Kalgoorlie College FC staged a stirring second-half fight back to edge a five-goal thriller at Gibbney Reserve on Sunday 20th April to make it through to the second round of the Metropolitan Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win over Ibex FC Premier Division.
Andrew Reilly’s side survived a stern test from the Metropolitan League Premier Division side in a sensational first round of the cup and will now hope for a home draw in the next round after 11 straight away games.
College led through Elliahs Kungache but Ibex FC equalised just before half-time and took a shocked lead straight from the second half kick-off, catching the College defense napping.
But College made their extra quality tell after going down 2-1 and two second-half strikes from Peter Rakic and Mathew Darby completed a stirring comeback.
After a convincing 11-1 win over Perth Royals in the Preliminary round, College was well aware that this was going to be anything but a walk in the park against a well drilled Ibex side. With more forced changes to the lineup this game was always going to be a massive early test for College, who were playing their eleventh consecutive away game in the competition.
College made a bright start to the game and dominated early possessions containing Ibex to their own half and pressuring their defense into mistakes. They created several good scoring opportunities early in the half, the best of which came when Kungache and Rakic combined down the left, with the latter unleashing a thundering shoot from just inside the penalty area that was destined for the top left hand corner until the Ibex keeper managed to get a hand to and turned it over for a corner. College pressed again and looked dangerous every time they had the ball inside the Ibex penalty area against a wary back four.
Ibex were unable to establish any momentum and it was no more than College deserved when they took the lead in the 20th minute. Some good work on the left between Rakic and Tafadzwa Ncube earned College a corner and when Rakic delivered an in-swinging cross to the far post the Ibex keeper attempted to collect but failed miserably and managed only to drop the ball straight at Kungache feet who was quick on hand to pounce and smashed the ball on the turn past the keeper to send the travelling side into a deserved lead. With the early dominance College squandered two more chances and should have got out to a 3 goal lead through some tireless work from their midfield and Rakic whose pace was worrying the Ibex defense.
College continued to dominate but as the half wore on, Ibex began to get into the game and dominated the last 15 minutes of the first half. With three minutes left of the first half, Ibex got a deserved equalizer. With some neat passing play, Ibex worked the ball to the left wing before a low driven cross into the box found their striker who cleverly laced the ball into the far post to make the score 1-1 going into half-time.
The Goal seemed to boost Ibex’s confident and the Perth side continued to press College in search of the go-ahead goals going into half time but College dug deep and defended resolutely for the final 10 minutes to share the honours.
Half-time was a welcoming relief for College who had hoped that the break would halt Ibex’s momentum. But Ibex carried the momentum into the second half, playing to play with great composure and confidence and College knew they had a fight on their hand when they found themselves 2-1 down straight from the ensuing kick-off for the second half. College were caught napping and did not even touch the ball as Ibex worked it into the College’s penalty area with a magnificent defense splitting pass to their striker who neatly finished first time past an advancing Reilly in goals.
For all watching, College looked gone, their cup over and in real danger of being overrun by a fit and smart outfit that were now looking for the kill. But the goal seem to stir College and they soon began to exert their dominance, fighting hard and looked to stop the possession game of the Ibex side. Matt Darby, Jamie Faulkner and youngster Brock Reilly were in the hot seat, chasing and hassling the Ibex midfield, ably supported by Taf Ncube and Jesse Malseed on each wing. Five minutes after going a goal down, College were level thanks to some great work between Rakic and Kungache. Some hard work in the college middle saw captain Jesse Malseed play a sublime ball down the right wing for the pacey Rakic who ghosted past two defenders before switching the ball out wide to Kungache, who himself got past him marker before seeing that Rakic had continued his run into the box, played a perfect square ball into the path of Rakic who buried his shot into the back of the next off the bottom right-hand post.
College were back in the game with the speed of the break and goal rattling the home side who looked for blame on who was supposed tracked the dangerous Rakic.
The game stepped up a gear as both sides knew what was at stake. It nearly got out of hand when Ibex forwards were caught diving in an attempt to win a penalty. What followed was an excuse for handbags at 10 paces as players began to shove each other around and Ibex supporters running onto the ground to confront College players. The College side kept their cool as the incident seemed rattled the home team, with their players hell bent on personal revenge. With captain Jesse Malseed and keeper Andy Reilly the center of their attention Ibex lost momentum and began to give the ball away cheaply.
25 minutes into the second half, College took the lead through Darby who scored what proved to be the winning goal. A surging run by Darby earned College a free-kick just outside the 16-yard box as the powerful midfielder was clattered after taking on three Ibex players. Kungache stood over the ball with all focus on whether he was going to go for goals or swing it into the box for the on-rushing College players. In what proved to be a complete lapse in concentration, the Ibex defense completely ignored Brock Reilly, who was standing in line with the wall to the right. Seeing Reilly unmarked, Kungache rolled the free-kick to Reilly, who took a tough to the by-line before drilling a low cross into the six-yard box that we met by a surging Darby to poke the ball into the net.
The goals seemed to galvanized College into raising its game and as they grew in confidence their dominance seemed to irk Ibex who began to use underhand tactics to gain the upper hand.
10 minutes later College could have extended their lead after another surging run by Darby found Rakic unmarked inside the six yard box. Darby drilled a low cross into the box and as the supported rose to celebrate the goal, the prolific striker somehow contrived to scuffed his shot and put the ball over the cross-bar.
As the final whistle blew, the College players and supported erupted with euphoria knowing they had just come through a game that could have gone either way. On this day though College’s character and resilience shone through and were the better team.
“To have 14 players contribute like they did today is what this is about. They were a good side and they probably should have gone on with it at 2-1. But give this side credit, we should character and a fighting spirit and this is what it’s about. To be down and appear out and just put your head down really shows what the side is made of. We could easily have given up so all those blokes today should take a bow. Everyone played out of their skins,” Coach Andrew Reilly
“I can’t speak highly enough of Brock, Gerald and Tawanda, they just worked for the team, they would never have experienced anything like this, you just don’t get this in Kalgoorlie or in junior soccer. It was do or die today and both sides knew it, it got physical and no one especially those boys took a backward step. They are going to be vital to our clubs future and this year’s success. We are unlucky this early in the cup to have drawn such a quality side, but that’s the cup, you have no control over who you meet or when, you just have to do what it takes to win each game.
“We now have 6 weeks until the next round so we can build on our fitness which let us down a bit today. But this was another proud moment for our club and a great achievement for these players.”
