Blunted Bears outdone by early Valentine blitz in 2-0 defeat

After snapping a three game losing streak last weekend against Charlestown, the Weston Workers Bears travelled to Croudace Bay Complex for a Saturday afternoon clash with a strong Valentine outfit who had started their 2024 campaign ominously.

While they had opened things up by registering four straight victories and scoring 12 goals without conceding, a draw against Cooks Hill and a defeat to Edgeworth had dulled the high a touch, and they were now looking to right the ship against a Bears side who were proving frustratingly inconsistent.

In a bizarre opening to the game, Valentine would ping that ball out off the first kick, before a lax Mitch Dobson touch on the edge of the box gave Tyrell Paulson a gilt-edged opportunity to open the scoring after just 50 seconds of play; his effort would crash against the crossbar, while the thumping follow up from Nick Cowburn drew an excellent save from Gerard Roebuck to keep the clean sheet intact.

The hosts would threaten again in the 5th minute, as Paulson squared the ball up for Cowburn to drive a powerful strike on target, once more calling Roebuck into a strong parry.

A raking long ball from (left back) in the 8th minute released Cowburn once more, but his strike under heavy pressure lacked conviction and proved simple for Roebuck to deal with.

The out-of-sorts Bears, though, would not retain their clean sheet much longer, as a miscued Toby Jensen cross a minute later took a desperately unlucky deflection off the chest of Joey O'Connor into the path of Kai Herd, who showed excellent composure to produce a clinical one-on-one finish and hand the hosts an early lead.

The Bears were being walked all over and looked all at sixes and sevens.

Things would only go from bad to worse, as a towering Brodie Volkiene goal kick was missed on both the first and second bounces, falling at the feet of Herd, who would this time turn provider for Jensen at the back post.

Jensen stayed cool as a cucumber under pressure, slotting home from six yards to double the advantage for Valentine in the 11th minute.

The visitors now felt as if they needed to climb Mount Everest, having scarcely registered an attacking threat and been subject to waves of offensive pressure that saw them two down seemingly before they had walked on to the pitch, but to their credit they gritted their teeth and looked to drag themselves back into the contest rather than waiting idly for Valentine to run away with the game completely.

A 14th minute strike from Cooper Buswell made Volkiene work, forcing a solid diving save that earnt the Bears a corner. A threatening near post delivery from Aaron Niyonkuru, however, could not play out in full as the referee whistled for an infringement by the visitors in the box and the pressure valve was quickly released for the hosts.

The Bears fashioned another opportunity a minute later, a clever through ball from Niyonkuru finding Buswell in an excellent position, but the later was unfortunately unable to apply the crucial touch.

The Bears were suddenly enjoying a period of sustained offensive pressure, as a Blake Archbold cross was taken expertly on the turn by Chris Hatfield, though the Weston marksman pulled his strike frustratingly wide of the target from 15 yards.

An 18th minute Niyonkuru corner was swung tantalisingly in, finding Chris Hurley alone at the back post, but the skipper was eluded by a sharply rising bounce and skied his close range effort from an acute angle.

Another Blake Archbold cross in the 31st minute was glanced just wide of the target by Hatfield; the partnership between the two has been one of the bright points through the opening portion of Weston's 2024 campaign, and will certainly be something that gaffer Kew Jaliens will want to continue to cultivate if they are to produce another finals charge.

The response from the Bears had been rather stirring, with only one issue; it had yet to be reflected on the scoreboard.

The opening 11 minute blitz from the hosts had been clinical and efficient, but the subsequent 20 minute period of Bears dominance had seen their best attacking chances blunted effectively by a miserly Valentine defence who had already kept four clean sheets in their opening six fixtures.

As the floodlights came on at the ground, the final 15 minutes of the first half was largely characterised by contained midfield battles where both sides were finding it difficult to string together fluid passing sequences.

After just over a minute of stoppage time, the sides went to the sheds with the hosts by far the happier and the visitors undoubtedly frustrated that they were still waiting to trouble the scoreboard operator.

Just 19 seconds after the restart, Hatfield threatened with a strike from just inside the box, but it whistled narrowly over the crossbar.

The early attack proved something of a false dawn, though, as the match soon settled back into the rhythm that defined the final quarter hour of first half football, as both sides struggled to make any incursions of note in what became largely a midfield tussle over the next 20 minutes.

A 65th minute corner to the Bears - their seventh of the evening, with the hosts having earnt just one to this point - saw the ball bobble back out to the edge of the box, presenting an opportunity for Connor Evans to lash a powerful low attempt that finished just wide of the target.

Dom Archbold was replaced by Cooper Sargent shortly afterwards, before Blake Archbold skewed a 67th minute effort just wide of the far post, certain it had taken a deflection but denied by the referee who awarded the hosts a goal kick and thus eased the pressure.

Cowburn produced a decent effort in the 73rd minute that was well kept out by Roebuck; a lethal counter attack after the ensuing corner saw Niyonkuru burst away rapidly to release Hatfield, whose low cross was very nearly turned into his own net by Nicolas King.

Back to back corners followed for the Bears, culminating in a tracer bullet effort from the edge of the box off the laces of Paul Sichalwe, swerving just wide of the right post. Buswell would have felt frustrated not to have done better with his 76th minute chance, pulling the ball wide of the target having failed to connect cleanly.

Hatfield carved out an opportunity for himself in the 77th minute, but ultimately blazed his effort over the bar. Cowburn would threaten at the other end three minutes later after a great run from Sakeel Balfour-Brown had seen him dispossess Hurley and cut inside, but was curtailed by the linesman's flag; in any case, the strike was saved by Roebuck.

A heavy challenge at the other end between Hatfield and Harrison Lane saw the former carded and the latter felled for some time.

Lane produced a quality through ball in the 83rd minute for Cowburn, but the latter's chipped attempt was tame and failed to cause Roebuck any stress.

The clock was beginning to prove a significant enemy for the Bears, still two down in the waning stages of the match with the Valentine defence showing no immediate sign of yielding.

As the corner count hit 10-2 to the Bears, a deep 89th minute in-swinger was headed a whisker over the crossbar as Dobson and Sargent went up for the same ball.

The sides headed into stoppage time and there would be a couple of final opportunities for the Bears to salvage a consolation, as a pair of Sargent crosses in the 91st and 92nd minutes firstly sailed just over the head of Niyonkuru before a back post Buswell strike was saved by Volkiene, and secondly sailed just over the head of Buswell before a back post Niyonkuru strike was saved by Volkiene.

It had been largely one way traffic after the opening 11 minutes, but as the full time whistle blew after just over four minutes of second half stoppage time, the Bears efforts had ultimately failed to bear fruit and they found themselves on the wrong end of the result.

A disappointed Bears outfit, potentially listed in a dictionary somewhere under 'flattering to deceive' having collected just two wins through their opening seven fixtures despite having at times produced attractive football that would strongly suggest they are still a top calibre side, now sit in eighth position on the ladder and must quickly regroup ahead of consecutive fixtures against the competition's bottom four sides, where there will be zero margin for error if they have designs on remaining in contention for a finals berth.

The first of these, a Friday evening trip to New Lambton, will see the Bears clash with the cellar dwelling Eagles who, despite having collected only a solitary point thus far, have been there or thereabouts in nearly every match, with only one of their defeats - a 3-0 reverse to Valentine - coming by a margin of greater than one goal.

The two meetings between these sides in 2023 were goalfests, with the Bears taking the chocolates 5-3 and 4-0, meaning the match looms as a highly entertaining spectacle for the neutral.