Sport
15 August, 2025
Maryborough Soccer Club look to finish season strongly following Ballarat defeat
The Maryborough Soccer Club had their moments at Trekardo Park, but Ballarat proved to be too good on Sunday, winning 5-1 to claim the three points.
Similar to their round seven encounter earlier in the season, late goals in the first half doomed the blue and whites, leaving them unable to recover in the second half.
Following their 7-1 home defeat to Vikings FC, Maryborough looked to play cautious and limit mistakes, attempting to settle themselves into the contest.
The game plan seemed to work early, as Ballarat struggled to break through the visitors’ defence.
That all changed in the 28th minute, when Brendan Pym opened the scoring for Ballarat, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.
Despite Pym’s strike being a setback, Maryborough maintained their composure from the restart, looking to keep the deficit at a manageable one goal at least.
However, a quickfire brace from Jake Romein, who scored the opener in Ballarat’s last match against Maryborough, turned the game on its head, with the blue and whites suddenly 3-0 down heading into half time.
Now, Maryborough were forced to chase the game in the second half, putting their defenders in tricky one-on-one positions that resulted in free kicks and yellow cards for Jack Schafer and Kynan Carter.
Even with the comfortable lead, Ballarat continued to squeeze the pressure onto Maryborough to start the second 45 minutes until they finally cracked in the 58th minute with Alex Thomassen making it 4-0.
Persistent until the very end, the blue and whites pulled one back in the 63rd minute through the ever-reliable Julian Callea, who scored his 12th goal of the season to make it 4-1.
That strike proved to be a consolation goal, as Thomassen delivered the knockout blow seven minutes later and Ballarat iced the game from there, earning their sixth win of the season.
The Ballarat and District Soccer Association Division One competition has the upcoming weekend off, as the league gears up for the last two rounds of the regular season.
The blue and whites have a frankly barbaric end to their season, battling the top two teams in the league, Ballarat North United and Forest Rangers.
First, Maryborough will host second-placed Forest Rangers at Jubilee Oval on Sunday, August 24, confident they can be competitive after the last meeting between the two teams.
The blue and whites were on the heels of completing a massive upset throughout the 90 minutes, but couldn’t answer Billy Mroczkowski’s opener in the 22nd minute, which was the only goal of the game.