Wolves stun Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park
In the 4? minute Mark Picciolini attempted an audacious bicycle-kick that never made contact.
Less than 60?? seconds later, Sean Robertson rocked the Sharks when having an initial shot blocked by Nathan Denham in the home goal but netted the rebound to give the visiting Wolves the early lead.
Matt Bailey almost replied within a minute but a last-ditch tackle cleared the danger in a very enterprising opening period.
Chris Price sent over a teasing cross from the left to be met by the head of Bailey but not able to gain enough height the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar as Sutherland fought back strongly yet looked a little disjointed in the opening 20? minutes.
Lachlan Cahill was unable to make contact at full stretch with the goal at his mercy after Todd Halloran centred across the face of goal moments later, and the general feeling was it was only a matter of time before they got it right and levelled the match.
At the other end, Picciolini had another rare opportunity in the 27? minute though the final touch eluded him as the visitors made an all too rare appearance in the Sharks box after soaking up a lot of pressure.
Huseyin Jasli stole the ball inside his half and went on a run that mesmerised the heart of the Wolves defence only to shoot straight at goalkeeper Brody Crane in the 32? minute.
South Coast pegged the Sharks back with the game reaching a plateau as both fought to regain control of the midfield. The Sharks were left to rue the earlier missed chances, particularly when Nick Littler made it 2-0 to the Wolves with almost the last action of the half when heading home a corner from close range.
In essence, Sutherland had nothing to lose in the remaining time so the second period promised to be edge of the seat stuff if they were to get anything for their efforts.
Neither coach made changes during the interval and the Sharks created a couple of half-chances on the resumption making Crane work between the sticks without particularly threatening the goal.
Indeed the Wolves came closest to extending their lead in the 50? minute when the ball fell to Nick Littler on the angle of the box, this time he ballooned a good opportunity way over the bar.
Chris Price, Jasli and Bailey combined well down the Sharks left to fashion an opening but the final ball option was misjudged and another chance went begging as Sutherland pressed home their attack.
Paul Kohler replaced Jasli in the 58? minute as Stanton tried to change the point of attack, slipping into the left-back position and pushing Price further up the field on the left.
South Coast responded with Morgan responding by bringing on Sash Petrovski 2? minutes later to replace Picciolini.
The latter change appeared the more beneficial as Petrovski skied to half chances and then Andres Gomes with a long-range shot well held by Nathan Denham.
With a last throw of the dice Stanton threw on youngsters Ehsan Popal and Pat Savour for Halloran and Cahill respectively, showing intent he still wanted something in the final 23? minutes.
Cam Littler almost administered the coup de gras for the Sharks but the ever alert Denham was off his line quickly to thwart the danger with South Coast occupying the gaps left by the home side in the final third.
Popal brought the best out of Crane, making a full length save to his left at the base of the post, with a shot from the edge of the box yet the Sharks could still find no way through to give them a lifeline in the latter stages but it wasn?t to be.
The final piece of the jigsaw came in stoppage time when South Coast were awarded a free-kick in a harmless area with both Petrovski and Paric protesting a Sharks player was too close to the ball. Referee Kurt Ams adjudged the Wolves players to be time wasting, and both were cautioned, meaning Petrovski will be out for two matches, missing out on his last game for the Wolves next weekend.
Coach Trevor Morgan was disappointed with the yellow card to his star player:
?Sash getting the yellow card there takes the gloss off the win as it means he is out for next week and it?s not like he is doing anything dangerous or time wasting, he is just trying to take a free-kick so I?m disappointed about that.
?Sutherland didn?t have a full strength team today so lost some of their potency in the front third.
?They were not at their best and we not terrific so we are very pleased to get the win because the aim is obviously to finish as high on the table as possible.?
A most disconsolate Sharks coach Robbie Stanton commented:
?We didn?t deserve to get anything from the game other than the first couple of minutes.
?After that I thought it was an inept performance with a number of players thinking they are stars but if that?s the case they need to perform like stars and at the moment I?ve got some very ordinary players with some very ordinary attitude that are not switched on.
?If we continue to adopt this attitude we are simply going to make up the numbers during the finals series particularly when I feel I have been very generous with everyone this year and at the end of the day you just need to do the little things well, cut out the flicks, the back heels and the casualness.
?Top Five teams don?t perform like that and don?t perform like we did last week so something needs to change and fast.?
Sutherland Sharks defeated South Coast Wolves 5-0 in the Grade-20 division encounter.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 0
South Coast Wolves 2 (Robertson 4?, N. Littler 45?)
Sunday August 28th, 2011
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Nathan Wotton and Craig Fisher
Fourth Official: Alex Goodhew
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris (C), 5.Lachlan Cahill (24.Pat Savour 67?), 8.Chris Price, 10.Matt Bailey, 11.Todd Halloran (37.Ehsan Popal 67?), 12.Hayden Morton, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 15.Mike Katz, 19.Huseyin Jasli (20.Paul Kohler 58?), 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Alexo Augusto, 30.James McKenzie
Yellow Cards: Souris 59?
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane (C); 12.Jack Keating, 3.David Abel, 4.Jacob Timpano, 5.Nick Littler, 13.Stjepan Paric, 22.Zac Freeburn, 8.Andres Gomez, 9.Mark Picciolini (10.Sasho Petrovski 60?), 18.Sean Robertson (11.Chris Nathaniel 75?), 19.John Martinovski (14.Cam Littler 65?)
Substitutes Not Used: 6.Jack Ducznski, 20.Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: Petrovski 90?+3?, Paric 90?+3?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Micky Brock
