Lachie Gepp (St Joes)
In a rematch of the 2022 Grand Final, Alma Goats took on the Joeys in a gripping encounter that turned out to be a true game of two halves.
It was a stunning start for Alma who took a 1-0 lead inside the first 60 seconds. The early goal gave the Goats a foothold in the game, and they started to boss proceedings, with their wingers becoming increasingly dangerous.
Their dominance paid off as they doubled their advantage after just 15 minutes of play. But the second goal woke St Joes up and they were more of a threat after that, but Alma was able to hold on to their two-goal buffer into half time.
The following 45 minutes saw the St Joes of last season appear, led by the tricky wing play of Riley McGuinness who had a superb second half.
By the time the final whistle blew, Joeys had managed to claw their way back into the match with goals from Pat Nash and Lachlan Gepp levelling the scores.
St Joes’ goal scorer Pat Nash told us while he wasn’t happy with how it all started, he was delighted with the response from St Joes in the second half.
“When we were two-nil down after 15 minutes, I thought jeez we could be in for a bit of a towelling here, but to the boys’ credit they dug deep and we managed to get back to 2-2, which was fantastic and probably, a result that we will take after being two down so early on.”
CELTIC 6-1 WEST
Goal Scorers: Nick Devoy 3 (Celtic), Lachlan Cattonar 3 (Celtic), Tim Symonds (West)
The late kick-off saw George Bugeja’s West side take on Aaron Cunico’s Celtic outfit that led to a result few would have predicted.
Much like the St Joes and Alma match that preceded it, there was an early goal in this one that brought a roar from the crowd, as last year’s easy beats, Celtic, took a surprising 1-0 lead over last year’s semi-finalists, West Panthers.
There was no stirring comeback in this match, however, as it rained goals for Celtic. They held a significant lead heading into the break and extended it in the second half. West picked up a consolation goal, but it was all for nought on a day that West would prefer to forget and will live long in the memory of Celtic fans.
A pair of hattricks supplied the goals for Celtic by Nick Devoy and debutante Lachlan Cattonar, and it sets up a mouth-watering clash between the burgeoning Celtic against Alma next weekend.
A delighted Celtic coach, Aaron Cunico, sang the praises of his side and intimated the best is still to come.
“We have really started to gel, which was the main thing I wanted to get out of our pre-season. I think we surprised every club with this performance, and I am glad it looks like we will be competitive this season,” said Cunico.
On the other side of the coin, West coach George Bugeja was absolutely filthy at the performance of some of his side and didn’t hold back.
“I got a couple guys there that are probably going to be dropped. They just didn’t want to perform. I don’t need blokes with their heads down, mate. Just drops the rest of the team,” Bugeja said.
The action continues this coming Sunday at O’Neill Memorial Park with Alma looking to record their first victory of the season against a surging Celtic, followed by St Joes, who are taking on a West side looking to bounce back.
BHSA A GRADE STANDINGS RD 1.
| TEAM | MP | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Celtic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 3 |
| St. Joes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Alma | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| West | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
