A serious injury to goalkeeper Stuart Plant cut the Weston Bears' trip to Broadmeadow short on Friday night, with the match abandoned early in the second half.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A heartening 2-0 victory over Valentine last weekend saw the Bears primed for a trip to competition heavyweights Broadmeadow Magic.
Leo Bertos' men were looking to upset the apple cart of the second-placed hosts, who had registered four wins on the trot after dropping their opening two fixtures.
A cool Friday evening set the scene for some cagey opening exchanges, as the combatants vied for midfield ascendancy. A Virgili-less Magic lineup is a rather unusual sight around these parts, but Damian Zane's young charges seemed anything but deterred by the collective reduction in experience.
Though scoring opportunities were few and far between, the contest certainly was not without blood and thunder. There were no shortage of tasty challenges on offer from both sides and the referee was doing his best to keep a lid on things with a handful of yellow tickets.
Aaron Niyonkuru's 18th minute incursion into the Broadmeadow box appeared to be stopped by the hand of captain Jeremy Wilson, but play was waved on despite the visitors' consternation. The hosts were quick to return fire as Jacob Dowse's deep cross in the following minute was met sweetly on the volley by Sam Donnellan, but his ambitious 25-yard attempt didn't quite stay under the bar.
Zac Bowling's countryside adventure in the 26th minute almost resulted in calamity as he came 30 yards out in an unsuccessful attempt to nick the ball away from the fleet footed Moustafa Mohammad, but desperation sliding tackles from former Weston man Jordan Jackson and then Jake Harris spared his blushes; the latter appearing to leave a bit in for good measure.
A rare sequence of five consecutive headers in the 30th minute saw the ball ultimately break for Mohammad on the edge of the box as Magic struggled to clear their lines, but the livewire attacker's attempt curled just wide of the left post with Bowling beaten. His anguish following the miss - perhaps the game's first opportunity that could be deemed anywhere approaching clear cut - was evident for all to see.
Half-chances were the order of the day, though the Bears seemed to be gradually gaining a modicum of ascendancy in terms of breaking through the lines and launching raids on the opposition's final third.
Another brief window of opportunity opened up for Mohammad in the 38th minute, as his feints on the edge of the box created the split second of hesitation from his markers that he needed to fashion a strike, but the ball ultimately ended up closer to the nearby McDonald's than to the target.
A headed clearance from Nathan Morris in the 43rd minute sat up nicely for Harris, who cracked a sweetly laced attempt from 25 yards but failed to trouble Weston gloveman Plant, who had been no more than a passenger up to this point in the contest.
A free kick was awarded to Magic on the edge of the box early in first half stoppage time after some slightly ambiguous contact between Sam Kamper and Damon Green. Jarrod Baker took full advantage of the opportunity to bury a sumptuous strike in the top right corner, giving Plant no chance. It was a cruel blow for the Bears, who felt aggrieved at the decision and had barely put a foot wrong defensively up until that point.
The always dangerous Cooper Buswell looked to hit back straight away for the Bears, carving out an improbable chance for himself after bursting through a crowd of Broadmeadow defenders inside the box with a deft dink, but his close range volley was smartly stopped by the outstretched leg of Bowling.
IN THE NEWS:
Carrying the 1-0 lead into the break, the hosts attacked with intent early in the second half and Green very nearly latched on to a low cross just 30 seconds in. A brave Plant rushed out to thwart the attack and was collected heavily in the process, sustaining significant but entirely unintentional contact to the head during Green's attempt to strike the ball.
After 25 minutes, play was abandoned with Plant remaining prone and receiving treatment. Details will be announced soon around the rescheduled fixture but in the meantime the thoughts of the entire Bears family go out to Stuart as we wish him all the best in recovery; the welfare of the players is always of paramount importance and health is always bigger than football.
On Saturday the club provided the following update: "After sustaining a neck injury in last nights game against Broadmeadow we can provide a quick update on 1st grade GK, Stuart Plant. Stuart is doing well - He is still in hospital but is up, walking assisted and hoping to get out tomorrow".
The Bears sit in fourth place on the ladder, and will take on competition leaders Charlestown at home this Sunday. Kick-off is at 2pm.
