SOCCER
STATE LEAGUE
MORWELL Pegasus officially escaped relegation calculations with a vindicating 3-0 victory over against Kingston City FC at Ronald Reserve on Saturday.
The indignity of a 7-1 thumping in round eight motivated Morwell to maul the Melbourne menace at home and finally cement a place in State League division two south-east for 2014.
Max Etheridge scored a double and Chris Wynne signed off with a goal in his final appearance for the club.
Pegasus hit the woodwork on three occasions in an encouraging attacking effort, however it was the clean sheet that brought coach Dale White the most joy.
“At the back I thought we were terrific,” White said.
“Not to concede for a change, that was probably the most pleasing aspect after the game. The defence and the goal keeper (Pierce Morrison) deserve some credit.”
Captain Robbie Wynne was missing for the match, opening the door for Steve Ciccarelli to make his return at right back where he performed ably.
Morrison displayed incredible athleticism when fired upon in the second half to deny a potent Kingston attack as Pegasus rectified its round eight horrors.
“My words prior to kick off were ‘we’re all hurting from 11 weeks ago when they put seven past us, we should all still be hurting and if we can win this game, even if its 1-0 it will go a long way to soften the blow’,” White said.
“I thought they were actually a reasonable side and I thought they were always dangerous but we just got the job done and overall I thought we were terrific… if we took all our chances it could probably have been 10-3.”
Pegasus now sits seventh with 26 competition points and cannot be relegated.
“Probably a couple of weeks ago I never thought it would come to that, mathematically it was still up in the air, so it is a sigh of relief. I’m very proud of what the boys have achieved over the last probably six or seven weeks,” White said.
The club will aim to nudge 30 points against South Springvale this week at home.
South Springvale humbled Morwell 6-1 in round 10 and Pegasus will again be out for vengeance.
