Dragons have three teams on top
It was a tough week away from home as Drouin Dragons faced Leongatha who have strong teams across all levels.
Drouin still has three teams at the top of the table at the end of round seven - under 14B, under 16s and senior men’s reserves.
Drouin will be at home next Sunday facing Lang Lang who make the trip up Westernport Road. Get down to support the Dragons.
MiniRoos are on Saturday morning with under 10 children invited to come down for a run. Senior men: Drouin drew Leongatha 3-3. Drouin Dragons played against top of the ladder Leongatha in what was always going to be a tough game between the two teams.
Drouin came out firing, scoring a goal in the first couple of minutes before following up with another goal before half-time.
The second half saw Drouin score another goal, however, Leongatha lifted after scored their own goal. They scored a second goal 10 minutes later.
Drouin, leading 3-2 with five minutes to go, tried to hold off the strong finishing Knights. However, they hit the square top bar with a minute to go and the ball dropped straight down into the goal.
It was a draw as the game finished close to dark at 5.15pm. Senior women: Drouin drew Leongatha 1-1. In what was a tightly contested game, neither team gave an inch.
Alison Dixon scored the only goal for Drouin, helping them to a draw and within striking distance of the top four.
New coach Lucy McPherson is confident of a strong run home in the last half of the season.
Senior men’s reserves: Drouin defeated Leongatha 4-0.
Coming off a bye, Drouin Dragons showed no signs of rust as they started pretty much how the last game ended.
The Dragons controlled most of the play in the midfield, with Tom Lyons and Jason Pullman showing their defensive and attacking abilities.
A few chances went begging before Drouin finally broke the deadlock. Cruelly for Leongatha Knights’ keeper, who had made some fantastic saves, he misjudged the play of the ball and collected it with his hands outside the area to force an indirect free kick. Both strikers, Jarrod Buckley-Cook and Reece Harrison, stood over the ball with Jarrod playing the short pass into the path of Reece who hit a thunderous strike into the top corner.
The next goal came not long after as the Dragons moved forward once more. Jason Pullman played a weighted ball through to Reece Harrison who tucked the ball away into the bottom corner from the edge of the area to make it 2-0 shortly before the break.
The second half was more of the same from Drouin who hit early with some great passing play. This found Isaac Daly who took a touch onto his strong foot from the edge of the area and fired one over the keeper. It was his first goal of the season and certainly one to remember.
The game closed out as a more tightly contested match between the two teams. However, with five minutes to go, a breakthrough saw Reece Harrison downed in the area and step up to dispatch the penalty for his hat-trick.
A great team effort from the backline to the strikers. Notable mentions go to the young Dragons in the team, with Lachlan Brown and winger Enrico Ercoles deservedly getting best on ground for their tireless hard work to ensure victory. Goals: Reece Harrison (three) and Isaac Daly. Under 16 mixed: Drouin drew Leongatha 44.
After a slow start, Drouin was down 0-2 after 10 minutes of play. The Dragons kicked into gear, slamming in four goals to lead 4-2 at halftime. Tyan George put in three of those, including a nice header from a corner ball.
The second half was a lacklustre performance, which sparked into action when Leongatha put two quick goals into the net with 10 minutes of play left.
Drouin worked hard to receive a penalty, but Leongatha's goalie saved it. After a few more shots went astray, Drouin had to settle for a draw at the full-time whistle.
Tyan George had another good day up forward with three goals, while Harry Graham stood up all day in defence. With a few sick boys and Thomas Agudo injured and out in the first five minutes, it was a good effort by the boys to get the draw.
Under 16 girls: Drouin lost to Leongatha 24.
It was a competitive match with the defensive set up from both teams the standout.
Drouin played hard and kept going up until the very end. Goals were scored by Madi Senini and Paris Portbury.
The girls now look onwards to their next game on Friday night. Under 14A: Drouin lost to Leongatha 2-3. It was an early start for an 8.45am kick-off at Leongatha. Drouin made a great start with a 2-1 lead at half-time. One goal to Tristan Silver and a great header to Lachlan Silver.
Unfortunately, Leongatha went on to kick two more goals in the second half to win. It was a great battle all game against two evenly matched teams. Under 14B: Drouin defeated Leongatha 4-1. A damp pitch at Bellbird Park welcomed travelling side Korumburra City on Sunday morning as the Dragons aimed to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season.
