Gully Gazette – Week 5 Recap

Gully Gazette – Week 5 Recap

Senior Men’s A Grade – May 11

Sunday Premier A’s – Round 5
Tea Tree Gully City SC 2 – Adelaide Eagles 1
Goals – Jacob Williams x2
Click here for Highlights

The Gully players and supporters returned to Tilley Reserve to take on promoted side Adelaide Eagles. After the hard-fought, confidence-boosting performance the week prior, this was an opportunity to continue our form with another positive display.

Both teams started the game scrappy, adjusting to the sunny conditions. In the early stages, both sides created some half chances that they failed to convert.

Credit to the group, we grew into the game and started to get a foothold. Our best chance of the half came when Jamie Roberts played a smart ball to Jacob Williams, who flicked it to Kyle Markham. Kyle turned his defender but hit a tame strike straight at the keeper.

At 30 minutes, Sam Thomas intercepted an Eagles pass and shifted the ball to Mario Kuokkanen, who played a great ball into Jacob Williams 35 yards out from goal. Our skipper turned his defender and rocketed the ball into the roof of the net—an early contender for goal of the season. 1–0 Gully!

Eagles created a couple of half chances after that, but we went into halftime with a 1–0 lead.

The Eagles came out strong in the second half, putting our defence under pressure. Their captain, Kristi Vangeli, showcased his vision and long-range passing, lifting the team’s momentum. They created some good opportunities, but our goalkeeper Josh Forshaw and defensive unit held strong.

At the other end, Mario Kuokkanen nearly doubled our lead, but the Eagles keeper made a sharp save at the near post. A short time later, Sam Thomas swung a ball into the box that Tyler Green couldn’t fully connect with.

Eagles began to grow back into the contest and created more chances. From a corner, with 20 minutes to play, Daniel Waine made a brilliant goal-line clearance to keep it at 1–0. However, in the 80th minute, Eagles finally equalised from a close-range corner header—1–1.

Credit to the lads, we didn’t fold. With five minutes left, Blake Langridge sent a ball out wide to Mario Kuokkanen, who crossed into the 18-yard box. After a clearance by the Eagles defender, the ball fell to Jacob Butler Bowdon, who fed it to Jacob Williams. The captain stepped up once again—one touch, then placed it into the bottom corner from 18 yards. 2–1 Gully!

In the final moments, Eagles had one last attempt from 20 yards out, but Josh Forshaw pulled off a match-winning save to secure the 3 points at home.

On reflection, it was a great day for the Gully, scoring 28 goals and taking 9 points off the Eagles at Tilley. For the A’s, it was a gritty, hard-fought contest. We stood up as a group, matched the pressure, and earned the result we deserved. We now look forward to the away trip to Angle Vale next week.

To all Gully coaches and players—congratulations on your results. Well done!

Shane Golder
A Grade Coach
Go the Gully!

Senior Women’s A Grade – May 9

Division 2, Round 6
Tea Tree Gully City SC 2 – Croydon 0

Round 6 had our A Grade Women take on Croydon Cougars at home on Friday night.

The team completely dominated from the first whistle, though the Croydon keeper made several strong saves to deny us. Hailey eventually broke the deadlock with another beautiful strike from range.

We went into the break firmly in control, albeit with only a one-goal lead. The second half was more of the same.

Brooke was given licence to attack from left full-back—and attack she did—charging down the wing before delivering a great ball that Pritch converted, finally beating the Croydon keeper.

Our defence was once again super stingy, keeping another clean sheet. Several players rotated through our back four, but special mention goes to Rory (Tamika) for another stellar 90-minute performance.

We also welcomed back our captain Dani after a calf strain. She delivered a best-on-pitch performance, leading by example and with her voice. We now prepare for another Friday night home match against the unbeaten FC Summit.

Juniors & Colts – May 10/11

Hat’s off to the team of volunteers at the club on Saturday morning. With 18 games on our home pitches, there was plenty of good coffee and delicious breakfasts fueling our players and supporters—some of whom played on the new main pitch for the first time.

We love seeing our future champions getting a kick and sharing in their goals with teammates. And wow—did we see some cracking goals over the weekend!

Mother’s Day saw another 6 games at Tilley Reserve across both Juniors and Seniors. All the lucky mums received special love from the Gully—thanks to the Events Team for making sure every mum felt celebrated on Sunday morning!