ALTONA MAGIC 6 SUNSHINE GEORGE CROSS 0 (2-0)
Line up: Martin John, Sahun Romein, Fidell Richards, Taxiarhis Apostolikas, Chris Konstas, Doug Cameron, Stuart Nicholson, Ben Cogger, Barry Devlin, Luke Grounds David Calleja.
Referee: Hakim Akan
Coach Andy O'Dell informed the players of his resignation following the harrowing loss that ended his 3 years coaching spell at the club. Cracks in Andy's reign at Sunshine began to emerge early this season with a number of problems including the departure of vital players from O'Dell's original squad. The sudden loss of form and confidence over the past two weeks had O'Dell asking the players to identify the problem. After the Altona game Andy could see no improvement forthcoming and called it a day. The Georgies began well against Altona and should have been a goal in front very early. Left winger Shaun Romein found the unmarked Ben Cogger at the far post, but his attempt from 2 metres out went wide of the mark. Altona made the Cross pay for this miss when they took the lead after 9 minutes. A defence splitting pass from Matthew Theodore found Koce Delev whose shot from 19 metres went under a diving Martin John. Sunshine lifted their game and had the home team on the back foot forcing several desperate saves. The Georgies wasted a golden opportunity to draw level after 39 minutes when defender David Calleja blasted well over the bar from close range. Altona steadied and took a 2-0 lead just before the break when Martin John spilled a Pece Cergovski shot allowing new West Australian signing John Thomely an easy tap in. The Magic sealed the match 7 minutes into the second half when Theodore once again found Thomely who easily placed his shot into the net. George Papadopolous almost scored against his former club forcing Martin John into a great save. Sunshine kept attacking but poor finishing from close range made life easy for Altona keeper Tomislav Tomich. New Magic recruit Goran Talevski made an immediate impact after coming on as a substitute scoring the goal of the night. His long looping shot flashed past Martin John from 20 metres for goal number 4. After 71 minutes Koce Delev made it 5-0 and at the other end Georgies' Barry Devlin saw his shot hit the post before the Magic's defence cleared the danger. Delev grabbed his hat-trick on the stroke of full time with another killer break by Altona Magic. The final goal was a replica of all Altona's goals on the evening. The home team were at ease repelling Sunshine's attacks throughout the night. They broke with speed to easily slice through the butter soft Sunshine George Cross defence to inflict the worst defeat our team has suffered since losing 8-0 to Richmond on the 8th of September 2007.
Under 21s: ALTONA MAGIC 3 SUNSHINE GEORGE CROSS 0
Our youngsters lost their 7th game in the last 8 rounds, when going down to Altona Magic 3-0. At one stage of the season our lads were challenging for a top four spot, but the recent poor run has seen the team free fall to the bottom half of the ladder. The situation has to be addressed and the boys have to starty believing in themselves once again. The talent is there, it cannot eveporate into thin air.