Lake Macquarie coach Nick Webb didn’t believe his side played well enough to beat Hamilton on Sunday, but he was sure they didn’t deserve to lose 4-3 to an “unbelievable” penalty call.
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Olympic counterpart Peter McGuinness, though, “wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth” after a four one-goal losses.
Tom Sparre was deemed to have fouled Scott Pettit in the 62nd minute in the round eight Northern NSW NPL game locked at 3-3 at Darling Street Oval.
Pettit converted the penalty but replays showed Sparre had clearly won the ball before making contact. Webb said his side were “flat across the paddock” but he was fuming about the late call.
“They were better than us, we were second at the races,” Webb said. “Simon Mooney could have had a double hat-trick before the hour mark. We still created enough chances to win, but the officiating today was the worst I’ve seen in a long, long time.
“It was unbelievable. We got the ball clearly and Pettit was late on our boy, and they get the penalty and win the game off it. It’s not good enough. We were second best today, but we didn’t deserve to lose to a penalty given like that.”
The Roosters led in the third minute when Paul Sichalwe scored off a turnover in defence. Mooney equalised with a seventh-minute header and Sam Walker put Lakes up 2-1 in the 12th with a penalty off Tom Davies’ handball. Mooney levelled again with a header in the 21st before completing his hat-trick with a deflected strike in the 39th. Walker scored with a deflected shot in the 58th for 3-3.
McGuinness was pleased to have luck turn Hamilton’s way for a much-needed second win of the year.
“I thought we had some chances but we put ourselves in a situation again in the first half where we had to chase the game, which was unfortunate, but they responded,” he said. “I’m pleased for the boys and for the club to just get a win and get going.”
Also Sunday, Edgeworth went top of the table with a 2-1 win over Maitland at Cooks Square Park in Josh Rose’s debut for the club. Eagles star Daniel McBreen scored at a goalmouth scramble in the 21st minute and Ryan Clarke’s strike in the 28th made it 1-1. Will Bower hit the top-left corner of goals with a stunning shot in the 78th for the winner.
Edgeworth went ahead of Charlestown on goal difference after the Blues lost 3-2 away to Adamstown.
Connor Heydon scored a classy double, including the 77th minute winner. Matt Tull scored for Charlestown in the third minute, Thomas Carias-Cox levelled with a header in the 19th and Heydon hit a volley for 2-1 in the 30th. Cal Lewis smashed home an equaliser in the 66th before Heydon produced an even better finish.
Aaron Niyonkuru scored a 86th-minute winner for Valentine in a 4-3 loss to Weston at CB Complex to send the Bears to last spot.
On Saturday, Lambton Jaffas beat the Jets Youth 2-0 at Edden Oval. Former Jets and City striker Braedyn Crowley scored on the debut in the 34th minute and Tom Waller struck in the 47th.
Jaffas leapfrogged the Jet Youth (10 points) into fifth spot on the ladder on 12 points with the round-eight victory.
Jets legend and current operations manager Joel Griffiths played the whole match, just hours before the club’s A-League grand final against Melbourne Victory at nearby McDonald Jones Stadium. Jets CEO Lawrie McKinna, who co-coaches the club’s youth team with Labinot Haliti, also stayed the whole game.
Griffiths provided the corner kick, which Bren Hammel nodded on, for Crowley’s header to open the scoring.
Crowley then won the ball for the Jaffas before Ben Hay provided the pass for Waller’s strike to make it 2-0.
Jaffas coach James Pascoe was pleased with the performance and said outstanding work from Jets Youth keeper Noah James denied them a bigger winning margin.
The victory came after Wheelhouse pulled out late in the warm-up with ankle trouble. Luke Remington had a recurrence of an ankle injury in the game and Michael Kantarovski likewise with his quadriceps tightness after coming off the bench late.
