Manly United deny Tigers at the death
In a match that his opposite Luke McGuire won?t forget for a while, Manly had to call on their renowned fighting spirit to maintain their undefeated home record, with Giosue Sama stealing an undeserved point at the death.
Robbie Cattanach should have given the peninsula outfit the lead after just 4? minutes.
Michael Lloyd-Green made a typically energetic run from the right before finding striker Sama, who played in his fellow talisman, but the out of form marksman produced a glaring miss from six yards with the goal at his mercy.
12? minutes later it was Sama?s turn to endure the groans of the faithful in the Lucas Neill stand.
After running onto a ball from Andrew Mailer, Sama hesitated when he should have looked to round Tigers keeper Philip Zabaks, who had rushed off his line.
Instead Sama produced an aimless lob which was hacked to safety by the retreating John Kelso.
That indecisiveness proved to be costly on 36? minutes when Sydney Tigers took the lead.
Central Coast Mariners recruit David D?Apuzzo started and finished a sequence that showed why he is so highly rated by Lawrie McKinna.
D?Apuzzo linked up with Michael West who bustled his way past Mailer before whipping in a cross that the classy midfielder headed home.
After the break, chances from Sama and Joey Schirripa went begging on 55? and 61? minutes before former Melbourne Victory defender Mark Byrnes was shown a straight red card for verbally abusing referee Kurt Ams on 1? minute later.
With the numerical advantage, Manly tried to run their opponents ragged but were unable to break the stubborn Tigers defence – until the death.
With Sydney down to nine men after Michael West was given his marching orders for dissent, Manly threw the kitchen sink at Sydney and got their reward.
Substitute Joey Gibbs out-muscled two retreating Tigers defenders and the ball then bobbled to Sama.
Showing composure for the first time all afternoon, he lifted the ball over Zabaks to ensure Sydney United didn?t extend their lead at the top of the TeleChoice Premier League to anything beyond four points.
A dejected McGuire lamented leaving Cromer Park with only a point but was delighted with the desire of the Tigers:
?Once again a few tight calls didn?t go our way but that is the story of our season,? he said.
?I have spoken to the two boys who got sent off and from what they said it appeared to be a bit harsh.
?Apart from that I felt we played very well, we dominated the game, Nick Rizzo was outstanding for us on debut, his enthusiasm and work rate was second to none.
?We will move on, it?s not the first time we have conceded late goals.?
His counterpart Moss admitted Manly got out of jail:
?Our ball security and execution was poor,? he said.
?We need to show a lot more pride in the top third, we should have been two up inside the first fifteen minutes.
?We will take a point but have plenty to work on.?
In the Grade-20s clash, a hat-trick from Andrew Hayward paved the way for a 4-0 Manly United FC win.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 1 (Josh Sama 92?)
Sydney Tigers 1 (David D?Apuzzo 35?)
Sunday 14th June, 2009
Cromer Park, Dee Why
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Christian Mehl and Adrian Stark
Fourth Official: Chris Wells
Crowd: 300
Manly United FC: 1.Brad SWANCOTT; 3.Andrew MAILER, 4.Spencer PRIOR, 6.Scott THOMAS, 8.Michael LLOYD-GREEN, (23.Fabio PENA 85?) 9. Robbie CATTANACH, 10.Josh SAMA, 13.Mitchell MACEDO, (7.Ash RYAN 45?) 15.Keith SHEVLIN, 16.Joey SCHIRRIPA, (14.Joey GIBBS 76?) 20.Matt BINGLEY
Substitutes Not Used: 40.RHYSS Keane, 2.Sean BOWDEN
Yellow Cards: Mitch MACEDO 18?, Robbie CATTANACH 64?
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Tigers: 99.Phillip ZABAKS; 2.Mark BYRNES, 3.John KELSO, 6.Shane LYONS , 12.Michael WEST, 13.David D?APUZZO, 15.Daniel CUMMINS, 16.Michael HAWRYSIUK (7.Steve KAYES 66?), 18.Bishara STEPHAN, (19.Jamie McMASTER 73?) 22.Nick RIZZO, 24.Jason TRIFIRO
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Giancarlo PAPAPAINI, 8.Marino MUSUMECI
Yellow Cards: Jason TRIFIRO 14?, Michael WEST 30?, Daniel CUMMINS 63?, David D?APUZZO 83?
Red Cards: Mark BYRNES 62?, Michael WEST 87?
-By Andrew Prentice
