Beachside celebrate promotion with water fest against Nelson

Photos (Top to Bottom): Nelson open the scoring and their players run to congratulate scorer Bernhard Klasen; Nelson keeper Ollie Burdon at full stretch; Burdon lies injured in the goalmouth; Beachside's Dr Pat Dunne examines the keeper's shoulder; Beachside's Brett Pullen tangles with Nelson's Ollie Ireland; Beachside's Colin Shepherd eludes Nelson's Andrew Gaskell; David Lowe and Tom Gordon in a tussle; Nelson's Pat Lenck (left) gets to the ball ahead of Colin Shepherd; Klasen (No. 14) scores a penalty for Beachside; Beachside's Jason Harvey slides for the ball as Ollie Ireland also goes for it; Colin Shepherd fires the ball past Bill Hanley; Jason Harvey (left) is tackled by Nelson's Tom Gordon; Nelson's Bill Hanley comes up against Beachside's Brett Pullen and Luke Atkin (No. 3) [PlessPix]

Division One [Sandown Park, Sunday, 5 September 2010]

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Beachside 3 (B Klasen 5, 66 pen, C Shepherd 89)

Nelson Eastern Suburbs 3 (A Mills 30, A Gaskell 63, T Gordon 69)

HT: 1-1 Att: 40 Ref: C Ware

Beachside: Soszynski - Davis, Robinson, Harvey (Lapolla 68), Atkin - Lowe, Pennicott (Henderson 60), Pullen, Dunne - Klasen, Shepherd (Substitute not used: Reason)

Nelson Eastern Suburbs: Burdon - Stalker, Stockdale, Rush, Ireland - A Mills, Lenck (Endall 60), Gordon (Caulfield 82), Hanley - Gaskell, R Mills (Substitutes not used: French, Fennell)

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The conditions at Sandown Park were atrocious and both goalkeepers, in particular, got into trouble.

Beachside took the lead in the 5th minute direct from a corner by Bernhard Klasen. Nelson keeper Ollie Burdon was injured in trying to stop the ball, but he was able to continue after having his shoulder examined by Beachside’s Pat Dunne, who is a doctor.

Adam Mills equalised on the half-hour after a quick break through the middle by Nelson. Goalkeeper Michael Soszynski was left alone to face Andrew Gaskell. Nathan Robinson managed to get back to lend support to Soszynski, but Gaskell squared the ball for Mills to slot home amid unheeded calls for off-side.

Jaymon Pennicott almost restored Beachside’s lead in the 51st minute, but his header from a Klasen corner came back off the left-hand post.

Disaster struck for Beachside in the 63rd minute when Soszynski received a back-pass from Robinson and tried to play it across the box to the left. The ball stuck in the mud, of course, and a gleeful Gaskell stroked it into an empty net to give Nelson a 2-1 lead.

Beachside levelled in the 66th minute through a penalty converted by Klasen.

Tom Gordon put Nelson ahead once more in the 69th minute with a fiercely-struck free-kick from just outside the box that gave Soszynski no chance.

With victory in sight, Nelson were brought back to earth in the final minute when Brett Pullen put Colin Shepherd away on the left and he scored with a low drive into the far corner of the net to make it 3-3.

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Beachside coach, Nathan Robinson, said:

“Credit to Nelson. They were the better team on the day. There’s no doubt about that. They played to the conditions far better and they were mobile all over the field.

“We’ve had a dry winter and dry grounds suit our older players and today we saw what it would have been like in a wet winter and it wasn’t very pretty.

“We were fortunate to get a point and we’ve done that a couple of times, got points late in the game.

“There was a good spirit in the team and I couldn’t have asked any more of the players. We were fortunate and full credit to Nelson.”

Nelson Eastern Suburbs coach, Michael Roach, said:

“I thought the conditions were very difficult. It was a difficult game, particularly the way the ball kept holding up was a little bit of a lottery in front of goal often.

“It was 90 minutes of hard work for our players and also for the Beachside players.

“It was probably a fair result in the end, although I thought we had another dubious penalty against us.