Heatherton Utd-BH Centar

Heatherton United travelled away to Beaumaris SC hoping to kick off the season with a good first up result on a bright sunny April day. There were lots of expectations for both sides before this match although Heatherton felt confident after defeating Beauy twice in the previous season. Beaumaris were unveiling their new coach, Shannon Kennedy, as well as their new pitch which was completely resurfaced before the start of the 2013 season.

Heatherton on the other hand had some much needed stability with Fadil Muriqi staying on as coach from last season and some good additions being made to an already strong squad including four debutants making their first official senior appearance, Semaj Abbasmoi, Zijad Bajrektarovic, Terjan Imerovski and Anthony Gaetano. Also Ryan De Paul and Arnel Zahirovic have returned to the club after a few seasons playing elsewhere.

Unfortunately for Heatherton two of their most skillful and speedy players were not able to play due to injury being Resul Heco and Yusuf Kushdian. A healthy crowd turned up to watch this one with approximately 250-300 people in attendance.

Substitutes: Anthony Gaetano, Terjan Imerovski, Arnes Muhic, Gareth Jones (GK).

Heatherton made a bright start to the game with striker Aziz having the first chance of the match within the first five minutes. However after skipping past the Beaumaris keeper Aziz took too long on the ball and the opportunity was lost which looked like a certain goal. Aziz and Zijad were causing a lot of trouble for the Beauy defence with their blistering pace. Beaumaris capitalised on this miss with a quick counter attack, a good cross from the left wing finding the unmarked Michael Runnals to header in for the first goal, although there were questions being asked at the back at how the Beaumaris striker was allowed so much space to tuck the ball away from close range.

From there the Heatherton midfield took control of the game with Mirza and Ryan in particular causing the Beaumaris defence plenty of headaches down the right wing. Aziz had a couple of good opportunities to equalise but was left frustrated after he put one straight at the Beauy keeper and on another occasion firing into a defender when he looked certain to score. However his persistence paid off when he finally got the equaliser 5 minutes before half time. Once again successfully rounding the keeper he managed to find the net this time although with a scrappy finish. 1-1 at half time with Heatherton looking the more dangerous side.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with the Heatherton midfield once again being well on top despite the efforts of Beauy midfielders Stephen Boffa and Tom Cannon who were Beauy's best throughout the match. As the game went on you could see the intensity drop as players from both sides were struggling in the heat, Heatherton came close when Mirza curled a long range effort hitting the top on the crossbar. Once again the crossbar came to the rescue as Aziz's volley shattered the crossbar. As both teams pushed for the winner Aziz found some space inside of the penalty box driving a low shot in the bottom corner in 75th minute.

Beaumaris pushed forward for the equaliser looking particularly dangerous at set pieces. Beaumaris did not muster too many opportunities although had a couple of chances deep in injury time to equalise. The first chance was put just wide of the post and the second hit the post from a tight angle after a good header from Nick Woodgate. Nonetheless overall it was a deserved victory to Heatherton who were obviously delighted to take all 3 points in the first game of the season. This was the first time since 2006 in which Heatherton has won a Round one fixture.

View pics from the game in photo-gallery.

Next week Heatherton are hosting their first FFV night match at home against Casey at 6 PM, whilst Beaumaris have a tough away trip to Warragul.