Reserve grade

RESERVE grade was up first, with a very young Tigers side making all the early running against the Saints' reserves. 

New signing Harvey Kendall worked hard up top, unsettling the Saints’ central defence, and causing a string of errors that the Tigers eventually capitalised on, with Jake Stockdale cleverly lobbing the Saints keeper to put the Tigers deservedly ahead.

Multiple chances came and went in the first half, and the Tigers were left to rue these in the second half when a seemingly offside Port striker ran on to a hopeful through ball, beating Brett Webber to level the scores.

This lifted the Tigers though, and pressure again told with Josh Croker smashing home the eventual winner with a little under 15 minutes remaining. The Tigers reserves looked quite assured at times, and Jake Stockdale was a deserving recipient of the players player award as the Tigers ran out winners 2-1.

Good efforts were had by Jake Bindon, Joey Newman, Tom Riley and Zac Mooney.

First grade

WHEN the preview for the first grade encounter was written earlier in the week, the Tigers were expecting to be missing three players from the successful FFA Cup lineup that defeated MVR in late February.

By Thursday this number had blown out to eight players from that side (Jones, Aquilina, Hardy, Scarff, Ward, Nash, Yeates, and Camilleri) being unavailable.

This meant first grade debuts for 16 year old James McBride in goals and 15 year old Paul Elliott in defence. The Tigers back four had to be completely reshuffled, as did the midfield and the forward line. The planned lineup was then reshuffled once more with two players (Ward and Aquilina) declaring themselves available again.

Despite all of that, the Tigers started well, but found themselves on the back foot inside 10 minutes when after believing the ball to be out of play the Tigers stopped in readiness for a throw in, only to see the linesman’s flag stay down, which allowed an unchallenged cross into the box to be finished at close range by the Saints’ striker.

The Tigers were still trying to steady themselves when the Saints doubled their lead a few minutes later, after the home side failed to clear a corner, with the ball landing at Ibrahim Khodary’s feet. Despite facing his own goal, Khodary audaciously back heeled the ball past a static Tigers defence.

The Tigers then played their way back in to the game, with Mark Mallia in particular creating several chances for the home side, and his ability to retain possession under pressure eventually earned the Tigers a free kick in a dangerous position.

Skipper Jason Ward found Mitch Minors unmarked at the back post and the tireless Tigers star scored a rare header to make the score Tigers 1 Saints 2. With their tails up, the home side then began to play some very exciting football, with several chances being either saved by the keeper or narrowly missing.

However it was on the back of one of these narrow misses that the Tigers defence was caught too flat, allowing the Saints number 9 a clear run through at goal. McBride came out well, heading the Saints player away from goal, but he got a shot away that the Tigers defenders couldn’t clear, effectively putting the game to bed at half time.

The Tigers cause wasn’t helped with the loss of central defender Pete Goonan to injury in the first half, but they began the second half brightly, with a string of corners keeping the Saints in their box.

A quick counter attack by the Saints saw them earn a free kick in scoring range, and Khodary launched a missile that landed awkwardly in front of McBride. The young keeper parried the shot, but a once again flat-footed Tigers defence watched as a Saints player finished off the rebound. At 4-1 behind the Tigers continued to press forward, with Ceccato, Croker and Kendall all thrown into the fray to try to spark something.

Challenges were flying in, with the referee often allowing play to run. Ceccato’s typically abrasive play though earned the Tigers a penalty which Codey Chick calmly finished to notch his first goal for his new club, but it was too late for the home team to salvage anything, with the final score Tigers 2 Saints 4. Mark Mallia and Mitch Minors were absolute standouts for the home side. 

“Not the start we wanted” said Tigers coach Jonathon Newman. 

“Despite the big lineup changes we still put a quality side on the park today, but got out-enthused by a very confident opponent. We will have to adjust things again for the next game - we will be without seven key players. We are up against Taree who are always a tough prospect at Omaru.”

The Tigers next home game will be on the 2nd of May 2, when 2014 Premiers Wallis Lake visit for the first instalment of the local derby.