Manjimup Rovers lose both men and women’s matches on Sunday at home

Both the Manjimup Rovers men and women’s team went without a win in difficult conditions in three of the South West Soccer Association on Sunday.

The men’s team for the Rovers lined up against Eaton-Dardanup with the bare minimum of 11 players while the visitors had a mighty host of 16, who walked away winners 8-3.

There was quite a bit of heat and the extra numbers for the travelling team quickly became evident as attack after attack began to overwhelm the Rover’s back three.

A mix-up at the back and a lack of communication between the Rovers led to the first goal for Eaton-Dardanup when the ball fell fortuitously at the feet of the striker, who smashed the ball home.

Three more goals followed in quick succession as the Eaton-Dardanup midfield put a great amount of pressure on the Rovers’ defenders which caused easy turnovers and mistakes.

The Rovers managed to get one good chance in the first half after some nice build-up play through the right flank led to the ball arriving at Tack Burns’ feet, who managed to steal a metre and fire a shot away which only narrowly missed.

After the break the Rovers looked to try get themselves back in the game and found their way on to the score sheet, with Tom Anstey claiming the first goal for the home team.

It was immediately cancelled out after Eaton-Dardanup scored soon after and restored their four-goal advantage.

Anstey and Christopher King both scored for the Rovers to give them a glimmer of hope of getting something out of the game, but with tired legs came more and more mistakes, which the visitors capitalised on.

A flurry of late goals saw the score line stretched to 8-3 and the men’s Rovers’ second loss of the season.

In the women’s game, Bunbury United traveled to Manjimup to play and after a hard-fought game emerged winners 4-3.

The Rovers did their best in damp and slippery conditions to pass the ball around and create openings where they presented themselves.

Grace Gray opened her goal account with the Rovers after scoring the opener, which was added to by striker Alicia Gluck who bagged two on the day.

Bunbury United were able to string together great passing sequences and score a few goals of their own, eventually coming away winners.

Players of the match for the men was Tom Anstey and Hayley Hardwick for the women.