The clash between Morwell and Canberra at Falcons Park was a game of two halves. A great
influence was the ejection of Scott Miller late in the first half. The home team, although
dominating the first half, could only produce one goal. In the second half they were on the
back foot and were rather lucky to escape with a draw.
Morwell had ample opportunities to open the scoring in the first half. It started in the
tenth minute with Miller just missing and Michael Reda's shot hitting the crossbar a minute later.
More pressure was exerted with the visitors obviously showing they were outclassed. Esala
Masi showed his talent and in the 36th minute he latched onto a rebound off the crossbar from
a Brian Bothwell shot to put the ball into an empty net and give the home team a well-deserved
lead.
The send off of Miller changed the game completely. Immediately after, Tony Lemezina had a
seering drive brilliantly saved by Morwell's Jim Kourtis. It was 1-0 to the home side
at the break, but little did they know what was in store in the second half.
After the break, it was all Cosmos. Attack after attack were mounted, some thwarted by
great defence and some by inept finishing. It was during this part of the match that
ex-Canberran Doug Marcina put in a performance that gained him Man-of-the-Match.
In the 57th minute, Kourtis made an uncharacteristic blunder when he dropped the ball at the
feet of Lemezina. After he passed by the stragling keeper, he put the ball into the net
from a rather wide angle. Several more chances were made and Canberra should have converted
at least one of them to gain all the points, but there was no joy.
The result, even though they could have taken all three points, should be viewed well for
the Cosmos. They were without a number of key players including Dunn, Dee, Musitano and
Armstrong. That's the end of the second third of the season and the team is running third
last. The next 11 matches see 6 at home, but 7 to be played all this month.
As with 2 weeks ago, here is a report of another great
game in Sydney between Sydney United and Adelaide City.