Dunsborough and Dynaos score five a piece

Sunday, 03 May 2009 20:00

The cultured left foot of Sebastian Kovacs and the aerial skills of Richard Olsen inspired the Dunsborough Towner to a remarkable comeback in an epic 5-5 encounter with Bunbury Dynamo in a Premier League football clash at the Dunsborough Playing Fields on Sunday.

In fact their were two Towner comebacks in the match, the second the more incredible because it was accomplished with only ten men after star striker Graeme Copeman was red carded for retaliation early in the second half.

The Towners were looking at a whitewash for the club after the women’s team had been beaten 6-0 by Dynamo followed by a 6-2 hammering of the men’s reserve side.

For Dunsborough the Premier league game ran the gamut of emotions from despair to hope, to elation and finally disappointment.

By the 25th minute mark it was despair when the match appeared over as a contest with Dynamo running the Towners ragged and holding a three goal lead.

A penalty in the fifth minute by Ryan Pryce, a blazing 30 metre drive from Jaydon Prosser (15th) and a tap in by Mike McKenna in the 25th appeared to seal the Towners fate.

Dunsborough had the odd fleeting moment with a powerful shot from the left wing by Copeman destined for the top right hand corner before goalkeeper Richard Whiteman pulled off a superb diving one handed save.

Hope started in the 29th minute when a left wing move ended with a Kovacs centimetre perfect high cross that found Olsen on the far post to head home.

Olsen almost repeated the act in the 34th and 39th minutes from Kovacs crosses hitting the post on the last occasion.

It was well into extra time when the Towners narrowed the gap with Copeman scoring from the penalty spot.

Both sides started the second-half in positive fashion with both coming close to adding to their tallies.

The sending off of Copeman in the 52nd minute sent a shiver of despair through the Dunsborough camp, and when McKenna increased Dynamo’s lead five minutes later and again the three points looked safe for the visitors.

But The Towners have a reputation for scrapping against the odds and with quality players in the squad they again demonstrated their fighting qualities in one of the inspirational comebacks in recent years.

Young Jake Smith had played in the reserve match and gave a solid display looking better as the game progressed; Brent Hillyard is a tiger in defence as is Terry McBride and Cid Richards, while on the bench there was the speedy Adam Shaw and Mark Ferguson recovering from injury

Kovacs, the Beanos “man of the match”, injected a new wave of hope when he started the second revival in the 74th minute with yet another perfect cross to find Olsen who headed home from point blank range.

Pryce almost increased Dynamo’s lead with a powerful shot that hit the post in the 85th minute before Stuart Gidley started wild celebrations with the equaliser in the 90th min.

Deep into extra time the Kovacs – Olsen combination worked its magic again with Olsen giving the Towners the lead with his third headed goal.

The elated Towners appeared to have the unexpected three points in the bag until Pryce popped up from the deep and turned home a free kick from close range with only seconds remaining.

Dunsborough would have happily settled for a a draw at 4-4 given the state of the game earlier, but it was disappointment that ruled at the final whistle having let victory slip with less tha five seconds remaining.

The referee only had time to whistle for the restart when he signalled the end of the contest.


Dunsborough Lineup:

Cohen Sadlier, Clint Thompson, Terry McBride, Cid Richards, Brent Hillyard, Richard Olsen, Stuart Gidley, Jake Smith, Sebastian Kovacs, Josh McBride, Graeme Copeman.
Substitute: Mark Ferguson, Adam Shaw

Goalscorers: Richard Olsen 3, Stuart Gidley, Graeme Copeman.

Beanos Man of the Match. Sebastian Kovacs