Manly United storm into Tiger Turf Cup Semi-Final in style

Manly United stunned the Bonnyrigg faithful in just the 3? minute of play, with some soft defence allowing Robbie Cattanach to stroll past his opposition and slot the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle.
Cattanach had a chance to double their lead moments later, but unfortunately for the visitors, his break-away run was followed by a wayward shot into the stands.
But he wasn?t going to be denied 10? minutes later when he showed too much pace for Graeme Forbes, guiding his shot past an advancing Nenad Vekic to give the visitors a 2-0 lead after 18?minutes.
Milorad Simonovic tried his best to reduce the margin, but several of his efforts failed to trouble Manly shot-stopper Brad Swancott.
But the White Eagles couldn?t contain Cattanach and paid the price, when the striker played his part in putting the result beyond doubt in just the 27? minute.
Cattanach turned a lovely back-heel ball inside to Jimmy Oates who made no mistake extending the lead to 3-0, making the most of his one-on-one opportunity with the Bonnyrigg custodian.
Manly was exploiting the home side on the edges, a tactic the White Eagles failed to counteract in the opening period.
United continued the second-half as they started the first ? on fire.
The boys from the northern beaches almost grabbed a fourth early in the second-half, but Vekic was able to dive to his left and deny the visitors from what would have been a humiliating start to the stanza.
Giosue Sama looked destined to join his teammates on the scoresheet, but unfortunately for the substitute, his shot went agonisingly wide of the intended target.
Bonnyrigg?s best chance of the match came midway through the second-half when Daniel Willoughby whipped a free-kick into the direction of Almir Dizdaric, but his header lacked the direction to trouble Swancott between the sticks.
After a disastrous first-half hit-out, Bonnyrigg could only improve and managed to keep their opponents scoreless in the second period.
But the damage had already been done as Manly dominated proceedings to advance nto the next round of the tournament.
Coach Phil Moss was delighted with his troops, especially after the club?s first half blitz:
?It was a very dominant performance,? Moss said.
?We had quite a few young boys out there so I was delighted with the first half, we really bossed them around and dominated.?
Despite conceding the TeleChoice Premier League was his side?s main objective, Moss has placed great importance on the results of the Tiger Turf Cup:
?It?s a competition and at Manly we sign competitive players who like to win everything that is up for grabs,? he said.
But he knows the Bonnyrigg outfit that took the field tonight would be out to prove a point when the two teams meet in the Premier League wash-out match to be rescheduled in the upcoming weeks:
?We know it will be a different story when we come back here for the wash-out game,? he said.
?Bomber [Bonnyrigg coach Brian Brown] will use tonight to fire his boys up and we have to make sure that when we come back here we are ready for it.?
Match Stats
Tiger Turf Cup Quarter Final
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Manly United 3 (Robbie Cattanach 3?, 18?, Jimmy Oates 27?)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bonnyrigg Sports Club, Bonnyrigg.
Referee: Khodr Yagi
Assistant Referees: David Chrislie, Cameron Bruce
Crowd: Approx 250.
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3.Graeme Forbes, 5.Mark D?Alessandro, 8.Daniel Willoughby, 10.Dejan Zivkovic (15.Steven Bozinovski 45?), 11.Almir Dizdaric, 12.Andre Gumprecht, 17.Milorad Simonovic, 18.Tayfun Devrimol, 19. Vulkasan Ristic (14.Domenic Cutri 45?), 20.Milan Zoric.
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Ali Akbal; 6.Ilkay Gurbuz, 7.Aleks Tomic
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United: 1.Brad Swancott; 2.Sean Bowden, 3.Andrew Mailer, 5.Joel Grenell, 6.Scott Thomas, 9.Robbie Cattanach (10.Gosue Sama 35?), 12.Jamie Garside (17.Scott Wright 70?), 13.Mitchell Macedo, 15.Keith Shevlin, 20.Matthew Bingley, 7.Jimmy Oates (8.Mick Lloyd-Green 61?)
Substitutes Not Used: Rhyss Keane; 4.Chris Gallo,
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Michael Chammas

2009 Tiger Turf Cup Quarter-Finals
Tuesday 7th July – Blacktown City Demons v Fraser Park ? Gabbie Stadium ? 6:30pm
Tuesday 7th Penrith Nepean United v Wollongong Community FC ? Gabbie Stadium ? 8:15pm  
2009 Tiger Turf Quarter Final Results
Sutherland Sharks 2 Bankstown City 1 – Seymour Shaw Park
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0 v Manly United 3 ? Bonnyrigg Sports Club