Sharks attack as Sutherland Shire book TigerTurf Cup Grand Final spot
Sutherland took it to Penrith Nepean United from the start and within 30-seconds Neil Jablonski played in Panni Nikas on the right but the shot was scuffed and trickled weakly through to Matthew Nash.
Seven minutes in and Brad Boardman picked up a loose back pass and clipped it toward the back post but the cross was deflected by Paul Crisp and Sharks high flyer Matt Hall charging in couldn?t gain enough height to power it home with the goal at his mercy in another let off for Penrith Nepean United as the Sharks continued to apply all the early pressure.
The opener eventually came in the 13th with Jablonski and Michael Katz playing a neat one-two and the cross coming in from the Sharks right to be headed home by Panni Nikas at the near stick with delightful ease as the backline of Evangelos Petratos, Matthew Liddall, Ante Juric and Nic McInerney were led a merry dance in the opening period. It was Nikas? eighth goal in the TigerTurf Cup tournament.
Nikas was involved in the second with a thunderous free-kick from 25-yards that crashed off the bar and fell fortuitously for Jablonski to hammer home as the early pressure paid handsome dividends for the home side that in reality was no more than just reward for their early endeavors as they exposed the Penrith Nepean United defence with their pace.
Penrith Nepean United?s Player Manager Ante Juric was forced into a goal line clearance after 23-minutes when Hall was found with a Chris Price cross as Sutherland went for the jugular and tried to finish the tie in the first-half as their opponents were no much playing poorly as simply not being allowed to play at all and the occasional half chance that did fall their way was snatched at as the Sharks defence closed everything down at pace.
Penrith Nepean United did have an opportunity gloriously set-up by Juric who lobbed the ball over the Sharks defence for Greg Kondek to run on to but it wouldn?t come down nicely allowing time for both George Souris and Nick Stavroulakis to get back and combine together to get the ball out for a corner and defuse a dangerous situation.
It was all too little in the way of chances for the visitors and even luck had seemingly deserted them at this point and when Tayfun Buyokkopru had a free-kick blocked by a fully stretched Michael Robinson as it was clear to all this was the case as the half-time whistle blew with the homes side two goals to the good.
Credit Penrith Nepean United for keeping a lid on a Sharks side really fired up for the game and keeping it down to just the two at the break as there was always hope in the second period they could snatch an early reply and panic the Sharks at the back and Sean Mitchell had probably the best chance of the game for the visitors in the opening seconds of the half but sadly fired wide.
Juric?s men were largely reduced to long range efforts and Mitchell had another opportunity after 59-minutes which was comfortably held by Nathan Denham before business as usual was restored, in this particular match, as Sutherland went on the attack again although Penrith Nepean United really clawed their way back into the game.
If any more proof were needed about poor luck it came after 68-minutes when Jimmy Bakis, five minutes after coming on for Hall, floated in a free-kick that eluded everyone and found the back of the net after bouncing in the 6-yard box as Sutherland extended their lead to three.
Chances continued to fall for both sides and yet another substitute Nathan Ralph completed the scoring in extra time to give a comprehensive score-line of four goals to nil to Sutherland who keep their recent momentum going and a future date with Manly United in the TigerTurf Cup Final.
Penrith Nepean United coach Ante Juric commented afterwards: ?I?m disappointed we let four in as I can?t remember Nashy (Matthew Nash) having to make any saves.
??They dominated us early on and put us under the pump but they did have home ground advantage and I suppose we?ll see a different game at Cook Park in a couple of weeks time.
?They deserved their win today, they wanted it more.?
Robbie Stanton stated: ?We played some good football here today but I thought we were a little complacent in the second-half.
?We were caught too deep and had to fight our way back up the pitch but it was a good all round performance and you cannot complain about two goals in each half.?
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks: 4 (Panni Nikas 13, Neil Jablonski 18, Jim Bakis 68, Nathan Ralph 91)
Penrith Nepean United: 0
Competition: TigerTurf Cup Semi-Final
Venue: Seymour Shaw Park
Attendance: Approx 450
Sutherland Sharks: 1 Nathan Denham, 2 George Souris (c), 4 Michael Robinson, 6 Chris Price (8 Nathan Ralph 76), 9 Brad Boardman, 10 Matt Hall (7 Jimmy Bakis 63), 11 Ben Spruce, 12 Neil Jablonski, 14 Nick Stavroulakis, 15 Michael Katz, 23 Panni Nikas (13 Andrew Smith 83)
Subs Not Used: 17 Jordan Nikolovski, 22 Yanni Fragogiannis
Yellow Cards: Nikas 81
Red Cards: Nil
Penrith Nepean United: 1 Matthew Nash, 4 Evangelos Petratos (6 Steven Baveas 46), 3 Matthew Liddell (David Gardiner 25), 8 Paul Crisp, 12 Nic McInerney, 14 Greg Kondek, 15 Sean Mitchell, 17 Ante Juric, 19 Michael Dowling, 23 Devrim Huseyin (c), 26 Tayfun Buyokkopru (11 Dimitrios Petratos 67)
Subs Not Used: 2 Trent Barton, 21 Nik Jelic
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Lance Greenshields, Adam Coombes
Man of the Match: Panni Nikas (SS)
-By Micky Brock
