Bankstown steal late win over ten man Wolves
Aman Hadid clinically broke the deadlock for the visitors in the first-half after the Wolves? Stephen Paric was shown a straight red card in the opening stages.
The Wolves fought back in the second-half and grabbed a deserved equaliser through Sasho Petrovski before Hadid rose above his marker to head home the winning goal against the run of play in the dying minutes.
Bankstown City appeared the most likely to score in the opening period, with Hadid and Shannon Burgin both wasting early opportunities to make a breakthrough.
Nick Littler went close for the home side when his 25-yard volley dipped onto the roof of the net after Bankstown City poorly cleared an early corner.
The match took an early turn on 9? minutes when Stephen Paric and Stefanos Liavas dangerously contested a 50-50 ball at high speed. Paric came out on top, but was unfortunate to be shown a straight red card by referee Adam Weir for catching Liavas above the knee in a clash that could have seen either player seriously injured.
Bankstown almost grabbed the lead soon after when Brody Crane spilled Daniel Wilson?s corner to the feet of Frederick Graham. The speedy striker?s goal bound shot had Crane well beaten only for Andres Gomez to head the ball off the goal line.
The Wolves went close at the other end on the quarter hour mark when Cam Littler teed up the unmarked Nick Littler on 12-yards; the older brother of the pair placed his finish wide of goal.
With the numerical disadvantage the experienced Sasho Petrovski led by example from the front, testing Zlatko Joseski with two long-range efforts while playing his younger teammates into attacking positions.
As the Wolves began to regain control, a Bankstown counterattack on 27? minutes saw Hadid beat the offside trap to run onto Daniel Zeleny?s through ball and curl a classy finish into the top corner.
The inconsistent surface of John Crehan Park came to the home side?s rescue soon after when Burgin?s dangerous cross skipped off the turf to elude Wilson at the far post.
Both sides went close to scoring in the closing stages of the first period with Hadid skipping past Crane only to fire his shot into the side netting from a tight angle before Dave Abel headed onto the roof of Bankstown?s goal from a late free-kick.
Wilson went close to doubling Bankstown?s lead shortly after the interval when his 20-yard drive found the side netting with Crane left stranded.
South Coast Wolves found their feet in the second period and grabbed a deserved equaliser on 55? minutes when Bankstown twice failed to effectively clear crosses from Cam Littler.
After recollecting his own corner, the young winger?s second attempted cross found a sliding Andres Gomez in the 6-yard box. Gomez?s effort was blocked and only cleared as far as Sasho Petrovski, who?s first time shot found its way between a maze of players and into the back of the net.
The match hit boiling point soon after when a clash between Jacob Timpano and Burgin saw an all-in melee that resulted in four yellow cards with a number of players fortunate to remain on the pitch.
Despite playing with ten-men, the Wolves pushed forward in search of a winner, with substitute Samet Kaynak turning Omar Saadi inside out several times in quick succession before crossing for Alex Mansueto, who was pressured out of finishing by the Bankstown defence.
Kaynak himself fired over soon after when he collected Crane?s long ball and beat two defenders before sending a rasping drive over the crossbar.
With momentum leaning heavily in the Wolves favour Bankstown managed to regain the lead on 86? minutes when Hadid rose to emphatically head in Burgin?s free-kick and break South Coast hearts.
With the Wolves pushing forward Burgin was the architect of Bankstown?s last chance as he caught the defence on the back foot and put Wilson through on goal only for Crane to make a brave block to keep his team?s slim hopes alive.
The Wolves were denied a late equaliser by Joseski deep in injury time when the Bankstown shot-stopper spectacularly saved Kaynak?s powerful 25-yard strike, ensuring his side went home with all three-points.
Bankstown City midfielder Stefanos Liavas was happy with the result after his new-look side sealed a valuable win away from home:
?We?re a new team with a lot of young guys,? said Liavas.
?We go into games without much pressure and try to do our best, and that?s paid off with a win today.
?We?re adapting to the system that our new coach wants us to play and it?s got us off to a good start,? added Liavas.
After seeing Stephen Paric red carded in their unfortunate early clash, Liavas acknowledged that Paric was not out to cause injury in his challenge:
?It wasn?t intentional, I think,? said Liavas.
?Obviously the referee read it as a dangerous tackle.
?I don?t think he?s that kind of player but he?s caught me above the knee with his studs and the referee has to make his decision,? clarified Liavas.
Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was clearly unhappy with the final result after watching his side concede the late winner after their courageous fight back:
?The goal at the end was very disappointing,? said Morgan.
?We could have shut up shop with 10? minutes to go and taken a point and we felt that to be fair we had the roll of the dice and it was going our way.
?We were more proactive in their third than they were in ours; we had some chances and they didn?t fall.
?I?m very proud of my team?s effort to get back in the game and I?m bitterly disappointed that they made a mistake at the end because I don?t think Bankstown deserved even a point,? Morgan claimed.
Despite the loss Morgan was able to admire his side?s character as they fought back despite Paric?s early send off:
?We got ourselves back in the game,? said Morgan.
?We battled for eighty something minutes with ten men. There were positive bits of play, we still created chances.
?We certainly had the right mentality, we weren?t happy to sit back and let them walk all over us.
?I don?t know how it looked to someone sitting impartially on the side but I thought we were the better side,? concluded Morgan.
The afternoon?s early fixture saw South Coast Wolves net a late equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw with ten-man Bankstown City Lions in the Grade-20 Division.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 1 (Sasho Petrovski 55?)
Bankstown City Lions 2 (Aman Hadid 27?, 86?)
Sunday April 17th, 2011
John Crehan Park, Cringila
Referee: Adam Weir
Assistant Referees: Matt Cropper and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Crowd: Approx 400
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane; 2.Alex Mansueto, 3.Dave Abel, 4.Jacob Timpano, 12.Jack Keating, 13.Stephen Paric, 5.Nick Littler (7.Samet Kaynak 69?), 8.Andres Gomez, 14.Cam Littler (18.John Martinovski 75?), 9.Mark Picciolini (6.Lawrence Drake 69?), 10.Sasho Petrovski
Substitutes Not Used: 19.Zac Freeburn, 20.Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: Sasho Petrovski 38?, Mark Picciolini 60?
Red Cards: Stephen Paric 9?
Bankstown City: 1.Zlatko Joseski; 2.Omar Saadi, 3.Chris Petrovski, 5.David Gardiner, 6.Daniel Zeleny (8.Suad Ameti 60?), 7.Stefanos Liavas, 9.Shannon Burgin, 10.Frederick Graham (4.Blaz Dejanovic 75?), 11.Daniel Wilson, 16. Aman Hadid, 17. Steven Krsteski
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Steven Tanusoski, 12.Lenox Tweneboa, 14.Nathan Ristevski
Yellow Cards: Shannon Burgin 60?, Steven Krsteski 61?, Zlatko Joseski 61?, Stefanos Liavas 68?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Aman Hadid (BCL)
2 ? Nick Littler (SCW)
1 ? Daniel Zeleny (BCL)
-By Michael Shoolman
