Sutherland Seal The Points in Tough Encounter With The Tigers.
Sutherland Sharks kept the pressure on league leader Bonnyrigg White Eagles with a tough 4-2 defeat of APIA-Leichhardt Tigers at Seymour Shaw on Saturday evening.
The Tigers’ players, still carrying the massive efforts of Wednesday night in Waratah Cup quarter-final win over Central Coast Mariners Academy, conceded an early goal that made their evening tough, even though the side showed much enthusiasm in chasing the result.
From the kick-off Sutherland looked to impose themselves against their guests when attacking down the left flank that needed a timely intervention from Stephen Kayes, however it was a short lived reprieve as Nick Olsen blasted the home side into the lead inside 2’ minutes when finishing off a neat move inside the box.
The Tigers, although caught cold at the start, didn’t drop their heads and regrouped immediately with only the strike separating the balance of play.
Nathan Elasi was caught offside in the 8’ minute when played through by Olsen in a tight decision with only the goalkeeper to beat that had the crowd baying their disapproval, and that continued 2’ minutes later when referee Khodr Yaghi adjudged the ball to have crossed the line when coming down off the crossbar after a shot from Sean Symons from an impossible angle to level the scores.
Clapham was again instrumental in setting up APIA-Leichhardt’s next attack when slipping Jason Oswell in down the right with his whipped over cross sent wide from the advancing Tigers support who now well and truly had their tails up.
The visitors began to press and forced Sutherland into defending deep but couldn’t find another opening, although Oswell did fire over midway through the half.
Bradley Bartels latched on to a loose back pass and rounded Sharks custodian Nathan Denham but found the side netting from an acute angle in the 26’ minute that should have had the Tigers in front.
The match evolved into a tactical battle that wasn’t for the faint of heart in its uncompromising nature that was hard, but fair, lacking no shortage of skill from both sides and it was Oswell who had the next best chance for the visitors but hooked his left-footed shot wide of the upright.
Nik Tsattalios immediately attempted to restore the lead for Sutherland however his airborne volley slid wide of the mark as the entertaining end to end football continued unabated.
Clapham, who until now had been running the show for the Tigers with a very lively performance, found himself in the book for ‘simulation’ in the 39’ minute.
Nick Littler put his body on the line to block a point blank effort from Oswell in the 43’ minute that left just one question unanswered; could the visitors sustain their momentum and force something from the match or would the Sharks soak up the pressure and overwhelm their opponents.
Parisi attempted to force the issue from a free-kick in the dying seconds of the half that had Denham flying full length to palm away which maybe explains what happened next as Sutherland went up the other end for Nathan Elasi to power home after a wonderful assist from captain Nick Stavroulakis with almost the last kick of the half.
Perhaps the Sharks had been playing possum but the prospect of a further 45’ minutes of pulsating football certainly warmed the hearts of the gathered faithful.
The second-half started brightly when Paris passed to Kayes who in turn slipped the ball out wide to Bartels and his long cross was headed back into the path of Oswell who had Sharks goalkeeper Denham claiming the ball.
This was followed in quick succession by Shevlin heading wide of the Sutherland upright with the big ‘keeper beaten.
The slick interplay of the visitors was causing the Sharks a few headaches as they strove to get near the ball but still restricted the Tigers to longer range efforts after the initial sprint start to the stanza.
Parisi attempted to curl one round Denham from the edge of the box 7’ minutes in but the big stopper was awake to it and gathered comfortably.
The short corner routine almost proved fruitful for the home side when Panni Nikas and Elasi played some quick one-twos that set up Olsen only for the ball to be whipped off his toes at the last in the 58’ minute as the fitness of Sutherland began to tell against a tiring Tigers outfit.
Sutherland knew they had only to contain their opponents to garner the spoils and if APIA were to get anything from the game they would have to push out, playing into the hands of the Sharks who could exploit the gaps with pace and precision.
Clapham, such a livewire during the first 45’, was finally shackled in the second-half although still producing the odd moment of excitement. Parisi exuded calmness and subtlety on the ball with Kayes and Shevlin putting in a good show, however Nikas was getting into the game more and linking well with Tsattalios on the left and Olsen continuing to improve each week.
