SOUTH COAST UNITED v TARRAWANNA | IPL ROUND 1 | MATCH REPORT
Tarrawanna seized all three points in a dominant 4-1 win against South Coast United at Ian McLennan Park on a wet and dreary Saturday night in the only game played in the opening round of the Illawarra Premier League.
Tarrawanna’s early dominance paid off in the 14th minute where Zac Mazevski headed the ball into the bottom left corner after a beautifully taken corner by Jacob Gjorsevski.
However, 2 two minutes later the home side equalised with a similar header, except this time, it was off a free kick on the right wing. James Wakeling whipped in the cross and Lucas Loncar connected well with the ball as it went off the post and in to tie level the game.
The first half was full of great chances for Tarrawanna to improve upon their lead. Darron Darren Stone was creating many of those chances for the visitors on the left flank as he sent many through balls down the wing for his attackers to get onto, which was dealt by the United defence.
Mazevski continued to give the United defence problems as he skipped past multiple defenders to get off his shot which was comfortably saved by Jason Bleakley as Mazevski slipped on the slippery pitch.
As with Tarrawanna’s first goal, striker Mazevski was once again put through by the left back , Stone. Mazevski’s low shot was saved in a quick one-on-one situation against Bleakely once again.
Since their goal, United struggled to create many attacking opportunities before the end of the half. Although Wakeling did have an attempt just outside the box where the ball dropped perfectly for him, but his volleyed effort skied over the top right corner.
Just six minutes after halftime the United defence looked messy and ultimately was on the back foot against the Blueys. Mazevski received the ball from Gjorsevski and struck it low past the goalkeeper to make it 2-1.
Shortly after, United’s winger Kieren Brodnik found himself through 1 on 1 one-on-one against the keeper goalkeeper Adam Rodriguez, but his touch was too heavy resulting in a toe-poked shot which was knocked out for a corner.
The rain increased its intensity as the match wore on and so did the Tarrawanna attack. At In the 63rd minute, Gjorsevki once again made a brilliant run down the left-hand side and passed into space for an on-running Mazevski. He put his boot through the ball and got a clean strike into the back of the net to give Tarrawanna a two-goal advantage and round out his hat-trick.
Shortly after, Mazevski again found himself in the penalty area again as he had freed himself from a couple of defenders and got a shot away. It took a deflection and the keeper Bleakley had to scramble for it, but he collected it well in the end.
In the 74th minute, United had cleared the ball after a corner, but it fell to Tarrawanna’s midfielder Kyle Kirkland had who controlled it just outside the box and scored with a low-driven half-volley found.
With six minutes left, Gjorsevski had a crack from long distance again, but this time Bleakley made diving save to make sure they don’t concede 5 five on the night.
The Blueys go to the top of the table with the 4-1 win ahead of a round two match with Port Kembla, while it doesn’t get any easier for South Coast who host title hopefuls Wollongong Olympic.
South Coast United: 1 (Lucas Loncar 16’)
Tarrawanna Blueys: 4 (Zac Mazevski 14’ 51’ 63’, Kyle Kirkland 74’)
South Coast United: 1. BLEAKLEY Jason, 4. VALIC Greg, 6. LONCAR Lucas, 8. LUCAS Ben, 9. WAKELING James, 10. PENNISI Marco, 14. BRODNICK James, 15. HAYASHI Kodai, 16. ANIC Antoni, 17. HMDA Kolan, 23. BRODNICK Kieren
Substitutes: 2. MENA Dylan (BODNICK), 14. MACKAY Andrew, 27. AL JABERY Abdul (ANIC), 22. ZERAFA Jacob, 22. VALIC David
Tarrawanna Blueys: 1. RODRIGUEZ Adam, 2. NAYLOR Matt, 3. STONE Darren, 4. CHAPMAN Dan, 5. YOUNG Mitch, 6. LEARMONTH Ben, 7. KELLY Daniel, 8. KIRKLAND Kyle, 9. MAZEVSKI Zac, 10. DI MARINO Stefano, 11. GJORSEVSKI Jacob
Substitutes: 12. TOMASIELLO Nicolas (MAZEVSKI), 13. DENT Jackson, 14. DRAIN Tobey (DI MARINO), 15. DENNIS Harrison (GJORSEVSKI) 16. CRACKNELL Jackson
Date: 16 February 2022
Venue: Ian McLennan Park
Referee: Jay Walpole
Assistant Referees: Tim Gibson and Demi Goddard.
Report by Solomon Beddow, on Twitter @SolomonBeddow
Photos by Richie Wagner
