Men’s Championship Match Report | 11th April

Dunbar’s Men’s Championship sides travelled to Paine Reserve this afternoon on the back of impressive wins on the opening day against UNSW. They knew Phoenix would provide a sterner test however and would be a good barometer for how the squad would fair this year.

The Ressies started slowly and struggled to take hold of the game in the early stages. Phoenix capitalised on this and took the lead after 15mins.

Dunbar regrouped and dug deep to get back in the game. Anthony Windsor beat the keeper to a lofted pass from Ben Richards and left the keeper in no mans land with a perfect lob. 1-1

Dunbar were creating chances and limiting their opponents to speculative shots from distance with the centre back pairing of Iain Downie and Killian Cropper starting to dominate.

Joey Colebatch had the best of those chances and managed to finish calmly under pressure to put Dunbar 2-1 up at the break.

The two goalscorers combined shortly after the break to extend Dunbar’s lead when Colebatch nodded home from Windsor’s pinpoint corner. 3-1 Dunbar

Phoenix had to push men forward now to try and get back into it but some solid defending and goalkeeping from Thomas Lee Stacey maintained the two goal cushion.

The experience of Paul Stuart and Craig Trotter helped the younger players to see out the game and secure an important 3 points.

In the first grade game again Dunbar started slowly and struggled to get the ball down and play their football.

The back four of Michael Lawrence, Joel Hampson, Rob Cole and Liam Timmons we’re dealing well with Phoenix’s forwards.

Jack Johnson showed some glimpses of brilliance with some deft touches and through balls and it was fitting that he was the one to open the scoring on 30mins when he finished a fine Dunbar move.

The goal seemed to spring Phoenix into life and they started putting more pressure on the Dunbar rearguard but to no avail. 1-0 Dunbar at the break.

Phoenix had to push on in the second half and got themselves back in the tie with a deflected goal on 50 mins.

Credit to Dunbar as they upped the ante then and regained the lead shortly after from a pre-rehearsed corner routine which allowed Oli Kutscher to score his first goal for the club with a diving header.

Viren D’Souza replaced Kutscher on 60mins and this allowed Paddy Millington Buck to play further forward.

Birthday boy Buck was first to react to a mistake by Phoenix when trying to play out from the back and he chipped the keeper from 30 yards to increase Dunbar’s lead.

Phoenix are never ones to give up though and they got back into the game with a fine goal which left James Meyer with no chance.

Meyer then pulled off two outrageous saves to keep Dunbar in front as Phoenix pushed for the equaliser.

Dunbar were looking dangerous on the break with Sam Talbot, Si Philby and Matt Pickover breaking at speed.

It was Pickover who sealed the game when he broke clear from half way to round the keeper and finish very calmly for a man who rushed back from his honeymoon in NZ for the game. 4-2 Dunbar.

Dunbar ran down the clock for the final minutes and made it two wins on the day to remain top of the table on goal difference.