Waratah Cup Semi-Final: Sutherland outrun brave Dapto Dandaloo

The Sharks kicked off on a chilly winter?s evening in the Shire to begin an epic battle between the NSW Premier League outfit and what some have described as ?a pub team? in Dapto, a side not to be taken lightly after their 6-2 defeat of Bankstown City at the quarter-final stage.

From the start it was rugged football, as Yianni Fragogianis fired in a rasping shot in the 6? minute to warm the hands of Fury goalkeeper Mitchell Blowes.
Chris Jackson replied with a delicate shot from outside the area that had Sharks? custodian Nathan Denham forced to tip over the crossbar and concede a corner. The subsequent delivery was squandered, but another in the 10? minute saw David Abel ghost in at the far post to head goalward only for Denham to earn his money at full stretch to save.

David Reid was not to be denied for the visitors in the 14? minute when a glancing header by Brad Boardman was diverted by the midfielder – partially dealt with by Denham ? the sheer pace behind the ball was enough to give Dapto the lead.
Sutherland added a further gear to the high tempo affair and a Panni Nikas effort was deflected enough to take the pace off the ball and allow Blowes a comfortable gather.
Nikas again forced Blowes in to a full stretch save moments later as the home side began to turn the screws.

The visitors were thanking their shot-stopper again on 21? minutes when Nikas played the ball out wide left to Chris Price to centre for Matt Bailey. The latter?s volleyed shot was tipped around the post by Blowes, again at full stretch.

The free flowing football meant plenty of goalmouth action as both gave a good account of themselves, however Price was unable to gain enough purchase with a header that slipped wide of the mark for Sutherland as they got closer and closer to the target and restoring parity.

Bailey was through on goal again in the 27? minute and once again it was Blowes who denied the Sharks midfielder as the home side pressured visiting Dapto who were forced into defending deeper and deeper inside their own half as the thrills kept coming for the decent sized crowd.
Sutherland thought they had equalised in the 32? minute when Nikas fired in a shot that Blowes spilt and was pounced upon by Price only for the strike to be disallowed for offside.

The Sharks continued to press and it was the same Nikas/Blowes combination that prevented the equaliser although Price did restore parity in the 35? minute when pouncing on another spillage in the box to level the scores.

Dapto were reduced to hitting on the break with slick passing and speed that the Sharks defence dealt with comfortably, albeit the attacks were sporadic at this juncture although the pace often appeared to outstrip the support.

The Sharks were catching out the Fury with deft balls over the top as the visitors adopted a higher line up the pitch and when they dropped back they were treated to the pace down the flanks.

Blowes was forced into another save when Price cut in from the left and sent in a right-footed shot that had the goalkeeper scrambling just before the half-time break.
After the break, the visitors were soon under the pump as Sutherland again posed problems, particularly down the left flank through Matt Gordon, Price and Nikas completing the triumvirate, with Michael Stuart and Hussein Salameh making themselves busy down the right. In the middle of the park, Nick Stavroulakis and Matt Bailey cleverly controlled the midfield.

Sam Munro was playing a more reserved role for Dapto, negating his normal flair down the left with Shane Lyons pushed up into a midfield position, but it came to nothing when Matt Bailey fired the Sharks into the lead on 55? minutes to put the home side ahead for the first time on the night with a thunderous shot from outside the box.
Dapto retaliated briefly with classy play almost catching Sutherland out but the defence was awake to it and dispelled any danger, albeit awkwardly at times.

Abel needed to get ahead of Bailey for the Fury as Price again broke down the left for Sutherland and crossed for the Dapto defender to nick away.
Salameh was subbed for Blake Powell who in turn formed an immediate partnership down the right for the Sharks as Nikas came across the park, allowing Stuart more scope to roam forward as Dapto found themselves facing wave after wave of Sutherland attacks.

Bailey almost increased the Sharks lead further but for that man Blowes again making a full stretch save to deny the midfielder as another opportunity went begging.
Brad Boardman, back on his old stomping ground, was the perfect target man for the Fury, providing plenty of knockdowns and probing runs; one such moment causing Denham to provide the heroics between the sticks.

For all the dominance of Sutherland they were still just one goal ahead, something that would always give the Fury hope. This was heightened when a free-kick was powerfully struck by visiting captain Alvin Ceccoli through a sea of players? legs that Denham saw late but managed to smother low to the ground.

For Dapto Dandaloo it was one game too many, yet for a so called ?pub side? they produced a magnificent performance and made Sutherland work very hard for the spoils and, perhaps, could have forced extra-time when Chris Smith headed tamely at Denham in stoppage time.

Fury coach Norm Boardman was happy with the performance when stating afterwards:
?We readily rode our luck early on but were perhaps unlucky at the end with Nathan (Denham) making a couple of good saves as did Mitchy (Mitchell Blowes) for us.
?We gave as good as we got tonight with Sutherland just that little sharper than us and I felt that was the major difference between the sides as they play at this tempo every week but we matched them in the second-half.

?At the end of the day I have no qualms about the way we approached the game or played it, we did well, rode our luck and we know that and we also knew we would be in for a tough time but there are plenty of positives to take forward and we can go into our next games knowing that.
?Take nothing away from Sutherland, they are a good side and we wish them well for the final.?

?I think they may have coined the term ?pub team? themselves to throw a few sides off but I was never going to underestimate them,? replied Sharks coach Robbie Stanton before continuing:
?I?ve played with some of those players and know many of them very well so I was certainly not going to fall for that one.

?There is a lot of quality in that team and it was probably our sharpness and playing at a higher tempo that did it for us tonight as they gave a very good account of themselves.

?We will concentrate on our next game, at home to Bonnyrigg White Eagles this Saturday night, as the final is a couple of weeks away so this is one for the boys to enjoy and we?ll see how we go against APIA-Leichhardt Tigers in the final when it comes up.
?We certainly made hard work of it for ourselves out there but we got the deserved result in the end.?
 
MATCH STATS
WARATAH CUP SEMI-FINAL
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Price 35?, Bailey 55?)
Dapto Dandaloo Fury 1 (Reid 14?)
 
Wednesday, 20th June, 2012
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
 
Referee: Adam Susz
Assistant Referees: Matthew Cropper and Samuel Grasso
 
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 3.Tyson Rhodes, 4.Yianni Fragogianis, 5.Paul Cotte, 6.Matthew Gordon (12.Hayden Morton 72?), 8.Chris Price, 9.Hussein Salameh (19.Blake Powell 55?), 10.Matt Bailey (7.Jim Bakis 79?), 14.Nick Stavroulakis (C), 18.Michael Stuart (13.Niko Tsattalios 72?), 23.Panni Nikas,   
Substitutes Not Used:  22.Simon Jaeger
Yellow Cards: Tyson Rhodes 53?
Red Cards: Nil
 
Dapto Dandaloo Fury: 1.Mitchell Blowes; 2.Jacob Borg, 3.Shane Lyons (13.Dominic Magill 74?), 4.David Abel, 5.Jack Balmforth, 6.Chris Jackson (12.Matthew Radman 71?), 7.David Reid (14.Ryan Emerton 78?), 8.Alvin Ceccoli (C), 9.Brad Boardman (15.Kieran Deane 87?) 10.Chris Smith, 11.Sam Munro
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Michael Takacs.
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
 -By Micky Brock