Sebastian Moreno worked tirelessly through the midfield and up forward for Pakenham, which secured the points in a 2-0 victory over Monash. 83921 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
STARING down the barrel of a lacklustre draw, the Teles brothers stepped up for Pakenham Soccer Club to drive home two goals in the last five minutes of play against Monash University.
Pakenham had peppered the goal face all match – Edward Codd dominated his right wing to set up chances for Wellington Teles and Sebastian Moreno.
Under a new formation from coach Marcos Sakano to make the team stronger in defence while still focusing on attacking, the Cougars rallied after the first 20 minutes to set up three close chances.
Moreno put the ball in the back of the net just before half time only to be cruelly denied and brought back to the spot as a free kick for a Monash defender’s handball.
With scores level at 0-0 going into the second half, Elbert Teles, who sat out the first half due to an ankle injury, replaced Keegan Bloomfield and Pakenham started where it left off.
Another goal was called back by the referee in the 60th minute – Elbert Teles got on the end of a through-ball and drilled the ball into the back of the net, but yet another foul was called on the Monash defence.
This time their keeper picked up the ball outside of the box. The result was a Pakenham free kick but no goal for the blunder.
The Cougars threw everything they had at Monash in the last 10 minutes and when the game entered injury time, Elbert Teles made sure there would be no draw.
He struck a cannon shot that was too strong for the keeper. It rocketed through his fingers to put Pakenham into a winning position.
With two more minutes of injury time the fun continued, as Wellington Teles went on a beguiling run through the box – he sold the fake to two Monash midfielders, faked a shot, ran around the back and unleashed a monster of a shot into the top right hand corner of the net to give Pakenham a 2-0 win.
“Finally we played perfect, the way we all have been training and wanting to play,” Sakano said.
“No selfish games – we played together to the last minute and that’s what makes the goal special.
“We just want to bring to this new team, Pakenham Soccer Club, a new style of football – not one style, two styles or the midfield’s own style – we want every individual in this team to score and play well together.”
With a few new personnel finally giving Pakenham a bench to work with, Sakano said the season was going from strength to strength as the Cougars entered the back half of the year.
“The backline is finally set,” Sakano said.
“We did struggle for two or three games with the backline but we’ve now got the new guys – Brett (Wright) and Colin – Colin is from England and Brett is a local who has never played soccer before, but he’s learning the game and doing a great job.”
A special mention must go to the Cougars cheer squad – the sombrero-wearing, vuvuzela-blaring group of five that masterfully heckled Monash at every opportunity that will make every trip to Cardinia Reserve a daunting task for any visitor.
Pakenham sits in third place on the ladder and faces Baxter away on Sunday afternoon.
In other results, Bunyip Strikers couldn’t knock off Old Camberwell Grammarians, going down 4-6 at Deepdene Park.
