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By Peter Rowney
The Illawarra's annual pre-season tournament - The 'Corrimal Leagues Club' Knockout - kickstarted the new season on the weekend with varying results for some of the league big guns.
With the tournament now in its 45th year, holders Bulli, now coached by Adrian Alston, needed penalties to dispose of the challenge of South Coast United, while last season's IFA Premiers, Dandaloo, went out the same way, losing on penalties to Kemblawarra.
Helensburgh 1 vs Picton Rangers 2
 (Helensburgh vs Picton Rangers (8 David Reid) - at Tarrawanna - CLCC - Rnd 1 - 5/2/2006) IFA Grand Final winners Picton suffered an early scare when they went behind against Division 1 opponents Helensburgh who opened the scoring through Craig Lord. While Helensburgh battled hard in the hot midday conditions, it always seemed likely that Picton would eventually take the upper hand. David Reid managed the equaliser when his well struck drive from outside the area gave the Thistles keeper Shane Duffy no chance. 1-1 at the break but it was duly the more experienced Picton side who claimed the victory when Colin Luff had time to pick his spot from inside the area, following good lead up work down the right side by Matt Tessarerro and Paul Rankin. Picton almost had a third but Nathan Tring was just unable to place his diving header on target.
 (Helensburgh vs Picton Rangers (Colin Luff) - at Tarrawanna - CLCC - Rnd 1 - 5/2/2006)
Helensburgh: Shane Duffy, Matthias Samuelson, Michael Blanche, Michael Beattie, Damien Warwick, Craig Druce, Craig Lord, Ryan Warwick, Simon Beaufils, Chris Mahoney, Christian Phillis.
Picton: Robert Cruickshank, Mick Carbury, Scott Watkins, Gary Newell, Justin Grove, David Meechan, Jason Lewis, David Reid, Colin Luff, Nathan Tring, Paul Rankin. Southern City 0 v Cooma 6
 ( Southern City vs Cooma - at Towradgi Park - CLCC - Rnd 1 - 5/2/2006) Cooma, sixth last season in the ACT League, traveled three hours north to meet their Nowra-based opponents Southern City at Fernhill. With ex-Belconnen Blue Devils midfielder Alex Castro now turning out for the Snowy team, it was an easy 6-0 victory for a side who clearly had the experience and superior fitness over their younger Shoalhaven opponents. Mark Nedelkovich gave Cooma the lead midway through the first half before Leon Tarbotton added the second just before half time. While Southern City did threaten on the restart, a third goal for Cooma, this time by Dickie Battey, finished any likelihood of a comeback. Marciel Munoz did well down the left side eluding the defenders before cutting back from the byeline to give Battey the easiest of tap-ins. Nedelkovich added a fourth minutes later when his long range effort hit the underside of the bar and was ruled to have crossed the line, despite the claims to the contrary by Southern City keeper, Brett Ringland. A minute later it was 5-0 when Tarbotton took advantage of good work again by Munoz to tap-in from within the six yard box. By this stage, Cooma, who include a weekly session at the AIS as part of their training, were running over the top of a fast tiring Southern defence. It was no surprise when Tarbotton gained his hattrick when he hit the top right corner for Cooma's number six.
Southern City: Brett Ringland, Tom Close, Robert Ward, Josh Rooney, Chris Ayton, Justin Butler, Sam Leedham, Greg Wickens, Jim Blunn, Adam Douglas, Josh Price.
Cooma: Chris Morrow, Matthew Gibbs, Misco Naumovski, Jamie Schofield, Mawson Ravanparsa, Alex Castro, Nathan Jarvie, Marciel Munoz, Mark Nedelkovich, Diego Rodrigues, Leon Tarbotton. Corrimal Rangers 0 v Port Kembla 1
 (Corrimal vs Port Kembla (Harvey Rodriguez for PK on left) - at Memorial Park, Corrimal - CLCC - Rnd 1 - 5/2/2006) Over at Memorial Park, Corrimal - First Division Corrimal Rangers were unable take advantage of playing at home when they went down 1-0 to a strong Port Kembla. While there may have been only one goal in it-a first half effort by Danny Ristevski- Corrimal rarely threatened and only stout defending and some lacklustre finishing stopped Port from winning more convincingly. Corrimal's best chance of an equaliser fell to Adam Daly when he was put through but his shot fell neatly into Matt Nash's hands. Keeper Clint Worthington also played a strong part in denying Port, saving well on a number of occasions from both Ristevski and Mark Picciolini. Port again relied heavily on Mineo Bonetig who ran the midfield, linking well with Harvey Rodriguez , but their efforts couldn't conjure a second goal.
Corrimal Rangers: Clint Worthington, Darren Holt, Tor Preece, Rory O'Grady, Fabio Rashilla, Craig Paull, Valentin Tas, Trent Worthington, Adam Daly, Dale Clayton, Giovanni Aiello.
Port Kembla: Matt Nash, Michael Robinson, Daniel Giorgio, Robert Cazzolli, Michael Andrews, Bregan O'Connor, Harvey Rodriguez, Mineo Bonetig, Danny Ristevski, Mark Picciolini, Fabian Cappetta.
All Results - Round One:
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