Round 21 of the NPL SA State League saw the pace setting West Adelaide Hellas outfit welcome Gawler Eagles to Kingston Gardens.
Due to the heavy rainfall experienced in the state’s capital, the Reserves and Under 18s fixtures were postponed to allow the pitch to be in a playable state for the Seniors fixture.
Coach Ross Aloisi welcomed back defender Joe Wright into the line-up, after recovering from a serious head clash, and also recalled veteran striker Harry Skoumbros back into the first eleven.
From the outset of the first half, the gap in style and play was clearly evident. West Adelaide’s fluent passing game, combined with their superb structure, consistently kept the visitors on the back foot.
Gawler’s custodian, Sasa Trbovic, was called upon quite early as he kept the score line locked at nil all. Gawler did play some effective counter attacking plays to begin with; however as the game went on, and the hosts exerted their influence, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken, and it was the nimble midfielder Kosta Mantis who was the first to register his name on the scoresheet.
Skoumbros was again on hand soon after to register another goal for the season to give the hosts a two goal lead, which then opened up an exciting 20 minute period where Hellas pounded the penalty area, midfield dynamo Tom Guttormsen converted a well taken penalty, and shortly after received his brace when he struck the ball finely past the hapless Trbovic.
As the referee blew the whistle to send the teams in at half time, West Adelaide had a commanding and convincing four goal lead, and whilst it could have been more, it was a silky 45 minutes of football by the hosts.
As the second half commenced, it picked up right where it left off, with West Adelaide applying heavy pressure on the Gawler defense.
Defender Joe Wright was menacing down the right hand flank, and cut in a fantastic cross to find Faustin Machochi, who finished the ball to give Hellas a five goal lead.
Aloisi then introduced substitutes Anthony Trimboli, Dimi Toumazos and Jordan Spadavecchia into the match, and the pace of the game lifted up a notch courtesy of the fresh legs on the heavy pitch.
Captain Paul Pezos fired off two bullets which looked like certain goals, however Gawler’s keeper saved them fantastically in an effort to keep the score line respectable.
Maintaining possession is something that Hellas does very well, and through that, the space opened up for sub Jordan Spadavecchia to catch the Gawler defense off guard while beating the offside trap, and finished well after a one on one with the keeper.
It was left to young Dimi Toumazos to finish the scoring register off, after a sublime ball from Pezos found him on the edge of the box. Toumazos made no mistake, and that gave West Adelaide a solid and convincing seven goal victory over Gawler Eagles.
With nine games left, West Adelaide still holds a commanding eleven point gap at the top of the table and still keeps their impressive unbeaten run alive.
