Berries squash Wollongong after six-goal haul at Lidcombe Oval

It looked as though Glen Fontana?s men were set to take out only their second victory of the TeleChoice Premier League campaign with striker Illija Prenzoski putting the away side in the lead in the eighth minute. Inspirational Wollongong skipper Steve Hayes had his shot saved by Hamish McLean however the rebound fell to Prenzoski who made no mistake to put the South Coast side one up.
Fontana?s men continued to pile on the pressure and almost got a second in the fifteenth minute when Hayes played a neat ball to Fulham bound Corey Gamiero, but the youngster saw his shot sail over the bar.
After playing some great football Wollongong were hit with a massive blow after defender Dave Able was given his marching orders in the thirty-third minute for a rash challenge.
This was to change the outcome of the game as the Berries flexed their muscles with the one man advantage and got their reward a minute before half-time when striker John Tsironis took a clever free-kick which caught Wollongong napping to put them on level terms.
All the action continued in the second half as the Berries started off better and grabbed the lead in the fifty-fourth minute when ?Man of the Match? Tsironis played a nice pass to fellow striker Dimitri Zakilas who slotted the ball beyond a despairing Alex Augusto.
The job was then made almost impossible for Fontana?s courageous men who went down to nine players after Hayes was given his second yellow in the seventy-first minute.
With nine men on the park, Wollongong were then put to the sword as John Calleja?s side grabbed a third in the seventy-eighth minute when a Kosta Lagoudakis thunderbolt was saved by Augusto but the ball fell onto the head of Chris Gaitatzis who made no mistake in giving the Berries a 3-1 lead.
The Berries continued its assault and only a minute later went 4-1 up after Berries skipper Aheleas Kotstopoulos played a pin-point cross onto the head of Tsironis who notched up his second goal of the game.
In the eighty-ninth minute the Berries went 5-1 up after Tsironis won a challenge and slotted through Liam Austin who put his side further into the lead.
The demolition was complete and most notably for Tsironis who bagged his hat-trick in the ninety-second minute when he calmly placed the ball beyond Augusto?s net with the final score ending 6-1 to the home side.
Afterwards a jubilant Calleja was proud of his players but believed the score-line was not a true reflection of how the game went.
?The dream is over in terms of reaching the finals series but we achieved a goal in that we have won more points this year than we did last season.
?We obviously want to finish as high as possible on the TeleChoice Premier League ladder and will be fighting for that in our final two matches.
?Wollongong came into this match with nothing to lose and they did not deserve to lose like they did tonight. They put in a tremendous fight even with nine-men and played some great football.
?Overall though I was very pleased with my players and I was happy to have celebrated only our second victory at home.?
For Wollongong, one of their key men in midfield Balla Conde who battled well was proud of his players and stated that the club will fight till the end in terms of achieving positive results.
?We are obviously in a position where we don?t have much to play for in terms of the finals series but want to collect as many points as possible for the entire club.
?We gave it our all tonight but certain decisions went against us and that hurt us in the end.
?The boys are all playing for pride as well and we are going to fight until the end.?
The Guinean born star said that he is still enjoying his football and will continue to play on for as long as he can.
?I love my football, it is my life and I want to do the best that I can to keep things going at the club.
?I know the boys are still playing good football and we will fight till the end to achieve positive results.?
In the Grade 20?s match West Sydney Berries defeated Wollongong Community FC 6-2.
Match Stats
West Sydney Berries 6 (John Tsironis 44?, 79?, 92?, Dimitri Zakilas 54?, Chris Gaitatzis 78?, Liam Austin 89?)
Wollongong Community FC 1 (Ilija Prenzoski 8?)

Venue: Lidcombe Oval, Lidcombe.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Crowd: Approx 300
Referee: Stephen Toth
Assistant Referees: Daniel Dewhurst & Backar Allam
Fourth Official: Nick Tragoustis
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish McClean; 3.Omar Saadi (2.Marjan Novotni 86?), 5.Daniel Clifford, 7.Peter Peralta, 6.Jack Sobczyk, 11.Aheleas Kotsopoulos, 16.Kosta Lagoudakis, 17.Chris Gaitatzis, 10.John Tsironis, 19.Dimitri Zakilas (12.Stefan Donevski 75?), 15.Ryan Jones
Substitutes Not Used: 4.Paul Wither, 22.Trinity Allen

Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil

Wollongong Community FC: 1.Alex Augusto; 2.Kieran Deane, 4.Alfredo Esteves, 5.Dave Able, 6.Ilija Prenzoski, 9.Steve Hayes, 10.Balla Conde, 12.Brendan Kearns (16.Jamie McMaster 60?), 15.Jimmy Lawrence, 17.Chris Nathaniel (13.Gecke Duczynski 85?), 19.Corey Gamiero
Substitutes Not Used: 18.Brian Venega, 20. Bryce Deanell, 8.Jack Keating
Yellow Cards: Steve Hayes 63′ (WCFC)
Red Cards: Dave Able (WCFC) 31?, Steve Hayes (WCFC) 71?
-Football NSW