YARRAVILLE Glory coach Charlie Egan says his side deserved all
three points in its 1-0 win over Football Federation Victoria men’s
state league 3 north-west ladder leader Cairnlea, despite the winner
coming from a questionable penalty call.
The referee blew for a foul with 10 minutes to go in the first half, citing interference by the Cairnlea goalkeeper amid a scrum of players who had formed to challenge for an incoming corner.
PICTURE GALLERY: Yarraville Glory v Cairnlea
Cairnlea vice-president Sam Hulusi described the exchange as a
“bit of pushing and shoving” in the box – the sort of thing seen at
almost every corner situation in the modern game and rarely penalised.
Egan said he was surprised when the match official awarded his side a penalty.
“When the referee blew for the penalty, I wasn’t sure what he blew for,” he said.
“There was so much congestion that I personally didn’t see that,
but my player, I asked him, and he said he clearly put his arms around
him and threw him out of the way. Going on that, it’s a penalty.”
Daniel McGrath tucked the ensuing shot into the bottom corner.
Penalty or not, Egan has no doubt the his side deserved to claim its second win over Cairnlea this season.
He cited the Glory’s first-half dominance with the wind and canny defending against it to underline his point.
“The wind kind of spoiled the game – it was a bit of each team
getting a shot at having the wind, with one team attacking and the other
defending,” he said. “We did more with the wind than they did. We had
four or five chances in the first half, but two real good one-on-ones
with the ’keeper and two other good situations. In the second half, we
limited them to long-distance shots.”
Egan was full of praise for defender Luke Gerada, who performed a
shut-down role on the Reds’ offence. The goalscorer, McGrath, had a big
impact in the centre of the park, while young forward Darcey Den Ouden
caused a few headaches for the Reds’ defence.
The Glory travels to Moreland United on Saturday with a slim
chance of a top-two finish, but will have to make up six points in five
games, which is a tough ask.
