Sharks bite Manly United

Joey Schirripa came closest for Manly as early as the third minute when Jamie Garside powered in a cross from the left that Schirripa clipped onto the bar with Sharks ?keeper Philip Zabaks well beaten, only for the ball to virtually drop into the custodians arms as he lay prostrate on the ground.
It was the clearest opportunity in a goal-less first-half, but the action was frenzied as half chances came and went and, but for desperate defending at either end, it would have been so different a story.
Shane Lyons had an effort loop over the bar from 10-yards out as he fell backward and was lively throughout the match before being replaced near the end by Mick Robinson.

Lyons slotted home in bizarre circumstances after 66-minutes.

A hopeful cross into the box by Michael Katz saw a melee ensue with blocked shots and bodies flying in all directions until the ball broke to Lyons sniffing around inside the box and made no mistake with rifling home.
It was no more than the Sharks deserved for their second-half performance where they hustled and harried Manly relentlessly even to the point of out-muscling them although the visitors could easily have been in front minutes earlier when a beautiful through ball by substitute Dusan Mihajlovic sent Robbie Cattanach clean through but his scuffed shot went wide of the ?keeper?s left hand upright.
Brad Boardman appeared to have sealed the points for Sutherland when volleying home a tremendous strike from inside the box although it owed more than a little to the build up play and pinpoint cross of Katz, who showed plenty of heart for the fight from start to finish with his marauding runs from right back.
Andrew Mailer could count himself lucky not to get the early shower when collecting a caution from referee Atila Stibinger for a foul on Lyons.

Mailer then committed two more in quick succession.
Manly would not lie down and created some nervous closing minutes for the Sharks when Dusan Mihajlovic netted a soft looking goal, although very well taken, when put through unmarked from a quickly taken free-kick.
At the end of the day it was the home side who wanted to win more than Manly that saw their unbeaten start to the TeleChoice Premier League season continue as both coach?s reflected after the match.
?Losing is one thing,? said a disappointed Phil Moss.
?But we were out-muscled in the second-half and Manly don?t get out-muscled in matches.
?That said it was a good match, a hard test and something we can take some positives from.
?We play Marconi next week at home and we?ll need to concentrate on that but congratulations to Brian (Brown). Sutherland is the team to beat this season and he has them very well prepared,? concluded Moss.
A happy ?Bomber? Brown stated:
?I?m happy for the players because they train hard and work hard for each other out there and it showed tonight. The determination was fantastic and if I could pick a fault it would be that we gave away a soft goal that could have made things hard for us.
?We simply went to sleep for that one and it is something we cannot afford to do against quality opposition like Manly because Mossy has a tight knit squad that has been together for a while and any Moss trained side will always be hard to beat,? he said.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Shane Lyons 66?, Brad Boardman 75?)
Manly United 1 (Dusan Mihajlovic 82?)
Sutherland Sharks: 99 Philip Zabaks, 15 Michael Katz, 4 Pedj Bojic, 2 George Souris, 11 Ben Spruce, 3 Brendan Gan, 8 David Huxley, 14 Nick Stavroulakis (22 David Reid 84?), 7 Jim Bakis, 6 Shane Lyons (16 Mick Robinson 90?), 9 Brad Boardman.
Substitutes not used: 5 Dave Abel, 20 James Lawrence, 1 Matt Brandalise
Manly United: 1 Brad Swancott, 3 Andrew Mailer, 5 Pascal Julliard, 7 Ashley Ryan, 9 Robbie Cattanach, 12 Michael Lloyd-Green (Michael Williams 72?), 13 Jamie Garside (Dusan Mihajlovic 46?), 14 Keith Shelvin, 16 Joey Schirripa, 18 Beau Busch, 19 Richard Williams.
Substitutes not used: 21 Luke Femia, 2 Adam Israel, 6 Andrew Hayward
Yellow Cards: Jim Bakis 45? (SS), Andrew Mailer 49? (MU), Ashley Ryan 78? (MU)
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Attila Stibinger
Attendance: 1,137
Player Ratings:
3 ? Michael Katz (SS)
2 – David Huxley (SS)
1 – Shane Lyons (SS)
– By Micky Brock