South Coast Wolves bites back Bankstown
After frustrating Sydney United in recent weeks, the Wolves got a deserved victory thanks to a brace to Mark Picciolini and one to Andres Gomez.
The match began in typical fashion at Jensen Park with Bankstown City pushing and showing their gritty football with rough challenges flying in.
Gaining the majority of possession, the home-side had the first chance of the match.
In the 9? minute, Tallan Martin did well to dribble past three defenders and lay it off for Hussein Salameh, but his poor shot went well over the crossbar.
Following a flurry of Bankstown attacks, South Coast slowly began to find their feet and could have hit the lead twice in the matter of minutes.
In the 14? minute a great through ball from in-form Tayfun Buyukkopru found Andy Keep as the striker beat the goalkeeper but hit the post.
A minute later and South Coast were to be denied again as great dribbling by Andres Gomez ended in a fantastic shot from 25-yards out, beating Joseski in goal but smashing the crossbar and shocking the home fans.
South Coast then began to keep the ball, frustrating Bankstown which resulted in a number of yellow cards being dished out by referee Peter Vrtovski.
It took Bankstown until the 33? minute to have their second real chance of the evening as the Wolves continued to break down their plays.
After Joseski cleared the ball from goals, Nick McInerney misjudged the flight of the ball allowing Hussein Salameh to pounce. The clever striker beat another defender and had his powerful effort saved by Brody Crane?s chest, without the shot-stopper even noticing the ball coming towards him.
The Bankstown faithful did not have to wait much longer for the opener however, as against the run of play Richard Luksic jumped up for a header and buried the ball into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Although having conceded against the run of play, South Coast continued to pester the Bankstown defence going close on a number of occasions to end the first-half.
The second period began much like the first ended as South Coast equalised in the space of 2? minutes.
After winning a corner, Mark Picciolini scored a header in almost identical fashion to Luksic?s goal to pip the score back to 1-1.
The match then began to heat up as both teams went in hard to find the ?go ahead? goal. In the 60? minute South Coast took the lead as Picciolini scored his second with a beautiful strike finding the back of the net in great fashion.
Picciolini nearly added a third on 64? minutes as he struck a shot at goal only to be thwarted by the waiting Joseski.
Bankstown City again began to gain the possession as the searched for an equaliser, though the Wolves defensive duo of Dave Abel and Alex Mansueto stood tall with great headed clearances frustrating the home-side.
Bankstown had a golden chance in the 73? minute as Shannon Burgin moved in from the left-hand side, beating three defenders and hitting a cracking shot goal bound, though the shot was excellently saved by Crane in between the sticks for the Wolves.
One minute later and Bankstown thought they deserved a penalty after Mileski was brought down in the area, but the referee waved play on much to the disgust of the home fans.
The missed chances came back to haunt the home-side as the Wolves extended their lead on 81? minutes.
Following a throw-in, Bansktown crowded their corner to clear the ball but a sneaky through ball by Lisandro Berbis put Paine on goal to square the ball as Gomez hit the back of the empty net to all but seal South Coast?s first win of the season.
In the dying minute of the match, Bankstown?s hard work returned some consolation as Almir Dizdaric scored a header to enter his name on the score sheet.
Following the match, Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was ecstatic with the result:
?We were very weary of the quality this side had and to come away with the points is magnificent.
?After our game against Sydney United where we were paralysed at times I told the boys we have to back ourselves and play our passing game and some of that we got right tonight which ended in our favour.??
Bankstown City FC coach Peter Tsekenis also heaped praise on the South Coast Wolves:
?That is the best side we have played so far this season.
?We were below par today. I think we expected to walk all over them and it came back to bite us.
?They played well, defended in numbers and credit to them, they really deserved the win today.??
In the Grade 20?s fixture, the South Coast Wolves ran away with a 2-0 win over a determined Bankstown outfit.
Match Stats
Bankstown City FC 2 (Luksic 35?, Dizdaric 92?)
South Coast Wolves 3 (Picciolini 47?, 60?, Gomez 81?)
Saturday, 27th March, 2010
Jensen Park, Sefton
Referee: Peter Vrtovski
Crowd: 300 Approx.
Bankstown City FC: 1.Zlatko Joseski (gk); 2.Scott Thomas, 3.Shannon Burgin, 4.Brett Studman, 5.Richard Luksic (C), 6.Peter Tsekenis, 7.Steve Liavas (11.Almir Dizdaric 75?), 10.Robbie Mileski, 14.Suad Ameti (8.George Nohra 66?), 20.Hussein Salameh, 23.Tallan Martin (99.Chris Goddy Bascur 69?)
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Damien Brosque, 22.R. Napoleon
Yellow Cards: Brett Studman 18?, Steve Liavas 45?, Peter Tsekenis 62?
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane (gk); 2.Alex Mansueto, 4.Dave Abel, 5.Nick McInerney, 6.Lisandro Berbis, 7.Andy Keep, 8.Tayfun Buyukkopru, 9.Mark Picciolini (19.Ken Chun 79?), 11.Andrew Paine (10.Jason Trifiro 90?), 14.Andres Gomez (16.Keiren Deane 86?), 17.Tynan Diaz
Subsitutions Not Used: 3.Greg Valic, 40.Nick Matic (gk)
Yellow Cards: Lisandro Berbis 18?
Red Card: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Mark Picciolini (SCW)
2 – Tayfun Buyukkopru (SCW)
1 – Dave Abel (SCW)
-By Christopher Georges
