TEAM’S TIME TO SHINE
BARWON FINDS FORM AFTER SLUGGISH START
AFTER a slow start to its debut campaign in State League 5 — not recording a win until Round 7 against struggling Kensington City — Barwon SC has run into redhot form, winning four games and drawing one from its last six league matches.
Barwon coach Dale Harris has a simple explanation for the astonishing turnaround in the team’s fortunes.
“Some of the boys didn’t expect the competition to be as strong as it was, so the first few games were a rude awakening,” the likeable South African said. “But then they started to grasp the reality and the form came once we really put in the hard yards.”
Tomorrow, the Grovedalebased side will be faced with a tough Round 14 assignment when it travels to Green Gully Reserve to tackle fourthplaced Keilor Wolves.
The Blue and Whites go into the clash with the Wolves on the back of their biggest winning scoreline of the season — an 8-0 annihilation of Melbourne Lions last week.
The star of the show was Sean Mahon, who bagged four goals to bring his season’s tally to nine goals. The downside of Mahon’s sensational season has been the massive reliance on him to score for the team.
“It’s not so much that we rely on Sean for all our goals, rather it’s because he has been our most consistent performer. He is one of the few players that hasn’t been hit by either injuries or suspensions,” Harris said.
“We have been devastated throughout the season by player unavailability. Having said that, Sean is a very hard worker and he has a knack of knowing where the goals are.”
Apart from Mahon, the only other Barwon player to have hit the back of the net multiple times this year is Cailen Lee. He has scored twice in the last three games, while a further 11 players have scored singles.
“Cailen is likely to miss on Saturday because of tonsillitis, but on the flip side we are hoping to have defensive mid Michael Doolan back in the side,” Harris said.
Barwon will be further boosted by the midweek signing of highly credentialed 20year-old central midfielder Anthony Thomas, who has enjoyed stints in the NPL junior competition with Port Melbourne.
“Anthony comes to us from State 2 side Altona East Phoenix. He has also played with Banyule City in State 1. We are very lucky to have picked him up,” Harris said.