Berries salvage precious point against White Eagles
The Eagles had stormed to a 2-0 lead during a dominant first-half performance but allowed John Calleja?s men back into the match courtesy of a quickly-taken free-kick by Kosta Lagoudakis.
Bonnyrigg regained their two-goal advantage in-front of a healthy crowd through Jay Lucas and looked set to pick up three points as they again assumed control of the match, but their opponents fought their way back into the contest before equalising ? and then wasting a number of promising scenarios to win the match at the death.
For their part, Brian Brown?s side had a header cleared off the line immediately after conceding, as a thrilling night?s action ended appropriately.
Watching Eagles fans would have been forgiven however for thinking that their side were set to cruise to victory early in the match, despite having seen the ball cleared off their own line after 14? minutes.
It was barely a minute later though that Nikola Zonjic had the ball in the back of the Berries net, rising to head home unmarked past West Sydney goalkeeper Hamish McLean, who watched his defence self-implode during the early stages of the match.
Unable to deal with the physical presence of Bonnyrigg, both in midfield and attack, the home-side was able to monopolise possession and force Calleja?s side to sit deep in their own half.
The Berries still managed to carry an attacking threat, Archie Kotsopoulos coming close with a first-time strike that rolled past the right post with shot-stopper Nenad Vekic stumbling.
In an increasingly open game, Zonjic came close with a driven volley after some good hold-up play by Almir Dizdaric on 26? minutes, before McLean was again called into action to deny Antonio Faria at the far post after another poorly-defended Bonnyrigg corner.
A few moments later though and the Eagles extended their lead through Dizdaric, who bundled home from close-range after new recruit Jay Lucas rose superbly at the far post to head the ball back across goal. It was Lucas? first game at the club since his move from Illawarra Premier League side Albion Park White Eagles.
Amazingly, the Berries responded immediately despite having been dominated for the most part of the match; having barely registered an attacking threat since conceding. Kosta Lagoudakis showed superb intelligence to catch goalkeeper Vekic out, sneaking home a quickly-taken free-kick to stun the watching crowd.
That 38? minute strike sprung the Berries to life and they came close to an equalizer 2? minutes later; Peter Peralta sending the ball just past Vekic?s left post after some neat interplay just outside the penalty-area.
The visitors failed to carry their renewed confidence into the second-half however and were punished for some rather lax defending 20? minutes in; Lucas seeing his deflected effort wrong-foot McLean after the Berries failed to clear their area.
It sparked another period of dominance for Brown?s men, who were comfortably dealing with their opponents ? until the 70? minute of the match.
Vekic elected to punch clear a free-kick from his penalty-area, only to see the ball fall to Peralta, who struck a sweet half-volley through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Though they failed to break-down their opponents, the Berries finally forced an equaliser following their best move of the match with a minute of normal time remaining.
Some slick interplay saw the ball eventually moved to Johnny Fotiadis on the right flank, from where the full-back sent a dangerous low ball into the near-post.
It managed to evade Vekic, though Tayfun Devrimol was the unfortunate Bonnyrigg defender who bundled the ball agonisingly over his own line; a cruel way to end the match for one of the Eagles? better performers on the night.
Immediately though the home-side exposed their opponents? frailty from set-pieces, the Berries forced to clear off their own line following a corner before they themselves squandered chances to hit their opponents on the break ? a wonderfully entertaining encounter ending justly, with both sides sharing the points.
Match Stats
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3 (Zonjic 15?, Dizdaric 35?, Lucas 65m)
West Sydney Berries 3 (Lagoudakis 38?, Peralta 70?, Devrimol (O.G.) 89?).
Saturday 16th May, 2009
Bonnyrigg Sports Ground, Bonnyrigg
Referee: Adam Weir
Assistant Referees: Gareth Ashkam and Sarah Ho
Fourth Official: Mark Mitchell
Crowd: Approx 1000
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Nenad VEKIC; 2.Paul COTTE, 5.Mark D?ALESSANDRO, 7.Nikola ZONJIC, 8.Daniel WILLOUGHBY (14. Dominic CUTRI 62?), 9.Jay LUCAS (10. Frederick GRAHAM 80?), 11. Almir DIZDARIC, 17. Milorad SIMONOVIC, 18.Tayfun DEVRIMOL, 19.Antonio FARIA, 20.Milan ZORIC (Graeme FORBES 79?)
Yellow Cards: N Zonjic (BWE), D Cutri (BWE), H McLean (WSB), J Sobczyk (WSB), J Tsironis (WSB)
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish MCLEAN; 8.Johnny FOTIADIS, 11.Archie KOTSOPOULOS, 6.Jack SOBCZYK, 4.Adam WITHER (10.John TSIRONIS 75′), 5.Daniel CLIFFORD, 7.Peter PERALTA, 19.Dimitri ZAKLIAS (17.Chris GAITATZIS 66′), 16.Kosta LAGOUDAKIS, 14.Liam AUSTIN, 15.Ryan JONES (Stefan DONEVSKI 66′)
Player Ratings:
3 ? Kosta Lagoudakis (WSB)
2 ? Almir Dizdaric (BWE)
1 ? Peter Peralta (WSB)
-By Chris Paraskevas
