The Strikers travelled to West Wallsend on the weekend but they found the going tough suffering losses in the U15’s, U17’s and first grade matches. With the U19’s and U23’s both managing to secure a draw. Unfortunately, the Strikers U15’s side are having difficulty playing consistent possession soccer and are paying the price with defeats by teams that they should be beating. And, this was the case again when they faced Wallsend, who opened the scoring when Singleton failed to clear a loose ball in their own penalty area. The youngsters had a short period of playing reasonable soccer and scored when Atticus Sinclair hit an unstoppable shot from just outside the penalty box. Within a couple of minutes they scored again with Josh Piebenga finishing off a good passing movement with a well placed shot passed the keeper. However, Wallsend scored the equaliser just after halftime when again Singleton failed to clear a loose ball in the penalty area. Then the opposition converted a penalty late in the second half. The final score being Wallsend 3, Singleton 2.
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The U17’s were outplayed by a very slick Wallsend team who ran out comfortable 5-0 winners. Singleton’s in form U19’s were hot favourites going into the match, and opened the scoring through Will Holz in the 7th minute. But the opposition sandwiched 2 goals either side of half time to take the lead. Dylan Bentley restored parity with a well taken goal, and it lead to an exciting finish to the game as both sides pushed for a winner, but the sides remained locked at 2-2 until the final whistle. The U23’s fixture was a carbon copy of the U19’s game. Singleton took the lead through Tom Hume, only for Wallsend to hit back with 2 quick fire goals. James Bates got Singleton back in the game with a goal at the 68 minute mark, but try as they could, the Strikers could not find the breakthrough to secure all 3 points – another 2 all draw was the result. In the main game, first grade had high hopes after their mid week FFA win over the same rivals. They soon came crashing down as they failed to recapture that form, and lost 0-1 in a game they would rather forget. This Saturday the Strikers play at Howe Park against Kahibah.