Nikas came close when Tigers ‘keeper Andrew Bazi needed to palm the ball away for a corner down at this right-hand post in the 69’ minute that was finally taken by the same player which amounted to little against the tall timber of the Tigers defence.
The pressure paid off when Klim Gjorseski, replaced by Brad Boardman, almost immediately found the net in the 71’ minute to extend the Sharks lead when sliding the ball under Bazi. and it should have been four on the night when Elasi broke through 2’ minutes later but for the brilliance of the Tigers stopper.
Sutherland may have thought the match was now put to bed but APIA had other ideas when Adel El Jamal netted the second Tigers goal of the evening through a sea of legs to reduce the arrears once more and again it was game on.
Parisi it was who should have levelled the scores but for two air swings inside the box, one with either foot, under close attention in the 83’ minute that could prove costly to APIA come the final whistle.
Bazi saved point-blank from Boardman, the ball not coming down quickly enough for Elasi to finish off on the rebound with Sutherland looking to kill off the game in the latter stages.
It was a battling performance of some note by the Tigers but the fitness of Sutherland was too great in the end and Nikas put the icing on the cake for the home side when adding their fourth in stoppage time.
APIA-Leichhardt Tiger coach Nick Rizzo had this to say afterwards:
“We went to sleep toward the end of the first-half and I can’t put that down to inexperience because it wasn’t that young a back line but we are making some elementary errors which is costing us and I think overall we had a lot of chances to win the game.
“We played good football, pressed well and the team did everything I asked of them but two lapses of concentration on our right hand side has cost us in the first period and then we are up against it the whole time so if we can somehow stamp out these errors we know the team is improving and we can start to win a few more games.
“It’s going to be tough but we’ll keep working and I think for most of the game we were pretty competitive and we were not really struggling at all.
“The only real difference between the sides tonight,” he continued: “is that Sutherland are very clinical and if they get a sniff of goal they seem to score.
“They have some very good players, competition for spots and we are finding it very difficult to score and we are taking more efforts to score goals whereas they create more chances but take more of them also, perhaps more than what they should have had but they are clinical in the box and that is the difference.
“That’s football at the end of the day and you need to put the ball in the back of the net and for the fans it was probably a good game to watch and we put in a battling show tonight and can take some positives from it.”
Robbie Stanton was happy to take the points but wasn’t exactly pleased with his sides showing:
“They were a very competitive side tonight and probably didn’t start the way they wanted to with our early goal and didn’t match our intensity but scoring was probably the worst thing we could have done so early.
“We might have thought this was going to be easy after that but they were desperate for points and they certainly showed that even though we had plenty of possession.
“I think the key word for us tonight was ‘flat’ and we didn’t perform as well as we know we can, and had they been on song a little more perhaps we wouldn’t have gotten away with it.
“Obviously I’ll take the three points but tonight we were loaded and our rotations were not sharp and I thought the players looked a little jaded so we’ll now look to make a few changes for the Waratah Cup semi-final here on Wednesday night against St. George.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 4 (Nick Olsen 2’, Nathan Elasi 45’+1’, Klim Gjorseski 71’, Panni Nikas 90’+2’)
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 2 (Sean Symons 10’, Adel El Jamal 75’)
Saturday, 15th June 2013
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Valerio Bertuccioli and Alec Mouawad
Fourth Official: Tim Turner
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.Nick Littler, 3.Michael Stuart, 4.James McKenzie, 6.Matthew Gordon, 7.Nathan Elasi, 8.Nick Olsen, 13.Reo Morinaga, 14.Nick Stavroulakis (C), 17.Klim Gjorseski (9.Brad Boardman 74’), 23.Panni Nikas, 33.Nick Tsattalios
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Michael Stuart, 19.Chris Naumoff, 22.Andrew Depta, 32.Lukas Stergio
Yellow Cards: Olsen 86’, Denham 90’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Andrew Bazi; 2.Mark Byrnes, 3.Adel El Jamal, 4.Brendan Reilly, 7.Stephen Kayes, 8.Keith Shevlin (18.Marko Micevski 71’), 9.Jason Oswell, 10.Franco Parisi, 14.Aaron Clapham, 15.Bradley Bartels, 16.Sean Symons
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Simon Jaeger, 11.Paul Galimi, 12.Matthew Castelnuovo, 20.Joshua Symons
Yellow Cards: Clapham 39’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Micky Brock
