Altona has relinquished a 1-0 half-time lead to go down 5-1 to Powerhouse-St. Kilda in the first game of the Premier League season.
The A’s started well, controlling possession for the first few minutes before the first half settled down to an even affair. Powerhouse had chances through penalty corners that were well dealt with by Felix Melder in goals and the defence, before some individual brilliance from Chris Coleman opened up the game after 20 minutes. Coleman made a tackle in the Altona defensive circle before counter-attacking with a searching, weighted ball through the Powerhouse defence allowing Patrick Phillips to use his pace create an opportunity. Phillips made no mistake, slotting the ball through the keepers legs on his reverse to give Altona a 1-0 lead they held into half-time.
Powerhouse came out attacking in the second half, but the A’s still held their lead until there were 20 minutes remaining. A Powerhouse breakaway resulted in a field goal that opened the floodgates, as they slammed on 5 unanswered goals in the next 13 minutes. Two short-corner conversions were followed by two more field goals to put the game well and truly beyond the shell-shocked A’s.
The group will need to bounce back quickly with a trip to Waverley next week without Andrew Scanlon and Kieran Symons who are away at the U21’s tournament in Sydney, while Josh Pace is coming into the side for his Premier League debut.
Altona 1 – 5 Powerhouse-St. Kilda
Goal: Patrick Phillips
