Waratah Cup Semi-Final: Superb Manly powers past Wolves to final
Colin Iley gave Manly an early lead before Wolves found their rhythm to equalise through Mark Picciolini. Iley restored Manly?s advantage soon after before goals to Michael Daly and Robbie Cattanach sealed their progression in the second half.
Kick off was delayed by half an hour as Manly were held up by a series of arduous Sydney traffic jams throughout their trip down from the Northern Beaches.
Despite the setback it was Manly who were first out of the blocks as Robbie Cattanach drew a fine diving save from Brody Crane with an early with a driven effort from 25-yards on their first attack.
The visitors opened the scoring from the ensuing corner as Iley was first to Scott Balderson?s curled set-piece, heading the ball in at the near post to grab the early lead for his side.
Wolves looked to fight back immediately as Sasho Petrovski tried his luck from range soon after, however Dylan Mitchell was well positioned to make a confident save.
Luck was on Wolves side minutes later when Jake Duczynski deflected Jimmy Oates? free kick onto his own post, with the ball rebounding onto Crane?s back and falling agonisingly wide of goal to spare the young midfielder?s blushes.
Both sides created several chances in an end-to-end half of football, with Andres Gomez?s effort dropping wide from 30-yards before Graeme Forbes headed wide from Balderson?s free kick.
Wolves rode their luck twice in as many minutes around the quarter hour as they were twice saved by the woodwork.
Crane did exceptionally well to touch Balderson?s one-on-one shot onto the far post before gathering the rebound after the winger was played through on goal by Cattanach.
The Wolves? keeper was well beaten shortly after as Cattanach skinned two defenders and classily chipped the custodian as he darted off his line only to see his effort strike the crossbar and bounce to safety.
Wolves punished Manly for their missed chances as they found their feet and fought back to equalise on 28? minutes.
Samet Kaynak?s shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Forbes before falling to the in-form Picciolini, who knocked the ball home to equalise.
Michael Daly almost scored seconds after the restart, rising to head Balderson?s cross just wide as his side attacked straight from the restart before Kaynak drilled a powerful effort over the crossbar at the other end on the half hour mark.
Just as the match began to look an even contest Manly restored their advantage on 34? minutes as Iley sprung the offside trap to score, running onto Balderson?s inch perfect throughball to fire the ball inside near post for his second of the night.
Duczynski attempted to get his side back in the match minutes later, producing a 35-yard drive that flashed wide of Mitchell?s goal.
The away side pushed forward in search of a third late in the half and were denied by the Wolves defence on several occasions as Gomez, Zac Freeburn, and Dave Abel put their bodies on the line to block three consecutive attacks away for corners as Manly went into the break with a one goal lead.
Both coaches made cautious substitutions at the break as Trevor Morgan withdrew Kaynak with a suspected fractured rib while Craig Midgley gave Balderson a well earned rest after he picked up a knock during his impressive first half performance.
Petrovski tested Mitchell from the set piece early in the second period; however the keeper was up to the task as he held the experienced striker?s effort to maintain his side?s advantage.
Play was stopped soon after as a head clash between Daniel Grant and Picciolini left both players on the turf, with the latter forced to be substituted with a deep gash opening above his right eye.
Manly extended their lead from the set piece shortly after the hour mark as Daly managed to scramble the ball into the back of the net amidst a cluster of players in the six yard box.
Crane kept his side?s faint hopes alive as he did exceptionally well to twice deny Cattanach in one-on-one situations after the striker left the Wolves defence in his wake with his pure pace.
Cattanach finally got his goal on 78? minutes after Tayfun Buyokkopru was punished for cheaply conceded possession in his own half, with substitute Justin Hayward teeing up Cattanach for the simplest of tap ins to secure the win.
The away side came close to bagging a fifth goal in the closing stages, with Abel and Crane denying Hayward before substitute Mitch Macedo saw his effort well blocked by Crane as the away side ran out deserved winners and booked their place in the final.
Manly United coach Craig Midgley was pleased with his squad?s performance:
?I thought we got off to a terrible start because it took us four hours to get here from Sydney,? laughed Midgley.
?The boys started fine and got out of the traps really early.
?From minute one they were superb tonight; I can?t fault any one of them as they all put a massive amount of effort in.
It could have been four or five goals by half time if it weren?t for the crossbar and the post, but I?m just so happy to see a bunch of young lads go out play like that tonight.?
Now facing the task of containing giant-killers Mounties Wanderers in the final, Midgley?s men will not be taking their opponents likely but will first focus their attention on their next NSW Premier League fixture this weekend:
?I do know they don?t stop winning,? said Midgley.
?We?ve been keeping an eye on their results, and they?re scoring goals without conceding many.
?Obviously with our boys in the final we?ll be the favourites because of where we are, but we won?t underestimate them.
?But first we?ve got to concentrate on the next match at hand with Olympic on the weekend,? Midgely added.
South Coast Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was understandable disappointed by the result, but could draw positives from their first half performance:
?Manly deserve their win tonight,? said Morgan.
?Having said that I think there was a big chunk of the first half where we were very competitive and made a lot of chances as we started to play a bit of football for a while.
?We settled down after about fifteen minutes and started to play a bit, and made some chances, and it started to look like the kind of football I like to watch.?
Morgan conceded that his side?s second half performance ended their chances of salvaging the match as Manly overran his side in the final 45 minutes:
?In the second half I would say the third goal really killed it for us,? said Morgan,
?We got frustrated, had two forced changes with Samet (Kaynak) having to go off with a suspected fractured rib, and Picco (Picciolini) having his face put back together from the headclash.
?They were changes we were forced to make as opposed to making a tactical change.
?But we were our own worst enemies in the second half, we didn?t link enough passes together, we panicked a bit, we got frustrated, and that?s the end of our run.
?We?ve done well to get this far, a lot of young boys are getting experience, and tonight they?ve come up short.
?Anyway, full credit to Manly, good luck to them, and it?ll probably be quite an exciting final,? Morgan added.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 1 (Mark Picciolini 28?)
Manly United FC 4 (Colin Iley 2?, 34?, Michael Daly 63?, Robbie Cattanach 78?)
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
John Crehan Park, Cringila
Referee: Alex Glasgow
Assistant Referees: Matt Cropper, Matt Lopez
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane (c); 5. Zac Freeburn, 13.Stephen Paric, 3.Dave Abel, 11.Chris Nathaniel (19.Kyle Hazebroek 86?), 6.Jake Duczynski (14.Cam Littler 69?), 9.Mark Picciolini (16.Peter Simonovski 62?), 15.Tayfun Buyokkopru, 8.Andres Gomez, 10.Sasho Petrovski, 7.Samet Kaynak (17.John Martinovski 46?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Sam Nastic
Yellow Cards: Jake Duczynski 34?, Tayfun Buyokkopru 44?
Red Cards: nil
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 2.Jimmy Oates (10.Sean Bowden 84?), 4.Graeme Forbes, 6.Michael Daly, 5.Marc Richards, 7.Scott Balderson (11.Justin Hayward 46?), 9.Robbie Cattanach, 17.Matthew Simms, 18.Colin Iley (13.Mitch Macedo 80?), 21.Joey Gibbs, 26.Daniel Grant
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Kang Ho Lee, 25.Jordon Edwards
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
-By Michael Shoolman
