Sutherland hold off late Wolves surge to claim victory
All three goals came direct from set plays as both sides failed to score from open play on a slippery pitch on an otherwise entertaining and free flowing match.
Chris Price headed Sutherland into a first-half lead before Matthew Bailey doubled their advantage early in the second period. Sasho Petrovski grabbed one back for Wolves before being sent off in the dying stages for an uncharacteristically clumsy challenge.
With the John Crehan Park pitch rendered unplayable by the week?s inclement weather, the midweek decision was made to switch the match venue to Seymour Shaw.
The ground change appeared to benefit Sutherland throughout the match; who were of course acclimatised to the synthetic pitch of their regular home ground.
Despite being outplayed, Wolves created some early nervy moments for Nathan Denham in the Sutherland goal as he failed to hold onto Dave Abel?s early long range shot before his defence conceded possession for Andres Gomez to drag his shot wide of goal from outside the area.
Sam Awad came within inches of grabbing an early lead for Sutherland on 11? minutes when he lobbed Brody Crane only to see his shot bounce off the crossbar and back into play.
Crane came to Wolves rescue on multiple occasions throughout the match, darting off his line to deny Bailey before producing a spectacular diving save to deny Price at the expense of a corner.
Price found the back of the net seconds later, rising unmarked to head Sutherland into the lead from Mike Katz?s corner on 19? minutes.
Stephen Paric went close to equalising on the half hour mark, connecting with Sasho Petrovski?s back heel to launch a 25-yard drive beyond Denham?s reach and onto the post.
Bailey should have extended Sutherland?s lead several times in an extraordinary 3? minutes of football soon after, first heading Nick Tasttalios? pinpoint cross over, then mistiming his shot from Jim Bakis? cross, and finally placing another header wide from Katz?s cross as Sutherland took their one goal lead into the interval.
Andres Gomez set up an opportunity for Mark Picciolini to equalise early in the second period; however George Souris got a crucial touch to the ball to maintain his side?s lead.
Awad?s smart back heel put Price into the box shortly after, however Jack Keating produced a smart last ditch challenge to deny Price a second goal.
Sutherland did not have to wait long to double their advantage though, with Bailey making amends for prior misses by glancing a header beyond Crane?s reach from Tsattalios? corner to double Sutherland?s lead on 52? minutes.
Wolves hit back soon after as Denham failed to deal with a Wolves corner, allowing Petrovski to knock the ball home to keep his side in the match.
The goal provided Wolves with a much needed boost to their confidence as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
Unfortunately their efforts were to no avail as they wasted several opportunities to equalise, with Gomez and Alex Mansueto failing to hit the target from promising opportunities before Keating headed straight at Denham after a goal box scramble.
Bakis went close to sealing victory for Sutherland late on as his 30-yard free-kick dropped just wide of goal before Petrovski was shown a red card in the dying minutes for a mistimed challenge on Hayden Morton as Sutherland held on for the win.
Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was proud of his side?s late charge, believing his side deserved more from this evening?s match:
?I think we deserved another goal in the end to be honest,? said Morgan.
?We certainly had the momentum.
?It was quite disappointing that we gave two cheap goals away from set plays, both unmarked headers.
?If you take that five seconds out of the game it could have been a win to us, just five seconds where we didn?t concentrate we lost the game.?
With his side missing several key players through injury and illness, Morgan?s youth grade players have stepped up to prove themselves at a first grade level:
?We only had five players over twenty,? said Morgan.
?We have boys making their first grade debut as a start, and then playing out position as they (Sutherland) didn?t line up how I thought they would.
?I?m tremendously proud of what the boys tried to do and am just waiting for that time when they get those five second right,? Morgan added.
After being pushed to the final whistle Sutherland coach Robbie Stanton was pleased to come away with the three points:
?We?re happy with the win,? said Stanton.
?The first-half could have been 4 or 5 nil if we took our chances, it could have been different too if they?d taken theirs.
?The execution was poor in front of goal.?
Stanton credited Wolves for their performance, admitting he endured several nervous moments throughout the second half:
?To their credit they didn?t allow us to play as well as we?d like to,? said Stanton.
?They played a good game, an expansive game, which is how Trevor likes to play.
?Every time we play Trevor we?ve shown their game respect and that?s probably why we?ve got the result.
?We were probably a bit lucky in the end but I think our experience just got us home,? Stanton concluded.
The Sharks take on Parramatta FC on Wednesday evening at Melita Stadium for round 4 of the Waratah Cup while the Wolves tackle Bankstown City FC at John Crehan Park on the same night.
The evening?s early kick off saw Sutherland Sharks defeat South Coast Wolves 4-1 in the Grade-20 Division.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 1 (Sasho Petrovski 61?)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Chris Price 19?, Matt Bailey 52?)
Saturday 4th June, 2011
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: Adam Susz
Assistant Referees: Brett Woodford and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Gary Vandeburgt
Crowd: 300 Approx.
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane; 12.Jack Keating, 2.Alex Mansueto, 3.Dave Abel, 11.Chris Nathaniel (17.Jake Duczynski 80?), 13.Stephen Paric, 10.Sasho Petrovski, 6.Zac Freeburn, 15.John Martinoski, 8.Andres Gomez (7.Samet Kaynak 68?), 9.Mark Picciolini
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Cam Littler, 22.Vaughan Patterson, 20.Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: John Martinoski 27?, Alex Mansueto 56?, Dave Abel 79?, Sasho Petrovski 86?
Red Cards: Sasho Petrovski 90?
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 4. Yianni Fragogianis, 6.Sam Awad (5.Lachlan Cahill 80?), 7.Jimmy Bakis, 8.Chris Price, 10.Matt Bailey, 12.Hayden Morton, 15.Michael Katz, 20.Paul Kohler, 33.Nick Tsattalios
Substitutes Not Used: 11.Todd Halloran, 19.Huseyin Jasli, 22.Jack Duncan, 37.Ehsan Popal
Yellow Cards: Hayden Morton 38?, George Souris 86?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Michael Katz (SS)
2 ? Stephen Paric (SCW)
1 ? Chris Price (SS)
-By Michael Shoolman
