McClung hits four on debut for Metro

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METRO 5-2 TAROONA
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Metro need to win this game, postponed from last Saturday, to regain top spot on the Division One ladder, and they did it.

Their latest Scottish recruit, 26-year-old striker Steve McClung, scored four goals on his debut and his combination with fellow Scotsman Ricky Orr was awesome.

Metro could have been 2-0 down in the opening minutes, but poor finishing by Taroona let them off the hook.

Taroona had some other good chances during the course of the match and the score flattered Metro in some respects.

Metro were porous at the back, giving the ball away far too easily and creating problems for themselves, but they had the firepower to score goals and that was the difference between the sides.

Taroona should have hit the front after just 25 seconds when Matthew Gasparin gave the ball away to Hugo Luttmer, but he advanced on goal and shot centimetres wide of the far right-hand post.

In the 6th minute, Paul Hunt’s clearance went straight to Jack Elliott, who fed Chris Cox on the right of the box, but his shot was straight at goalkeeper Simon Land.

Having survived that opening period, Metro took the lead in the 8th minute when McClung played the ball back to Jason Dawes, who put Orr away on the left.

Orr’s cross found McClung, who scored with a fine volley from inside the box.

McClung almost had a second in the 16th minute when a neat series of passes between him and Orr put him through the Taroona defence, but Taroona keeper Nathan Meyers, a former Metro player, came off his line and blocked at the striker’s feet.

Two minutes later, Orr broke through but fired over the bar.

In the 20th minute, Wade Hawkins fashioned a chance from wide on the left but also blazed over the bar.

Four minutes later, a shot by Hamish Macgregor was fumbled by Land, allowing Cox in, but he was unable to convert and the ball was cleared.

Metro again hit back strongly and, in the 31st minute, Orr found space on the right and crossed low into the 6-yard box, where McClung was unmarked and finished lethally to make it 2-0.

On the stroke of half-time, Cox pulled a goal back for Taroona with a glancing header from Macgregor’s corner from the left. Metro cleared, but the assistant referee on the far side indicated the ball had crossed the line.

Eleven minutes after the resumption, Macgregor made it 2-2 with a tremendous shot from 30 metres on the left, the ball easily beating Land and lodging inside the far top corner of the net.

Metro restored their lead in the 59th minute when McClung fed Dawes near the edge of the box and his powerful outside of the right foot shot from 20 metres sailed into the far top corner of Meyers’s goal.

In the 63rd minute, Orr’s low left-wing cross was mishandled by Meyers and the ball rolled free towards the far post, where McClung slotted it home to give Metro a 4-2 lead.

Two minutes later, it was all over when Meyers conceded a penalty. In going for a high ball into the box, he smashed into the back of Orr and Mr Collins immediately pointed to the spot.

McClung scored easily from the penalty to make it 5-2, but Orr had been injured by Meyers’ rash challenge and, although he resumed after treatment, he limped off in the 71st minute, to be replaced by Kye McQueen.

Metro will be hoping the injury is not serious as the partnership between Orr and McClung seems destined to be very fruitful.

Taroona had several more chances late in the match through Luttmer, substitute Daniel Palmer, and Macgregor, the latter’s shot forcing a fine save from Land, but it was Metro who leapfrogged them to go a point clear at the top of the table.

Three of the Carey brothers featured in the Taroona side on the evening - Darragh, Duncan and Cian - while an head injury early in the game to Cox - he had to wear a bandage for the rest of the match - may have dampened his impact on the game to some extent.

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• Metro coach, Darrin Chaffey, said:

“Very sluggish in the first half. We kept ourselves out of position and we struggled a bit at the back and were over committing ourselves.

“We probably left ourselves very open at the back.

“In the second half, I think we corrected it and the guys were getting right behind and we weren’t over committing.

“We were first to the ball and we were switched on in the second half.

“It was a very good second half.”

• Metro’s striker, Steve McClung, said:

“A good performance by the team. We did well.

“A great start. First half we were a bit shaky, but second half we lifted a bit and played well.

“It was a good performance for a debut with the team.

“It’s not easy. To say that would be disrespectful.

“It’s obviously a change from back home.

“They got the boys out to make better players and we’ll do that.”

• Taroona coach, Ben Horgan, said:

“Basic errors killed us. Even after we made a few in the first half, we got a goal on half-time and were right back in it and then that goal from Hamish [Macgregor] out us level.

“We were just ordinary all night, really.

“We just didn’t pass the ball well. Defensively, we were just all over the place and we made some shocking mistakes.

“We just weren’t switched on.

“We had some really good chances in the first five or ten minutes but we didn’t take them.

“That’s been the story of our year. I mean, we played DOSA the other week and only got away with a 2-1 win.

“I don’t know what the shot count was, but it must have been thirty to three, so it was going to come back to bite us eventually.

“But, having said that, even if we’d tucked away those early chances, we were poor in a lot of areas in our game tonight so we would have had to completely turn around the way we defended and the way we used the ball.

“We weren’t on tonight. Anyway, there are plenty of games left.”
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Metro: Land - Hunt (Ramage 77), Gasparin, Malcolm, Jackson - Rahni (Marney 46), Sweeney, Dawes, Hawkins - Orr (McQueen 71), McClung (Substitute not used: Porter)

Goals: McClung 8, 31, 63, 66 pen, Dawes 59

Taroona: Meyers - Horgan, C Carey, Tubb, Darragh Carey - Macgregor (Schaap 87), Atkinson (Oates 77), Elliott, Duncan Carey (Palmer 64) - Luttmer, Cox (Substitute not used: Hortle)

Goals: Cox 45, Macgregor 56

Att: 118

Ref: S Collins