Shellharbour City FC-2, Albion Park FC-1 @Tarrawanna Oval
In the 3rd minute, Mitchell Dowzard crossed a ball in from a free kick on the edge of the box.
There was a header to it that almost caught the Shellharbour keeper off guard, but he tapped it away, only for Charles Tambakis to try another effort from the back post and miss the target with a volley.
In the 17th minute, Kyle RIstevski cleared the ball from halfway, and it fell kindly to James Sekuloski.
The Shellharbour forward lobbed the keeper, but it bounced on the outside of the post.
Five minutes later, Shellharbour had another bite, with Edvard and Cassander Grujevski linking up in midfield, and Edvard firing a low, driven shot at goal.
Richard Bull was not pressured by the shot, and calmly positioned himself in the direction of the shot and collected it at the right post.
In the 36th minute, Edvard slotted a ball through to Sekuloski, who was through one-on-one with the keeper.
Bull came off his line to give the striker less time, and his plan worked.
Sekuloski had no time to get around the ball and place so he could only poke the ball, and the keeper saved it.
In the final minute of the game, the through-ball tactic for Shellharbour in the first half finally paid off as Sekuloski chased onto a ball just inside the box only to be fouled by his chasing defender.
Penalty for Shellharbour.
Sekuloski took the responsibility of taking it.
The skipper struck the ball with precision as it squeezed into the bottom left corner; Bull went the right way but couldn’t get to the corner in time.
Shellharbour led at half-time.
Albion Park had momentum early in the second-half but was broken by Shellharbour quickly.
Albion Park lost the ball in the midfield from an overhit pass; George Marentis possessed it and hit it out to Sekuloski on the wing.
He quickly crossed it low and hard to Cassander Grujevski in the box, who took a first-time touch to get around the keeper and then knocked the ball into the unguarded net.
A goal in the first two minutes of the half, the score being 2-0 to Shellharbour.
In the 52nd minute, Albion Park were ignited after conceding; Kian Chesney won the ball in Shellharbour’s third and slipped it to Conor Edenden in the box.
The centre forward was only yards away from the keeper, who charged out and got down low expecting a low, struck shot, but the forward shot high over the keeper and into the net.
The game intensified as Shellharbour’s chances of finals were hanging on by just one goal.
In the 79th minute, Albion Park pushed late for an equaliser and even put Shellharbour on the back foot.
Marcus Navarro passed it out to Matthew Cignarella on the wing.
He curled to the Chesney in the box, who had an impactful role off the bench.
The attacker unfortunately couldn’t find the right touch to set himself up and was cleared away.
Shellharbour endured for the last ten minutes of the game against a side who wouldn’t throw it away till the final whistle.
Shellharbour have their spot in the Grand Final against Coledale.
After losing the first semi-final round to Coledale last week by a sizeable margin, Shellharbour can finally resolve things with a win on the big stage: the Illawarra Premier League 3 Grand Final.
By Thomas Panayiotou
