Manly United end Sydney United’s unbeaten run in thriller
A polished performance by the visitors was enough to take maximum points from the Friday night encounter; the Manly side re-opening their head-to-head tussle at the top of the ladder.
To the chanting of the crowd, Sydney United started the stronger of the two sides, though it was Vedran Janjetovic who was called into action first. In the 8? minute the game was broken open with a goal to Luka Glavas. A great ball through to the striker from David Zdrilic saw him enhance towards the goal and he chipped the advancing Swancott on a bit of an angle to put the home-side ahead.
This saw Manly United respond with some time in possession in the attacking-third but they could not turn this into real clear-cut opportunities.
Then a couple of opportunities fell at the other end of the field with Michael Lloyd-Green fouling Glavas in the 14? minute on the corner of the penalty-area. The home-side though was unable to convert the dead-ball opportunity successfully.
Two minutes later, another great ball from Zdrilic over the top of Andrew Mailer saw Elsid Barkhousir run onto the ball, as Glavas had just done minutes before. His shot went wide of Swancott and past the wrong side of the post.
Manly then took control of the possession once more but again could not turn this into goalscoring opportunities. Joe Vrkic was particularly strong in cutting out any sniff of trouble at the back for the Reds.
In the 24? minute Manly should have scored when the ball came across the Sydney United backline from Manly?s right – and they all missed it – leaving Joseph Gibbs unmarked. He scuffed his shot along the ground and the ball rolled to Janjetovic when he could have picked his spot anywhere else and scored. It was to be the only low point in an outstanding match for the youngster Gibbs, his hour on the park more than most put in over 90? minutes.
Manly continued to have the lion?s share of possession but it was United who looked in control, even without the ball. Gibbs looked to create another opportunity on 34? minutes as he advanced to the by-line, but his cut back was well cut out by Damon Colina. Perhaps it was not surprising that Manly missed that cutting edge with the likes of Craig Midgely and Robbie Cattanach in the grand stand.
In the shadows of half-time Sydney United had seemingly cleared the ball from their area once more only for Joe Vrkic to clamber into Mitchell Macedo on the edge of the area. The resultant free-kick saw Joey Schirripa step up and his excellent effort saw the ball deflect into the back of the net; Janjetovic left stranded despite the deflection having taken some of the pace off the ball.
In the second-half it was all Manly early as they came out on fire and really put pressure on the Reds defence; their strikers being much more successful in the attacking third of the field. However, they still failed to put a shot on target despite their strong effort.
The home-side was still dangerous and the match looked set for an exciting second stanza; and what a second-half it turned out to be. Manly?s ferocious start to the half was finally capped off in the 58? minute with a goal to Macedo. The ball had come in from the left but was half cleared by the United defence only for Macedo to pounce on the loose ball and fire home with a low hit that almost scraped the post.
Sydney United brought on the changes to try and alter the play.
Within a minute they were claiming hand-ball against Manly but the referee waived away their appeals.
Then in the 64? minute Sam Munro combined with Zdrilic to set up Glavas (who was a major thorn in Manly?s side all night) but the ball just got away from him and went out for a goal-kick. Then Roger Galayini fired an effort well off target when he had been well set up by Zdrilic.
Todd Brodie then almost managed a wonder goal as he tried to cross the ball to Galayini on the right but the ball turned into a shot as it just floated away from the top corner of the goal. It was his last contribution as Ante Milicic came off the bench to try and turn the screw even more.
Manly continued to play good football without chances falling their way, but United were looking more and more dangerous.
In the 75? minute that pressure turned into a goal as Glavas broke down the left and his ball back into the middle of the park was missed by the Manly defence. Ante Milicic ran onto the ball at full speed and smashed in a shot from the right which beat Swancott and was then turned away by the final defender on the goal-line; David Zdrilic was on the spot for to add his name to the scorer?s sheet.
However, Manly were not done and three minutes later, as United chased a winner, the visitors broke and set up a three on two play which saw Scott Thomas just squeeze the ball into the right side of the post and Manly were ahead once more.
The remainder of the match was end to end stuff as United chased an equaliser and Manly continued to break strongly.
Even in the 89? minute Joe Vrkic and Milan Bosnar had to combine well to stop Manly scoring a fourth. Then Brad Swancott was called into making a fine save in the final seconds of the match to seal the points for Manly United FC.
For Phil Moss the smile was there for all to see:
?We came here with a game plan but we did not execute it early in the first-half and let them get away. Then for the last hour or so we played the plan almost to perfection, and we could have scored even more. I am so pleased as we had so many of the boys out tonight and the experienced players left out there had to stand up and be counted, and they were, helping the youngsters make their mark. It is great to come here and get the full points.?
Ante Milicic was disappointed with the performance of his players:
?When we were 1-0 up we had the chance to double our lead and take the game from them. We did not do that and they scored from a deflected free kick a minute from half-time. That is football, we need to learn to take our chances.?
It was a high class game demonstrating the skills of both these high flying teams, and as Friday night entertainment goes, it was fantastic.
Match Stats
Sydney United 2 (Luka Glavas 8?, David Zdrilic 75?)
Manly United FC 3 (Joey Schirripa 43?, Mitchell Macedo 58?, Scott Thomas 78?)
Friday 15th May, 2009
Sydney United Sports Ground, Edensor Park
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Crowd: 800 Approx.
Sydney United: 1.Vedran JANJETOVIC; 5.Damon COLLINA, 4.Milan BOSNAR, 6.Joe VRKIC, 19.Mitchell THOMPSON, 45.Sam MUNRO, 9.David ZDRILIC, 15.Glen TRIFIRO (2.Ricky PERINICH 62?), 7.Todd BRODIE (10.Ante MICLICIC 71?), 16.Elsid BARKHOUSIR (3.Roger GALAYINI 62?), 11.Luka GLAVAS
Substitutes Not Used: 25.Dennis CUTURA, 20.Michael FROST
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United FC: 1.Brad SWANCOTT; 3.Andrew MAILER, 5.Sean BOWDEN, 6.Scott THOMAS, 8.Michael LLOYD-GREEN, 10.Giosue SAMA, 13.Mitchell MACEDO (23.Fabio PENA 81?)14.Joseph GIBBS (24.Bradley GROVES 65?) 15.Keith SHEVLIN, 16.Joey SCHIRRIPA, 20.Matthew BINGLEY
Substitutes Not Used: 40.Rhyss KEANE, 19.Luke READING, 37.Andrew HAYWARD
Yellow Cards: Sama 83?
Red Cards: None
Player Ratings:
3 – Joseph GIBBS (MUFC)
2 ? Luka GLAVAS (SU)
1 – Scott THOMAS (MUFC)
-By Stuart Jones
