Berries defeat Manly United in Easter thriller
Manly United FC, on paper, looked the team to beat, while the Berries have been struggling of late and a win would definitely boost their moral and positioning on the NSW Premier League ladder.
This thrilling game ended with West Sydney Berries grinding out a 3- 2 win.
Conditions were perfect for the start of the game as both sides dominated midfield and were prepared to spread the ball across both sides of the park, however West Sydney Berries were the first to take aim at their stronger opponent within minutes of kick-off, shooting just wide of the Manly United goal.
This prompted Manly to turn their attentions into attack, and did so with countless raids on the Berries left side of defence. Manly players Craig Midgley, Brad Groves and Andrew Mailer all combined well with short passes, finding space and exposing the Berries backline.
Manly United seemed more willing to cross the ball wide and long using ultimate precision and controlled the midfield with ease. Manly at this point seemed certain to score a goal, but a lapse in concentration in the 6? minute gifted the Berries a real opportunity in attack with their short passing skills leading to Berries player Kosta Lagoudakis just having the Manly United keeper to beat – and doing it with skill, aiming the ball in the top left corner.
The visitors looked shell-shocked and tried to compose themselves by creating more counter-attacking opportunities in-order to find an equaliser, however in the 12? minute the home-side was awarded a penalty. Berries striker Dmitri Zakilas was composed and chipped the Manly goalkeeper Brad Swancott as he dived to the right side of goals: the Berries were now two goals up and riding high on confidence.
The tactics also changed as the Berries formulated attack after attack against a Manly side that was still trying to control possession. The combinations from Ryan Jones, Stefan De Jesus and Peter Peralta were causing problems for Manly which lead to a substitution in the 22? minute.
Coach Phil Moss replaced defender Pascal Julliard with Robbie Cattanach, allowing the visitors to sit on the ball longer in the attacking third.
Manly?s playmakers Midgley, Mailer and Cattanach created opportunities and it looked that before the end of the half, they would peg a goal back, however this would not eventuate as the game slowed in intensity as the first-half drew to a close.
The second-half changed dramatically as both sides were bogged down in midfield due to poor pitch and weather conditions following a downpour. The continual rain was the games new backdrop as attack was sometimes limited with both sides playing cautious football, using the long ball and taking adventurous shots at goal from distance.
Both sides were hoping for someone to make a mistake or that the keepers would fumble the ball due to the wet and windy conditions, but both keepers were gallant in their efforts.
During this period of the game there were a number of clumsy challenges and yellow cards given from both sides as visibility continue to worsen for both players and supporters alike, substitution would be another key tactic used throughout the game.
In the 71? minute a clumsy challenge leading to another yellow card for Manly United gave the Berries left footer Ryan Jones an opportunity to score, making no mistakes as he found the left side of the net, however moments later in the 73? minute Berries player Jesse Pinto received a yellow card just outside of the Berries penalty box.
Manly United capitalised on the set-piece as Keith Shevlin headed the ball into the back of the Berries net for their first goal of the evening.
Deep in injury-time Manly United threw all caution to the wind as Justin Hayward got forward to pull a second goal back for his side.
Despite a high intensity I the closing moments, the Berries held out for a well deserved win.
After the game a jubilant West Sydney Berries coach John Calleja said:
?Close to the end of the match it was heart-attack stuff, because of the way we defended late in the game giving them (Manly) more opportunities to come back into the game, I wasn?t happy conceding the two goals tonight, as one goal was off a set piece of play and this week we were concentrating on set plays in training.
?It was a ball that went unchallenged allowing the Manly player to be free- we should have done better. I think it also had to do with our attitude at that point in the game, as we had just scored our third goal and we had a lapse in concentration allowing Manly to get back in the game.
?We would have liked a clean sheet, but overall I am very pleased with the players?.
Meanwhile a disappointed Manly coach Phil Moss had little to be happy about following the final whistle:
?It was a very disappointing performance and result, credit goes to the Berries coach and players as they made it a real contest tonight, but we were not enthusiastic and being enthusiastic and having a high tempo is something we demanded before the game but I don?t think we got that tonight.
?2-0 down, I believe we had a penalty waved away, which I believed we had a strong case for and I also believe we had enough chances to get ourselves back in the game and ultimately win the game but we didn?t take our opportunities.
?We gave ourselves a mountain to climb from the very start and at this level you will find it very hard to break teams down and get a result when you have given two goals away within the first 15 minutes, we were trying to force a result for us and look for something as our two goals scored were probably the simplest goals we will score this year, we can?t be conceding goals and then chasing the game.?
Match Stats
West Sydney Berries 3 (Kosta Lagoudakis 6?, Dmitri Zakilas 12?, Ryan Jones 71?)
Manly United 2 (Keith Shevlin 73?, Justin Hayward 90?+1?)
Saturday, 3rd April 2010
Sydney Olympic Athletic Centre
Crowd: 100
Referee: Andrew Best
Assistant Referees: Lance Greenshields and Adam Coombes
Fourth Official: Brendan Johansen
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish MCLEAN; 2 David Gardiner; 3.Omar SAADI, 5.Ryan WALSH, 7.Peter PERALTA, 8.Jesse PINTO 12.Stefan DE JESUS (77.Ash RYAN 87?), 15.Ryan JONES, 16.Kosta LAGOUDAKIS, 19.Dmitri ZAKILAS (10.John TSIRONIS 80?), 21.Damir PRODANAVIC.
Substitutes Not Used: 18.Shayne MORRISEY, 20 James O?Rourke, 22 Cem Akili.
Yellow Cards: Stefan DE JESUS 50?, David Gardiner 52?, Jesse PINTO 73?, James O?Rourke 76?.
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United FC: 1.Brad SWANCOTT; 2.Sean BOWDEN, 4.Joel GRENELL, 5.Pascal JULLIARD 23? (9.Robbie CATTANACH 23?), 7.Andrew MAILER, 8.Keith SHEVLIN, 10.Craig MIDGLEY, 16.Joey SCHIRRIPA, 19.Brad GROVES (3.Roberto HAMAD 63?), 21.Chris GALLO (12.Justin HAYWARD 63?), 22.Joey GIBBS.
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Rhyss KEANE, 13.Mitchell MACEDO
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Stefan DE JESUS (WSB)
2 – Andrew MAILER (MU)
1 – Hamish MCLEAN (WSB)
-By Peter Chiodo
