Sutherland four and easy over Dandaloo
Dandaloo fought hard to control the midfield as Sutherland probed for the early signs of weakness in their play but it took a wildly deflected goal from Nick Stavroulakis to open the scoring when perhaps the Sharks could have been behind when Alvin Ceccoli had a free-kick from just outside the box cannon into the wall.
The visitors were perhaps lucky not to have goalkeeper Mitchell Blowes sent off when bring down Panni Nikas just on the edge of the box on 14? minutes as an already hotly contested game warmed further.
The Lions had a goal disallowed for offside when Ceccoli floated in a free-kick as the teams traded opportunities tit-for-tat and began to mount pressure on the Sharks back four, though the visitors could make little of their enterprising play as they fought to bring them back to parity. Michael Robinson particularly was made to work hard at the back for the Sharks with Nathan Denham called upon on several occasions to race from his line to punch clear.
Dandaloo didn?t have it all their own way as the Sharks peppered the box with crosses. The Lions? tall timber in Milan Bosnar and Corey Horner were hard pressed at times, as the home team found their feet and began to dominate midfield.
Jimmy Bakis spun sweetly in the box bringing the ball from left to right foot and unleashed a ferocious shot that Bowles did well to tip over but from the resultant short corner the ball was played to Stavroulakis who sent over a teasing back post cross that was played back into the path of the onrushing Jablonski to fire home and give the Sharks a 2-0 lead at the break.
The visitors could probably consider themselves unlucky to be two down but they were systematically pinned down, and although a few half-chances on the break were achieved they failed to register any worthwhile efforts after their initial onslaught. Despite this, the no nonsense side were not ready to throw in the towel and continued to make life difficult for Sutherland as they attempted to drag the score back their way, and their intentions were clear when immediately after the resumption Bakis was clattered by Horner as play was waved on.
Panni Nikas was played in and took the shot with his left foot that curled agonisingly wide of the post to show that Sutherland were in no mood to let things slip and wanted to kill off this McDonald?s Cup tie as quickly as possible, and when Bakis slotted home in the 49? minute you sensed it was all but over.
When Milan Bosnar hacked down Stephen McConologue, playing the lone striker role for the Sharks, and escaped a caution it was clear that referee Peter Vrtkovski had his work cut out but in customary fashion he kept the game flowing and on this occasion a stern talking to was all that was needed.
Sutherland rang the changes and brought on Hussein Jasli and James Lawrence for Price and Bakis respectively with Dandaloo swapping Paul Wither for Paul Harries. Lawrence almost made an immediate impact when firing wide then sending over a corner that Spruce headed toward goal that had Blowes saving magnificently with the fingertips as Dandaloo came under heavy pressure.
Jablonski finished off a sweeping move when Lawrence slipped the ball to McConologue who in turn drew the defender and passed for Jablonski to fire home his second of the evening, and the Sharks? fourth, with his final action of the game as coach Robbie Stanton subbed Jablonski with Misha Hardwick and Jack Duncan for the impressive Nathan Denham in goal.
Tyson Rhodes completed the substitutions for Sutherland when replacing George Souris for a taste of first team action in the 79? minute as the game wore down. Nikas still had time to warm the hands of Blowes before substitute Paul Wither netted a consolation for the Lions, but on the night it wasn?t a case of Sutherland Sharks being too big for Dandaloo Lions but they were certainly too mobile and too quick to handle.
Lions Coach Peter Beggs said afterwards:
?I?m happy we made a game of it but we didn?t want to concede early and the deflected goal took a bit of the wind out of our sails.
?We played hard but we only train twice a week and that showed as Sutherland were crisper, more clinical and overall sharper and their class showed in the end.
?No complaints, they were the better team on the night.?
Sharks coach Robbie Stanton was full of praise when adding:
?That was a tough workout for us and Dandaloo are a Premier League side with Premier League players.
?I thought it was a good display and I was able to make five changes and give the younger lads a taste of the action and share the work load around a little but make no mistake, Dandaloo Lions are a class outfit but we?ll move on to the next game all the better for it.?
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 4 (Stavroulakis 12?, Jablonski 37?,73?, Bakis 49?)
Dandaloo Lions 1 (Wither 84?)
Tuesday, 25th May, 2010
Seymour Shaw Park
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Lance Morton
Fourth Official: Jimmy Olsen
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham (24.Jack Duncan 74?); 2.George Souris (36.Tyson Rhodes 79?), 4.Michael Robinson, 6.Chris Price (31.Hussein Jasli 57?), 7.Jimmy Bakis (16.James Lawrence 57?), 10.Stephen McConologue, 11.Ben Spruce, 12.Neil Jablonski (30.Misha Hardwick 79?), 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 22.Yianni Fragogiannis, 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used:
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Dandaloo Lions: 1.Mitchell Blowes; 2.Ben Price, 3.Sam Munro (13.Eugene Turner 65?), 4.Corey Horner, 5.Milan Bosnar, 6.Cris Jackson, 7.David Reid, 8.Alvin Ceccoli, 9.Ryan Emerton (14.Matt Birkin 87?), 10.Paul Harries (11.Paul Wither 57?), 12.Ilija Prenzoski
Substitutes Not Used: David Zufic (G/K)
Yellow Cards: Blowes 14?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Neil Jablonski (SS)
2 ? Nick Stavroulakis (SS)
1 ? Michael Robinson (SS)
-By Micky Brock