With both teams fielding players who represented Gippsland at the recent Country Championship tournament in Albury, a tight contest was expected.
It was the hosts who got off to a great start, playing some beautiful soccer in the first half.
After several near misses, it was Conor Mccluskey who got the first goal of the day, rounding the keeper after some well worked passing by the Dragons.
Once the deadlock was broken, Drouin turned up the heat on their opponents. Finley Lock continued his rich vein of passing form as he set up two quickfire goals with delicious through balls - firstly to James Short who pounced onto his chance to score a well-timed header and secondly to Charlie Tsuchida, who continues to impress during his first season of soccer, who latched onto an angled pass.
The half-time team talk was full of praise from coach Paul Mccluskey. However, he cautioned the Dragons that their opponents were dangerous and a 3-0 lead could be pulled back quickly if they lost focus.
And so it came to be; Korumburra growing in confidence as Drouin lost their way. A swift City counterattack put Korumburra on the score sheet and it would have been worse were it not for the solid defensive work of Will Payne and Dennis Pilikidis.
This Drouin Dragons side always carry a goal threat thanks to the pace up front of Alex Tabensky and Dylan Sotiropoulos. It was their movement which pulled the City defence out of place to allow Conor Mccluskey to power through the centre of the pitch and slot the ball past the keeper. His 12th goal of the season ended the game as a contest, with Drouin Dragons maintaining their perfect start to the season.
Dragons will make the long trip to Welshpool for the clash with Prom Coast this weekend. The visitors will hope for a win to prepare them for the highly anticipated "Drouin Derby" the following weekend. Under 12s: Drouin lost to Leongatha 1-7. After being 0-2 at half-time, Drouin Dragons suffered a brave defeat to a strong Leongatha side, but fought it out to the end. Harvey Mylius, Dylan Pawlik, Aidan Johnson and Darcy Spencer all combined for Drouin’s goal which came in the last minute. Goal: Darcy Spencer. Awards: Joshua Clark, Harvey Mylius, Marcel Urbach and Dylan Pawlik. Under 10s: Drouin lost to Leongatha 0-4. Drouin came up against a great opposition in Leongatha and what followed was a good game.
In the first 10 minutes, the game was tight with Leongatha just having the edge over Drouin.
Shortly after, Drouin broke through with nice play and only just missed. About eight minutes out from half-time, Leongatha scored with a good finish into the bottom corner.
Trailing 0-1, Drouin had a good start to the second half. They had most of the ball and missed a couple of good chances, one hitting the crossbar which was the closest they had come all game.
As the game went on, Leongatha scored again on a counter attack. Drouin didn’t give up; continuing to press and hitting the woodwork again with about 10 minutes left.
Leongatha then scored two more goals in quick succession to put the game to bed although Drouin had maybe their best game of the season so far with nice passing and defending.
Special mention to Edith who, late into the first half, did a back heel through someone's legs. It was just one of the many good plays on the day.
Awards: Dillon Jagoe, Alisha Jamieson and Jack Carbonneau. Under 8s: Drouin versus Leongatha. The kids were excited to be back after a week off. Leongatha had low numbers so the kids stepped up and moved over to the other side to make up the numbers.
Playing on a smaller pitch proved to be a challenge, but it didn't take long for the kids to adjust.
Spencer and Adam played a half each in goalie and gave it a red hot go with some great saves.
Will played a very good game in defence, stopping some close calls. Mieke had some great intercepts and used her voice to call out for the ball.
Audrey played half a game for Leongatha and second half with the Dragons. She took a few good intercepts and spread out to make space. Max did well, hanging back and intercepting when needed as well as winning some good challenges.
Cal did very well gaining possession of the ball and moving it down field to score a great goal.
Jas was very strong, holding her own and passing the ball off to teammates to move the ball down field.
Castro had some great intercepts and chase downs with a really good shot at goal.
The team is improving every week and working extremely well together. Goals: Max and Cal. Parents award: Spencer O'Reilly. Coaches award: Will Martin. Encouragement award: Mieke Van Ruiten. Special awards for being good sports: Spencer, Cal, Jas and Audrey.