U17’s Shine under the Bright Lights

In their last home game of the season the U17’s were a blaze under the lights at Stead Park with a comprehensive 4-1 win over a stylish Surfcoast. But none shone brighter than Alberto Lopez, who snared his 4^th hat-trick of the year with a masterful second half display. On a chilly Wednesday night the boys were switched on from the outset stringing passes together and creating a number of early chances from Stefan Psimaris and Alberto Lopez. The best chance of the half fell to the “Big Bomberâ€� Jordan Rendevski when he was played in by Stefan Luong, though his well placed effort was tidely cleaned up by the keeper. Surfcoast also enjoyed the chance to play under lights manufacturing a chance which was well saved by keeper Rhett Joy. In an entertaining first half, the high standard of play was marred by an off the ball incident that saw Surfcoast reduced to ten men after their striker collided into Danny “The Immovable Objectâ€� Gray. With neither team able to break parity, they went to the break scoreless.

The second half saw Geelong raise the bar even higher with the knowledge that a win puts them into outright top spot and it didn’t take long for the boys to open their account. The next ten minutes would see a dazzling Lopez tear shreds through the Surfcoast defence with a blistering run down the right wing into the box firing past the sprawling keeper. It was déjà vu with his second goal almost identical to the first only more clinical just three minutes later. In what should’ve been his third Lopez smashed the ball at the floundering Surfcoast keeper who gifted Jimmy Hollywood Vo the simplest of tap ins. The Surfcoast defence could only look on as Lopez secured his hat-trick with a cool finish after finding yet another hole on the right hand side.

With the points in the  safely bag, Coach Dean Brown made a number of changes taking off hat-trick hero Lopez and introducing the classy 14 year old Josh Talev to the midfield. His impact on the game was instantaneous as he unleashed a shot from distance that curled just wide of the upright. Jordan also slammed a shot from range that was well saved by Surfcoast’s keeper. The ever improving Harley Fountain and Tuan also saw out the last 20 minutes in midfield. Surfcoast were rewarded on a fantastic effort with a consolation goal late in the game after Geelong’s defence was caught square allowing the Surfcoast striker to run on to a over the top ball and neatly finish inside the box.

The result sees Geelong return to outright first on the ladder with 3 games to go. The boys will look forward to this weekend’s bye and will come back refreshed for the away game against Barwon Blue in two weeks time.

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