Sydney United and Sutherland Sharks settle for draw at Edensor Park
Both sides squandered several chances, but in the end were forced to share the spoils, a fitting result after a gruelling 90? minutes of football.
The Sutherland Sharks were quick out of the water and almost took an early lead courtesy of Brad Boardman, but his left-footed effort failed to trouble Vedran Janjetovic.
But it didn?t the Sharks too much longer to open their account.
Panny Nikas found himself in open space down the left-flank, taking the ball to the goal line before crossing a ball to Neil Jablonski who only had to side-foot his shot into an empty goal in the 3? minute.
Facing an early one goal deficit, United didn?t allow their opponents to settle on their lead, striking back with a goal of their own in the 10? minute.
It was the experience of Joe Vrkic that set up United?s opener, floating a long ball into the direction of Roger Galayini who headed his shot past Nathan Denham to level.
It was a dramatic end to the first-half, with United missing out on the chance to take a one goal advantage into the break.
From a United free-kick, the ball looked to have hit a Sutherland arm in the box, but despite the Reds? protests for a penalty, the referee waved play on.
Then moments later Ante Milicic had the chance to take his side into the lead, but was unable to slot his shot between the defence and was forced to watch his shot trickle wide of the left post.
Milicic decided to leave his mark on the game early in the second period, floating a ball to an unmarked Glavas at the far post, but Denham dived low to his left and denied the striker.
Boardman tried to show his opponents how it was done, but the striker?s shot ricocheted off the right post, beating the outstretched efforts of Janjetovic.
But United were unable to clear from danger, allowing Boardman a second opportunity to find the back of the net, but his shot sailed into the crowd.
In the 71? minute United were awarded a free kick after Elsid Barkhousir was brought down on the edge of the box.
Andrija Petkovic took the onus upon himself to break the deadlock, and the number 24 delivered.
His shot from 25-metres out looked destined for nothing but net, however the ball smashed into the left post, falling to the waiting Luka Glavas who belted his shot past Denham for a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks were quick to hit back in similar fashion, also equalising from a free-kick.
It was Panni Nikas who delivered the ball from the touchline to Ben Spruce at the near post, heading his shot into the top right hand corner to level at 2-2 in the 79? minute.
Matthew Hall had the opportunity to score his side?s second goal in as many minutes, but Vedran Janjetovic was superb in denying Hall with a dive low to his left.
Elsid Barkhousir and Sam Munro did their part to help United steal a last ditch win, but Davor Bajsic?s shot deflected straight off a sharks defender.
A handball in the 90? minute allowed United with a final chance to snatch victory, but Bajsic?s shot almost sailed out of the ground.?
Sutherland coach Robbie Stanton was delighted with his troops? efforts away from home:
?It was a real strong battle between two strong teams and I?m happy with that,? Stanton said.
?If you saw the first time we played each other compared to today, it was a totally different ball game.
?But it was a good result in the sense that we had to earn it and it will harden us up.?
Despite being pleased with his side?s performance against United, Stanton reflected on previous matches with disappointment:
?We could have easily been playing for first spot today if we hadn?t given up a couple of silly results.?
United defender Damon Collina was left to rue his side?s missed opportunities:
?Two teams battled pretty hard so I think it was a fair result,? Collina said.
?We knew they would try to play the long ball over the top of the back so we knew our back four had to combat that.
Asked whether his side created enough chances to win the match and Collina had no hesitation with his answer:
?Did we ever,? he said.
?We do it every week, we just don?t finish off,? Collina concluded.
Match Stats
Sydney United 2 (Roger Galayini 10?, Luka Glavas 71?)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Neil Jablonski 3?, Ben Spruce 79?)
Sunday, 14th June, 2009
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Crowd: 450
Sydney United: 1.Vedran Janjetovic; 5.Damon Collina, 6.Joe Vrkic, 19.Mitchell Thompson, 7.Todd Brodie, 3.Roger Galayini, 2.Ricky Perinich (24.Andrija Petkovic 45?), 14.Petar Markovic (16.Elsid Barkhousir 62?), 45.Sam Munro, 10.Ante Milicic (12.Davor Bajsic 71?), 11.Luka Glavas
Substitutes Not Used: 36.Mitchell Spear, 20.Michael Frost
Yellow Cards: Ricky Perinich 30?, Joe Vrkic 65?.
Red Cards: Nil.
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 4.Michael Robinson, 15.Michael Katz, 11.Benjamin Spruce, 23.Panni Nikas, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 9.Brad Boardman, 7.Jim Bakis (10.Matthew Hall 45?), 6.Chris Price, 12.Neil Jablonski.
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Srecko Mitrovski, 17.Jordan Nikolovski, 8.Nathan Ralph, 18.Bryan Emerton
Yellow Card: Nick Stavroulakis 63?
Red Cards: Nil.
-By Michael Chammas
