Cannons fire early salvo to claim ANZAC Day points

Two mistakes put paid to Altona Magic’s hopes of a first win in nine games, though a late consolation goal saw them find the back of the net for the first time on home turf in 69 days.

In the opening minutes Matt Dench advanced towards Christian Rossi’s goal only for the keeper to impede him. The division’s top scorer, Joe Guest, sent Rossi the wrong way to score his eighth of the campaign and fire Oakleigh ahead. You would have be forgiven at that point for expecting a downpour on the Altona goal as heavy as the autumn rain that covered Paisley Park for most of the match.

A young Magic side did well to stay in the game though, and despite the conditions they, and Oakleigh, who were looking to put some pressure on league-leaders Avondale ahead of their later game against Heidelberg, used a decent playing surface to full effect, knitting possesion together and forging a number of chances down their respective left flanks. The quality was apparent and this Magic side have potential if they can retain and develop this younger squad.

For the second bottom team to contest the half so evenly with the team in second place, the goal aside, is no mean feat. This has been by far the best contest I’ve witnessed this season, despite the disparity in league position between the two sides.

But losing last season's top scorer Bul Juach to Heidelberg has hampered Magic’s ability to find the back of the net this year. Juach went in to the round level in the golden boot race with Guest at his new club, and the Warriors’ gain has been Vardar’s loss.

So it was left to Gilas Gomwikezwa on the left to pose the biggest threat of a leveller. Back to goal five minutes after Guest’s opener, he couldn’t pivot quickly enough to test Nick Feely and his first effort of the tie was blocked.

Guest remained prominent throughout, finding space between the lines and having a later effort cleared off the line by Dejan Bakrdnikoski. Involved in attack, just as much in defence, the skipper was lucky not to have his name taken by the referee on a couple of occasions.

Though the second half saw a slight drop in tempo, generally the quality remained. Mohammed El Hawli went close and began to gain more control in the midfield battle.

Guest upended him just a whisker outside of shooting distance with under fifteen minutes remaining, but Magic spurned the free kick. It was Guest at the heart of it again though, mopping things up; Alex Salmon gratefully latched on to Guest’s quickly dispatched through ball and with Magic caught on the break, Salmon had time to compose himself and loft the ball over Rossi to make certain of the points.

Magic had earlier introduced George Tsitsinaris, a summer recruit from South Melbourne, who caused a few scares, and eventually sought out Gomwikezwa to pull one back. Though the home crowd had been starved of a goal for some weeks, that this was their team's fifth of the campaign after ten games and shows they need to convert chances to survive what has developed in to a tough challenge so far this year.