Wolves return to winning ways in time for finals football
With their finals position locked in weeks earlier South Coast Wolves were looking to find the impressive form that had made them a contender for the minor premiership in the first part of the season. Sutherland Sharks on the other hand were looking to sneak into the last finals position with a high scoring win over their opposition.
In the end, the Wolves came out on top with an impressive 2-0 win to give the side some confidence heading into week one of finals football.
The first real chance came in the 11? minute when a through ball found Sutherland Sharks? Nik Tsattalios on the edge of the South Coast penalty box. His first time left foot drive beat Daniel Collison and struck the goal post, but rolled across the goal mouth without crossing the line and was cleared by the South Coast Wolves defence.
On 19? minutes, after escaping several Sutherland Sharks offensive raids, South Coast Wolves scored two goals in quick concession. Joseph Lavalle was on hand to squeeze a low shot into the net after a goal mouth melee caused by a corner, before Sasho Petrovski struck a driven shot from the edge of the Sutherland Sharks penalty area 2? minutes later. It was a well-timed effort that went inside the near post and made it 2-0 to the hosts.
Sutherland Sharks were not fazed by the sudden two goal deficit and narrowly missed pulling a goal back only moments later. A chipped cross from Tsattalios found Matt Bailey wide open six-yards out from goal, unfortunately the ball glanced off his head and went wide.
South Coast Wolves continued to struggle in possession in the final 10? minutes of the half. Instead of holding possession in safe areas, their defenders played the ball around the edge of their penalty-area, or used long high balls to find loan striker Ricky Zucco. This encouraged the Sutherland Sharks to come forward, and they created a number of half chances, but were never a real threat to the South Coast Wolves goal.
Right before the break, South Coast Wolves demonstrated the attacking prowess that has been a feature of their season so far. Zucco stole the ball from a Sutherland Sharks defender and used his skill and composure to play a pass across the six-yard box, resulting in two shots for South Coast Wolves that almost increased their lead.
The second-half opened much like the first with the visitors dominating possession and field position, but lacking any real fire power up front. South Coast Wolves were content to sit back and play on the counter attack as is their usual tactic.
Both teams were very evenly matched across the park and this resulted in a stalemate for much of the second period. The ball stayed in midfield as both teams attempted to create attacks with slow build up play and limited creativity. The result was only a small number of weak shots and half chances.
The ball went from end to end with both teams losing the ball before a shot could be attempted. It seemed like both teams had run out of energy after a long tough competition.
Finally a quality chance was created on 83? minutes when Matt Bailey broke the line after a through ball split the South Coast central defensive pair. Daniel Collison raced out to the edge of the box and Bailey attempted a cheeky chip shot that beat the goalkeeper, but could not beat the cross bar and ricocheted out of play.
In the end the score remained as it was at half-time and the Wolves finally got a win after four consecutive losses. They showed enough quality in attack in the first half to give them some confidence to take into the finals.
Sutherland Sharks showed they have the technical ability to play stylish possession football, but may need to build a more formidable attacking weapon for next season if they are to improve.
Sutherland Sharks head coach Robbie Stanton was disappointed that his team couldn?t perform to the standard they have shown over the past few weeks:
?Early on I thought we had a few chances to take the lead. We started off well and then we made a couple of errors, and dropped off the pass a bit, and once they got their goal I think they started to believe that they could go on with it.
?I think that they were just a little bit hungrier with finals football coming around.?
South Coast Wolves assistant coach Casey de Bruin commented:
?It was great to get the result after four losses on the trot.
?We used a few of the younger boys today to try to wear Sutherland down and I think it worked.?
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 2 (Joseph Lavalle 19?, Sasho Petrovski 20?)
Sutherland Sharks 0
Sunday September 2nd, 2012
John Crehan Park, Wollongong
Referee: Alex Glasgow
Assistant Referees: Mathew Cropper and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Lachlan Keevers
South Coast Wolves: 1.Daniel Collison; 2.Jack Keating, 3.Mitchell Del Turco, 5.Samuel Jacob, 11.John Martinoski (14.Fabian Iacovelli 83), 6.Nick Littler, 8.Chris Nathaniel, 10.Sasho Petrovski, 15.Joseph Lavalle (13.Peter Simonovski 53?), 26.Jacob Timpano, 17.Ricky Zucco (9.Mark Picciolini 65?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Hayden Durose, 7.Cameron Littler
Yellow Cards: Joseph Lavell 45? Samuel Jacob 67?
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris (C), 5.Paul Cotte, 6.Matt Gordon, 7.Jim Bakis, 8.Chris Price (4.Yianni Fragogianis 60?), 10.Matt Bailey, 13.Nik Tsattalios, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 18.Michael Stuart, 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Patrick Savor, 22.Simon Jaeger (GK), 3. Tyson Rhodes, 11. Todd Halloran
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Josh Watt
