Manly United dismantle ten-man Wolves

Scott Balderson had levelled the scores for Manly United less than 60?? seconds after Tayfun Buyokkopru had opened the scoring against the run of play in a first-half that also saw Wolves? Greg Valic receive his marching orders on 38? minutes.
Manly United twice hit the lead early in the second period with an early flurry of goals from Adam Foti and Luke Casserly either side of Jason Trifiro?s equaliser. Craig Midgley?s men then capitalised on their numerical advantage to wear down their opposition and secure the win with late goals from Robbie Cattanach and Andrew Mailer.
Foti caused headaches for the Wolves? backline throughout the match, and twice narrowly missed the target after a quarter of an hour.
Despite Manly?s early dominance, the Wolves broke the deadlock on 18? minutes when Tayfun Buyokkopru was given space to line up an angled 25-yard drive into the top corner of the Manly goal.
Manly hit back immediately when Foti set up Balderson to knock the ball home via a slight deflection from Nick Littler.
Brody Crane denied Manly United the lead 5? minutes later when he rushed off his line to tip Matt Simms? shot over the crossbar after Joseph Gibbs had played his teammate through on goal.
Gibbs caused havoc once again minutes later when he cut past Andres Gomez to fire a powerful shot toward goal; however Crane was equal to the task, parrying the shot upward before gathering the ball at the second attempt.
The Wolves were reduced to ten-men shortly after when Valic hauled Foti to the ground at last man after the striker was played through on goal by a long ball.
With the man advantage, Manly appeared set to run away with the match when Foti slotted the ball past Crane after he was played through on goal once again shortly after the restart.
The Wolves however, well known for their resilience, hit straight back when Gomez broke free on the right and crossed for Trifiro, who placed his first time shot past the stranded Brad Swancott to level the scores once again.
The floodgates did not close there as Manly United again hit the lead 1? minute later with Casserly?s sublime free-kick finding the top corner from 30-yards.
The visitors should have extended their advantage shortly after when Alex Mansueto slipped in the box while trying to clear Matt Simms? cross. The ball fell to the unmarked Balderson, who blasted his volley well over the crossbar to let Wolves off the hook.
Manly United were almost made to regret the miss when Trifiro went close to finding another equaliser, rattling the crossbar from a tight angle after substitute Tynan Diaz had found the playmaker in the box.
The Wolves should have levelled the scores on 63? minutes when Gomez drew in the Manly defence and touched the ball through for Diaz. Swancott raced off his line and blocked Diaz?s shot, which fell to Nick McInerney who could only find the side netting with the goal at his mercy.
The home-side pushed forward in search of an equaliser, however Manly United secured the win with late goals from Cattanach and Mailer, both scoring with impressive 25-yard screamers.
Swancott did well to maintain Manly?s convincing lead in injury-time with saves from Trifiro and makeshift striker Dave Abel, who returned from injury after three-months on the sidelines.
Manly United FC coach Craig Midgely was pleased with the result, and believed the win would go a long way to ensure his side avoids relegation this campaign:
?I?m obviously happy with the three-points, but I think the score flatters us a little bit.? said Midgely.
?We?ve got some good attacking players, and when they perform we?ll always get goals. We?ve needed to perform throughout the season and everyone knows we haven?t been performing like that. We?ve got to back it up from here.?
?At this point of the season this is a massive three points for us,? Midgely added.
Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was notably disappointed by the result and conceded that his team?s performance was not up to standard for the majority of the match:
?I think we showed our inconsistency,? said Morgan.
?While we were playing the ball around better than them at times we played at a half pace.?
?After the send off and having to play 65? minutes with ten men it was obviously always going to make it difficult for us.?
?Today was a winnable game; it was a terribly embarrassing result in the end,? Morgan concluded.
The afternoon?s Grade-20 fixture saw South Coast Wolves defeat Manly United FC 2-0.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 2 (Tayfun Buyokkopru 18?, Jason Trifiro 49?)
Manly United FC 5 (Scott Balderson 19?, Adam Foti 48?, Luke Casserly 50?, Robbie Cattanach 84?, Andrew Mailer 91?)
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Allyson Flynn and Brett Woodford
Fourth Official: Matt Samson
Crowd: 200 Approx.
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane; 2.Alex Mansueto, 3.Greg Valic, 4.Nick Littler, 5.Nick McInerney, 8.Tayfun Buyukkopru, 10.Jason Trifiro, 11.Andrew Paine (17.Tynan Diaz 46?), 13.Sean van Rooyen (16.Dave Abel 77?), 14.Andres Gomez (7.Andy Gamble 77?), 15.Chris Nathaniel
Substitutes Not Used: 40.Nikodin Matic, 18.Adrian Karakolevski
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Greg Valic 38?
Manly United FC: 1.Brad Swancott; 5.Pascal Julliard, 6.Luke Casserly, 7.Andrew Mailer, 11.Adam Foti, 16.Joey Schirripa, 17.Jimmy Oates, 22.Joseph Gibbs, 24.Beau Busch, 4.Matthew Simms (9.Robbie Cattanach 63?), 12.Scott Balderson
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Rhyss Keane, 19.Brad Groves, 21.Chris Gallo, 8.Keith Shevlin
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Michael Shoolman