Wollongong United moved up to third position on the table with a 5-0 victory over Bellambi Rosellas at Ian McLennan Park on Sunday afternoon.
Mitsuo Yamada’s first-half brace was complimented by Klime Sekutkoski’s two goals off the bench as well as Kyah Jovanovski picking up one.
Both sides were reduced to 10 players in the game with Mason Versi sent off for United while Steven Hristovski was shown two yellow cards for the Rosellas.
United got off to a bright start moving the ball forward in pursuit of a swift opener.
Five minutes in, fullback Sean Thomas delivered a cross from the right into the middle of the box for Jeremy Flanagan who side-footed a shot over the bar.
The side took the lead a minute later as Flanagan’s right-sided cross fell at the feet of Versi whose miss-hit shot spun into the path of Yamada in the left of the box.
The Japanese finding the bottom-right corner with a firmly hit effort.
In the eighth minute, Yamada almost added a second with his freekick from the left edge of the box forcing Rosellas’ keeper Nathan Cupitt into a save at his near post.
Ten minutes in, Bellambi player Leo Hirose took on a shot from the left corner of the box that was straight at Jacob Madden in the United goal.
United began to step up their attacking efforts midway through the half and in the 20th minute, Versi’s shot from the centre of the box was saved by Cupitt.
Five minutes after, Yamada took responsibility for another freekick on the left – this time it sailed narrowly over the bar.
With 10 minutes to play in the first half, the side doubled their advantage with Yamada converting a penalty into the left side of the net with Cupitt diving the other direction.
Versi almost added a third in the 39th minute making room for a shot on the right edge of the box that flew just over the bar.
In the final two minutes of the half, Rosellas’ attacker Chris Gomez lined up a shot from a central position outside the box that Madden was able to hold onto.
Mitsuo Yamada’s brace saw Wollongong United go into the halftime break with a two-goal advantage.
Four minutes into the second half, Bellambi’s Angelo Hajitoffi saw his freekick on the left saved by Madden.
In the 55th minute, United went down to 10 players after Mason Versi was sent off.
Sekutkoski nearly had an instant impact off the bench in the 64th minute tapping the ball into a vacant net; however, it was ruled out for offside.
The attacker did not have to wait long for his first goal as seven minutes later, he capitalised on Hristovski’s missed header to run through on goal and flick a header over Cupitt and into the goal.
Just a couple of minutes after this, Hristovski was sent off for a second cautionable offence meaning both sides were now a player less for the remainder of the match.
United stepped up their attacking pressure once more with Thomas skimming the crossbar with his shot from inside the box in the 74th minute.
Two minutes later, Sekutkoski burst into the right channel of the box and had an effort batted away by Cupitt at his near post.
With a minute to go, the side added a fourth goal with substitute Jovanovski shifting the ball inside from the right edge of the box and squeezing a shot into the bottom right corner.
Two minutes into stoppage time, there was a fifth for United; Sekutkoski driving a header from a right-sided corner into the net to make it two goals for the forward off the bench.
This was United’s fourth victory in a row and also makes it six clean sheets out of the seven games they’ve played this season.
Billy Tsovolos’ men are scheduled to play their next three matches at home starting with Cringila Lions this Saturday.
As for Bellambi, the team remains in 11th position level on points with South Coast United in 12th.
The Rosellas have their next four fixtures at home hosting Bulli this Saturday.
Wollongong United 5 (Mitsuo Yamada 6’ 35’ PEN, Klime Sekutkoski 71’ 90+2’, Kyah Jovanovski 89’)
Bellambi Rosellas 0
Wollongong United: 62. MADDEN Jacob, 27. BARBAROVSKI Bailey, 19. BROOKS Ben, 7. CORREIA Josh, 14. FLANAGAN Jeremy, 26. KAWAKAMI Seiji, 5. LAZAREVSKI Danny, 32. STOJANOVSKI James, 2. THOMAS Sean, 23. YAMADA Mitsuo, 11. VERSI Mason
Substitutes: 29. SEKUTKOSKI Klime (CORREIA 63’), 10. TERZIC Dinko (STOJANOVSKI 81’), 4. VESCIO Rene, 9. DARJANI Thomas, 8. JOVANOVSKI Kyah (FLANAGAN 58’)
Yellow Cards: Danny Lazarevski 48’, Mason Versi 55’
Red Cards: Mason Vesi 55’
Bellambi Rosellas: 1. CUPITT Nathan, 2. ZOUROUDIS Marcus, 3. KOLIOPOULOS Daniel, 4. HRISTOVSKI Steven, 17. HAJITTOFI Angelo, 6. BOERSMA Luke, 7. FRIEDRICH Blake, 8. HIROSE Leo, 9. WILSON Brett, 10. GOMEZ Chris, 11. NAGAGAWA Shuhei
Substitutes: 12. VALJAK Nicholas (GOMEZ 56’), 13. COCCA Lachlan (HAJITOFFI 75’), 14. MOLLOY Sean (WILSON 34’), 15. TRENESKI Daniel, 16. ALGARAWI Ahmed
Yellow Cards: Steven Hristovski 46’ 73’, Blake Friedrich 55’, Marcus Zouroudis 88’
Red Cards: Steven Hristovski 73’
Referee: Bobby Mazevski
Assistant Referees: Greg Reid and Reece Edwards
Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_
Photo courtesy of Richie Wagner
