SOCCER FRANKSTON Pines’ title tilt got off to a flyer last Friday night when it smashed visitor Brighton 5-0 at Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve. Pines made no secret of its State 3 ambitions during the off-season and although it’s just one game in it has reclaimed the ladder position it had cemented before last season’s shutdown. A Liam Baxter hat-trick underpinned this result as the visitors couldn’t contain the experienced Scottish striker and ex-NPL hit man. Baxter put Pines ahead in the 12th minute when he finished a Tom Hawkins’ cutback from the right and three minutes later Brighton had…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER THE 2022 league season gets underway this weekend with high hopes that for the first time in three years a full season can be completed. There are a few local clubs that fancy their chances this year none more so than Frankston Pines. However head coach Kevin “Squizzy” Taylor is on holiday in the UK and will miss the first three games. Assistant Paulo Pinheiro takes over as Pines embarks on a State 3 campaign it hopes will go some way towards making up for the club’s bitter disappointment at the outcome of the previous two seasons. Mornington rounded…
SOCCER FRANKSTON Pines captain CJ Hodgson won’t play this season due to post-concussion syndrome. Hodgson was substituted in a friendly against Mazenod early last month after a head clash. The 28-year-old has suffered multiple concussions throughout his career which now hangs in the balance as there is uncertainty over whether he can return. “I knew something wasn’t right straight away as my eye was going weird and there was blurriness so I had to come off,” Hodgson said. When a teammate phoned later that night it was clear that all was not well. “I was lying in bed when Marinos…
SOCCER RHYS Craigie could be the last piece of the promotion jigsaw put together by Mornington gaffer Adam Jamieson. The 24-year-old Scottish midfielder arrived in Melbourne just over a week ago for his second stint in State 1. Edinburgh-born Craigie was picked up by Hearts when he was just nine-years-old and was involved with the Jambos until he was 18. “I played one year full-time at Hearts then they released me and I signed with Stenhousemuir,” Craigie said. In 2019 he was on holiday in Melbourne when invited to Beaumaris for a two-week trial. He signed with Mornington’s State 1…
SOCCER SEAFORD United players walked off Edithvale Recreation Reserve pleased with the 3-2 away win that kept their promotion hopes alive in State 4 South. It’s Friday 30 July, 2021 and no-one has the slightest inkling that this is Seaford’s last appearance in State League ranks for some time. Perhaps forever. Peter Schwellinger was in his first full season as senior coach and along with assistant Andy Lancaster had embedded belief and structure in the squad. When COVID-19 forced Football Victoria to call a halt to the league Seaford was third, one point behind second-placed Endeavour United after 12 games.…