Sharks labour gritty win over Penrith Nepean United
?We mastered the pitch in the second-half and I thought our display was worthy of a point at the end.?
Evangelos Petratos had a looping header saved in as early as the 5? minute by Nathan Denham in the home goal but didn?t really create anything of note again until late on as the Sharks truly put the visitors under the pump which should have seen them take the lead long before they finally did in the 24? minute.
Panny Nikas found the net after Brad Boardman pinched the ball inside the penalty-area and laid it out to the wing for a sweetly placed cross for Nikas.
Indeed, Nikas should have been on the scoresheet 17? minutes earlier when Michael Katz fired in an inch-perfect cross from the right and found the Sharks midfielder in space inside the 6-yard box, but his headed attempt was woeful and a real let off for United with goalkeeper Daniel Schwarzer stranded.
Boardman was unlucky to fire a volley wide before Katz had an effort well saved as the Sharks laid siege to the Penrith box, and with the visitors hauling everyone back, it was impossible for them to clear their lines as wave after wave of Sutherland attacks came surging in, like breakers on the shore line, and it seemed only a matter of time before they broke through; which Nikas eventually did.
Nikas was hungry to score against his former club again and a very neat back-header from a Bakis corner in the 34? minute was well held by Schwarzer who had Boardman and Neil Jablonski bearing down at pace on him before Penrith were woken from their inertia and had probably only their second worthwhile attempt of the half when Petratos (Snr) fired a shot in from the edge of the box that slipped agonisingly wide.
Nikas and Bakis should still have netted a second for the Sharks before half-time but for Schwarzer, pulling off another two terrific saves as the whistle blew to end the first period with the home side just the one goal to the good.
It was a different Penrith-Nepean side who came out after the break as they began to master the surface and play some attractive and penetrating football that paid off five minutes in when Dimitrios Petratos (Jnr) put in a cross for Petratos (Snr) who netted with his head to level the scores which, on the balance of play until then, would justifiably be seen as a snatch and grab raid.
The ball was played in to Boardman who unleashed a thunderbolt from outside the box that Schwarzer saved well but spilt when hitting the ground, and with several Sharks players totally unmarked running in and it was Jimmy Bakis who arrived first to tuck the ball away with aplomb.
Penrith-Nepean came back with all guns blazing but, although just a goal down, they had a mountain to climb and it proved too much in the final wash-up.
Coach Ian Gillan stated afterwards:
?The players said at half-time they were having trouble coming to grips with the surface but we got over that in the second-half and started playing some good football.
?We needed to play the ball quicker than we had been and got ourselves into the game and took it to Sutherland.
?Overall we played well and made life difficult for them and I?m not too disappointed with the way we played and stuck at it but at the end of the day I thought we deserved to get something from the match.
?We play Marconi next up and if we show that level of commitment next week I will be happy but credit to Sutherland as they played well.
Sharks boss Robbie Stanton commented:
?We made a couple of changes tonight and we looked a little flat at times to be honest.
?They came out in the first-half and closed us down and pressed hard in the second so we had to work hard to break them down as they made it difficult for us.
?I?m pleased we didn?t give away any cheap goals this evening and in the end we did just enough to get the points because we?ve played better and lost so the old adage of things evening out over the course of a season rings true.?
In the earlier match the Sharks ran out 5-one winners.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Panny Nikas 24?, Jim Bakis 54?)
Penrith-Nepean United 1 (Gregory Kondek 50?)
Saturday 16th May, 2009
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: David Costello (WA)
Assistant Referees: Lance Greenshield and Steven Nguyen
Fourth Official: Kevin Peddie
Crowd: 639
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 4.Michael Robinson, 7.Jimmy Bakis, 8.Nathan Ralph, 9.Brad Boardman (10.Matthew Hall 80?), 12.Neil Jablonksi, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 15.Michael Katz, 22.Yanni Fragogiannis, 23.Panny Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Kyle Stuart, 17.Jordan Nikolovski, 19.Matthew Villazon, 98.Blake Powell
Yellow Cards: George Souris 58?, Nick Stavroulakis 80?
Red Cards: Nil
Penrith-Nepean United: 1.Daniel Schwarzer; 2.Mark Bariamis, 3.David Comito (12.Nicholas McIernery 86?), 4.Evangelos Petratos, 5.David Gardiner, 7.Matthew Liddall, 9.Mitchell Long, 11.Dimitrios Petratos, 14.Gregory Kondek (8.Alex Mansueto 88?), 17.Ante Juric, 23.Devrim Huseyin (19.Michael Dowling 70?)
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Nikolas Jelic, 20.Trent Barton
Yellow Cards: Dimitrios Petratos 45?, Mark Bariamis 46?, David Comito 67?, David Gardiner 79?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Panny Nikas (SS)
2 ? Nick Stavroulakis (SS)
1 ? Mike Katz (SS)
-By Micky Brock
