High-flying Rams take the sparkle out of Stars | Northern Rivers Soccer | Football in Northern Rivers

2nd July 2009

SOCCER
Byron Bay Rams

With the Byron Bay Rams sitting at equal top of the competition table and Italo Stars just 3 points behind, this game was always going to be hard fought and physical.

A soggy home ground forced play to Byron High School and it was great to see the school helping the local community once again.

The bone jarring tackles started from the outset and after only 10 minutes the referee awarded a free kick to Byron. From the set play Tom Ruhl put a curving ball in the air for golden boot contender, Jordy Campbell to head it past the Italo keeper Dallas Guthrie.

The frustrated Stars conceded a free kick just before the break. Campbell powered a lovely ball through the Stars wall and deflected to John Bradbury and he made no mistake with a rebound header to take the Rams 2 goals ahead.

In the second half the Italo Stars came out with a new intensity. They used their huge midfielders to try and wear down the Rams strikers in every bruising tackle.

The Rams were unlucky with a barrage of shots on the Stars goal, however fortunes changed in an instant with a foul on a Stars striker in the Ram’s penalty box. Connell just couldn’t get to the Max Latimer penalty kick and all of a sudden at 2-1 the Rams weren’t so comfortable. It was an anxious last 10 minutes but the Rams held on.

The Rams play Goonellabah away on Saturday.

Premier Reserves Game

It was a tight match to start with both Italo Stars and top of the table Byron Rams finding few chances.

The Rams struck when Todd Knaus sent a great ball to Sam Clark for a very neat first goal.

Stars fought back just before half time with a long range shot which just snuck past Rams keeper Alex Gray.

After the break young Nolan Pierce pounced on a loose ball at the18, and struck it with a low powerful drive, giving the Stars keeper no chance. Soon after, James Packham got his head to a cross from new signing Ollie Bleakley and made it 3-1. Bleakley later made it 4-1.

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