Berries collect vital points in victory over Wollongong FC
In what was billed as a ?desperate scrap?, the Berries emerged victorious courtesy of a set piece and a breakaway goal at the death.
Wollongong looked sharp early on, buoyed by their performance at Manly the previous weekend. 10? minutes in, Aden Wade pirouetted in the box leaving his marker for dead but his driven shot to the far post was scrambled away by two defenders with two Wollongong attackers in close attention.
A minute later and a fast break out of midfield saw ?the Community? three on one, Wade cleverly slotted the ball to his left to Samet Kaynak, but the young striker could only scuff his shot into the arms of a relieved Hamish McLean in the Berries goal.
Wollongong were threatening to run riot but the Berries stuck to their task and were nearly rewarded when Marjan Novotni saw his powerful header smack against the Wollongong crossbar, bounce down on the line and be scrambled away to safety on 18? minutes.
On 20? minutes Ben Bronnenberg needlessly gave away a free-kick on the edge of the Wollongong area. Three Berries players sized it up; Kosta Lagoudakis decided he fancied it and nonchalantly passed the ball low and hard into the bottom right corner of the Wollongong net. 1-0 Berries.
The goal lifted the Berries and they started to exploit some uncertainty that began to creep into Wollongong?s game. Lagoudakis was proving a handful and Jack Sobczyk started to assert himself and gain control from the Wollongong strikers.
Half-time came with neither side having gained any true ascendancy.
The second-half proved somewhat dour with few clear cut chances.
Glenn Fontana, the interim Wollongong coach replaced playmaker Ballamadou Conde with James Lawrence and Ilija Prenzoski with Corey Gamiero in an attempt to change the game.
Steve Hayes started to make his presence felt in the midfield and made a number of probing runs. In the 68? minute some clever build up work by Gamiero allowed him to break into the Berries box. He got to the byline and tricked the defender with a neat drag back, he bore in on goal with two Wollongong strikers free but his sharp cut back was well held by McLean at full stretch.
John Calleja replaced Liam Austin with Eli Squillacioti and goalscorer Lagoudakis with Morrisey as the Wollongong pressure mounted.
On 84? minutes Wade drew a foul on the left edge of the Berries? box. Wollongong threw everyone forward into the box in search of the equaliser, but a poor delivery was cleared downfield to Dimitri Zakilas who beat Wade to the ball and bore down on goal. Despite Matt Brandalise and Brendan Kearnes? best efforts to close Zakilas down he finished expertly from 16-yards out to secure the points for the Berries.
Novotni succumbed to cramp and was replaced by Cameron Jones as the Berries held on to a hard fought victory and three vital points.
Glenn Fontana was disappointed with basic errors that his team made:
?We worked hard in training all week to improve things, but we must get the basics right. Poor decision making cost us both goals. There is a lot of hard work for us here but we will get there.?
Berries boss John Calleja was very pleased with his team:
?We came here with a game plan and executed it perfectly. We played to our strengths and worked hard as a team to stop Wollongong playing the way they wanted to. I am pleased for the boys after a tough month, they deserve a great deal of praise for what they achieved today.?
In the Grade-20 division, Wollongong Community FC defeated West Sydney Berries 4-0.
Match Stats
Wollongong Community FC 0
West Sydney Berries 2 (Kosta Lagoudakis 20?, Dimitri Zakilas 84?)
Sunday 3rd May, 2009
Hooka Creek Park, Hooka Creek Road, Berkeley
Referee: Gerard Parsons.
Assistant Referees: David Cockeridge, Steve Nguyen.
Fourth Official: Jason Clachwood.
Crowd: 500
Wollongong Community FC: 20.Matt BRANDALISE; 2.Kieran DEANE, 5.David ABEL, 6.Ilija PRENZOSKI, (19.Corey GAMEIRO) 8.Samet KAYNAK, 9.Steve HAYES, 10.Balla CONDE (15. Jimmy LAWRENCE), 12. Brendon KEARNS , 13.Ben BRONNEBERG, 16.Aden WADE, 17.Chris NATHANIEL
Substitutes Not Used: 7. Josh Price, 18.Steve DIMITRIEVSKI, 1. Alex Augusto
Yellow cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish Mclean; 2.Marjan NOVOTNI (9.Camerno JONES), 3.Omar SAADI, 4.Adam WITHER, 6.Jack SOBCZYK , 7.Peter PERALTA, , 11.Aheleas KOTSOPOULOS, 14.Liam AUSTIN (20. Eli SQUILLACIOTI), 15.Ryan JONES, 16.Kosta LAGOUDAKIS (31. S. MORRISEY), 19.Dimitri ZAKILAS.
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Trinity ALLEN, 17. C. GAITATZIS
Yellow Cards: Peter Peralta 68?, Dimitri Zakilas 84?.
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Kosta Lagoudakis (WSB)
2 – Steve Hayes (WCFC)
1 ? Jack Sobczyk (WSB)
-By David Wallace
