It was a washout for the two Cardiff's Down Under the previous weekend, but this weekend they had to be on top form as they were taking on the league leaders of their respective leagues.
In the Northern NSW State League South Cardiff took on runway leaders Broadmeadow Magic at home. After a hard-fought 1-1 draw, Southy dropped from third place in the league to fourth after a win for Edgeworth Eagles. Southy goal with three league games left to stay in the top fourth to qualify for Finals Series.
Next Sunday South Cardiff take on Hamilton Olympic at home and will need to return to winning ways to keep up the pressure for a top four finish to end the season.
Cardiff City FC (Gunners) had a good 1-0 win over top of the table University at home Saturday in the Northern NSW Zone Premier League.
Next weekend the Gunners take on third place Cooks Hill United and with the season ending at the end of the month. Along with the Cooks Hill, and two other scheduled games they have to fit in three postponed games.
South Cardiff 1 - 1 Broadmeadow Magic
South Cardiff and Broadmeadow Magic played out a 1-1 draw at Ulinga Park with the Gunners almost getting their first win over the front runners this season.
With 5-1 and 3-0 defeats to Magic this season, South Cardiff were eager to get a different outcome in this encounter as they came out very strong and in the end were very unfortunate not to walk away with the three points in front of their home crowd.
South Cardiff took the lead on 34 minutes through Jarryd Johnson who struck a well timed shot from the edge of the area which deflected into the back of the net to open the scoring.
Murray Fletcher started the match with Shane Paul ruled out and he got the equaliser midway through the second half after a nice passing exchange on the edge of the area and finished well.
Keegan Wolfendan was also a late inclusion to the starting line up with Josh Birch ruled out, his first match back since very early in the competition.
South Cardiff had a chance to win the match in the final seconds with an entertaining finish to the match but couldn’t convert and only walked away with a point.
Broadmeadow Magic Coach Damien Smith said he was “happy to take the point in the end, Southy did really well, especially in defence.”
The result keeps South Cardiff in the top four, two points clear of Weston Workers in 5th spot as they go on to face Hamilton Olympic in Round 19 and a big match coming into Semi Finals, while Broadmeadow Magic will face Weston Workers at Wanderers Oval.
Next Sunday South Cardiff take on Hamilton Olympic at home and will need to return to winning ways to keep up the pressure for a top four finish to end the season.
Cardiff City FC (Gunners) fan messageboard report of the game
It was a very good result for Cardiff after some lacklustre displays recently needed to turn around their form. Although still missing 3-4 players Cardiff kept the league leaders scoreless and limited their chances. Cardiff had plenty of chances to increase their lead after scoring midway in the 1st half, but wanted to keep the healthy and vocal Cardiff crowd on their toes and proceeded to squander opportunity after opportunity, but a win is a win and Cardiff take the three points to get back on track.
On a different side thou, everybody has been whining about ref's and the bloke we had yesterday was poor as a linesman with some baffling decisions I think University will agree, some of his calls were out of left field, his use of the advantage rule was confusing at all times. I know this young bloke has refereed at a higher and he should have been a lot better than what he was.
Next weekend the Gunners take on third place Cooks Hill United and with the season ending at the end of the month. Along with the Cooks Hill, and two other scheduled games they have to fit in three postponed games.
