MATCH OF THE ROUND
Wollongong United – 1, Albion Park White Eagles – 0 @ Macedonia Park
Wollongong United weathered an early onslaught from Albion Park White Eagles to come away with an important 1-0 win on Tuesday night.
As early as the seventh minute, Jayden Makowski danced his way through a couple of challenges before firing a shot that bounced off the post.
Just a few minutes later, Wollongong United failed to clear their lines as Emmanuel Gonzalez blasted his shot from the edge of the box just over the bar.
United grabbed some of the ascendancy back with half-chances to Kyah Jovanovski and Jordan Nikolovski from crosses midway through the half.
Just before half-time, Gonzalez was presented with a good chance, but his shot was well saved by Tom Alston. The rebound caught the arm of a defender, and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Makowski stepped up; however, Alston guessed the right way to smother his effort.
Seconds later, and down the other end, United were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position. Nikolovski thundered an effort through the ball, which brought about a fantastic one-handed save from Cristofer Fuentes.
Just six minutes after the restart, Bailey Barbarovski latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the box before rifling a shot that beat Fuentes on the near post.
United continued to dominate possession, and substitute Mason Versi made a square run on 70 minutes as a fired a shot that forced Fuentes into another flying save. Versi came close again off the corner.
United pressed for a second, and James Stojanovski fired a shot that slipped through Fuentes’ fingers. Fortunately for Fuentes, the ball rolled past the outside of the box.
Just before full time, Nav Darjani’s persistence nearly paid off as he shrugged off several tackles before forcing another big save from Fuentes.
United saw out the game as the White Eagles spent the majority of the second half on the back foot. United maintaining their perfect start to the season.
Photo Credit: Richie Wagner
Helensburgh Thistle – 4, Berkeley Sports – 1 @ Berkeley Sports
Charlie Jones delivered a first-half masterclass to power the Thistles to a commanding victory, opening the scoring in the 15th minute with a superb curling effort into the top-right corner after latching onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Thomas Busch.
Jones doubled the advantage just ten minutes later, reacting quickest in the box to drive the ball past the goalkeeper from close range. With half-time approaching, he completed a sensational hat-trick, lofting a long-range free kick over the stranded Berkeley keeper, who was caught out by the ball drifting in the headwind.
Berkeley showed greater intent after the break and were rewarded in the 66th minute. A sharp passage of play through midfield split the Thistles’ defence, allowing Daniel Merola to race through and calmly finish to reduce the deficit to two.
Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished, however, as Jones struck again just six minutes later. Displaying class and composure, he latched onto another incisive through ball and neatly slotted past the advancing keeper to claim his fourth goal of the match.
Substitute Tomoki Nagai capped off the performance late on, bursting onto a pass near the six-yard box and, in a heavily contested challenge, slid the ball home beneath the goalkeeper to seal an emphatic win for the Thistles.
Photo Credit: JK Media
Wollongong Olympic – 2, Tarrawanna – 0 @ Tarrawanna Oval
Olympic continued their unbeaten start to the league season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Tarrawanna Blueys.
Nick Littler got the visitors off to a flying start with a goal after just eight minutes. A corner kick was flicked on from the near post, giving Adam Rodriguez no chance.
Tarrawanna have had a tough opening few rounds, and they competed well and scrambled to keep within touching distance however, Olympic created some breathing space on 75 minutes when Rick Goodchild was played through on goal. He spotted Rodriguez off his line and chipped him from 25 metres out to secure the points.
Tarrawanna remain winless whilst Wollongong Olympic continue to keep pace in their season campaign.
Photo courtesy of Edmund Esterbauer.
Port Kembla – 4, Coniston – 0 @ JJ Kelly Park
Two sides with contrasting starts to the season probably provided the surprise result of the weekend, with Port steamrolling Coniston 4-0 at home.
Nicolas Tomasiello scored inside the opening three minutes for Port Kembla.
The home side were awarded a penalty on 29 minutes; however, the normally reliable Cameron Morgan saw his effort saved by Blake Coad.
Just before the break, Port Kembla won a penalty of their own which was duly converted by Sandy Lowcock.
Lowcock was replaced by Jordan Prentoski at the break and he continued to pile misery on Coniston as he finished well on 56 minutes to put the visitors three up.
In injury time, Prentoski sealed an emphatic win for the Zebras, grabbing his third goal for the season and Port’s fourth as Coniston were outplayed and out enthused by a team who was desperate to atone for their last start loss.
The win is a welcome boost as these two teams meet again this week in the Bampton Cup.
Photo credit: Snapped Sport Pics
Bulli FC – 3, Cringila Lions – 2 @ Crehan Park
Bulli came back twice to run over Cringila in the dying embers of what was a thrilling game on Sunday afternoon, where four of the five goals all came from corners.
Ethan Kambisios opened the scoring for the home side after he found the net from a powerful header off a corner kick midway through the first half.
Bulli levelled things up just before the break with Ben McDonald lifting the ball into the roof of the net from close range following a goalmouth scramble off a corner kick.
Moments after halftime, a sweeping attack on the right side had Bulli back peddling. Keegan Matias cut back inside from the edge of the box to find the inside of the far post, giving Cringila the lead once again.
Bulli equalised with just ten minutes left. Ben Spruce towered above the pack to put in a looping header off a corner, which found its way over the line despite a desperate bicycle kick clearance.
As the match looked destined to be drawn, Spruce somehow scrambled the ball over the line from a corner kick deep into stoppage time as the visitors completed a memorable afternoon, claiming all three points.
Photo Credit: Gragrapix
South Coast United – 3, Shellharbour FC – 2 @ Ian McLennan Park
United picked up its first win of the season in an open game that could have perhaps gone either way.
Danil Romanov got the scoring started after just 16 minutes with a neat finish; however, Shellharbour’s lead didn’t last long as Joshua Keremelevski levelled things up less than ten minutes later.
The game flowing end to end; however, neither side was able to add to the scoring before the break.
Less than 90 seconds into the second half, Shellharbour failed to deal with a long ball, allowing it to bounce. Anthony Vrlic pounced on the opportunity, claiming possession before calmly slotting under Nikodin Matic.
Keremelevski put South Coast further ahead on 72 minutes after a swift counter from United off a loose pass saw Keremelevski smartly finish the opportunity despite Matic getting a hand to it.
Romanov grabbed his sixth goal of the season on 85 minutes after he scrambled the ball over the line from close range to set up a nervous finish to the game; however, South Coast held on for an important three points.
Photo credit: JK Media (File photo)
