Lilli Pilli take Bill Cullinan Cup in tight contest

Sutherland Shire Football Association’s Lilli Pilli FC added the Bill Cullinan Cup to their trophy cabinet with a 4-1 win against Glebe Gorillas where the score didn’t reflect the efforts of both sides in a thrilling and befitting cup Final.

A frenetic opening to the match saw little in the way of goalmouth action but Nathan Stojanovic found himself in the book for a late tackle on Gorillas’ Adam Burns as he darted past the Lilli Pilli defender that showed this was to be no lightly taken affair.

Tom Gollins fired in a free-kick for Lilli Pilli in the 16’ minute that was well covered by the Glebe custodian, Barney Robertson, who was never troubled by the effort in the first real opening of the game. The tackling was hard but fair, the commitment was 100% and the teams very evenly matched.

Chris Boland, not expecting the ball to reach him, had a snap shot that looped high over the Gorillas’ bar and kept going over the trees and into the duck pond behind the net that brought a great many cheers from the gathered crowd.

His free-kick on 23’ minutes ricocheted off the wall to Jay Woods who rounded the ‘keeper and set up Ned Stelzer to tap home the opening goal for Lilli Pilli. In essence, they had had the better of the ball and chances to this point.

Glebe showed the greater intent, Lilli Pilli the greater fluidity during the half and apart from the goal there was little to separate the two sides and the feeling was it was going to take something a bit special for either to break the shackles.

And it came in the 40’ minute when Stelzer raced on to the ball, spun on a sixpence and lashed home his and Lilli Pilli’s second of the game in the blink of an eye. Robertson was a spectator as the balled fizzed past him before he could react.

Glebe ended the half with a flourish but no goals to their name and everything to play for in the final 45’ minutes.

The Gorillas opened up the second period brightly enough, Archie Gaunt looking particularly sharp down the right channel, but this was a game of few chances and more urgency was required in front of goal if they were to retrieve the situation.

Graeme Lindsay broke through on a run from midfield in the 51’ minute and again a shot from outside the box was easy pickings for Harrison between the sticks but it was his neat through ball that released Jamie Morris down the left to scamper in and net for Glebe from an acute angle reducing the deficit to one. Finally the Gorillas looked to have clicked into gear.

The good work was undone when Mitch Parker found space down the right and stood up a cross to the back stick for Boland to head powerfully home to give Lilli Pilli their two goal cushion.

Gollins again pulled a fine save out of Glebe ‘keeper Robertson as Lilli Pilli looked to put the result beyond doubt with minutes remaining that, had it been scored, would have given little justice to the efforts of the team in purple.

Harrison responded at the other end in similar fashion with Glebe believing if they were to lose they would make sure they did everything possible to secure something.

The ‘keeper again producing the goods, this time from Ashley Small, moments later before pulling off the save of the game from the same player.

Small spun on the edge of the box and fired ferociously toward goal that Harrison somehow managed to not only stop but put behind to safety with a split second reaction. No wonder Small and his team mates were left holding their heads.

Jay Woods should have put the final nail in the Glebe coffin in stoppage time when round the ‘keeper and sliding his effort wide of the post but Boland did add a fourth to complete the scoring.

In the end it was too great a task for the Glebe Gorillas who had given a good account of themselves but had come up short against a Lilli Pilli side just too strong on the day.

Match Stats

Glebe Gorillas 1 (Morriss 53’)

Lilli Pilli 4 (Stelzer 23’,40’, Boland 64’, 90+3’ )

Sunday, 17th July, 2016

Valentine Sports Park, Field 2

Referee: Samuel Grasso

Assistant Referees: Sebastian Andrews & Aaron Wunderlich

Glebe Gorillas: 1. ROBERTSON Barney, 2. SINGH Belwin, 3. COOPER Jonathan ©, 4. WINTER Matthew, 5. LINWOOD Jamie, 6. GAUNT Archie, 8. MORRISS Jamie, 9. BURNS Adam, 10. PRINTER Philip, 12. LINDSAY Graeme, 14. BIERMA Jeremy, 15. LUXTON Christopher, 18. MCMILLAN Diarmaid, 19. SMALL Ashley, 100. HERMANS Sieste

Manager – Adam BURNS, Coach – Graeme LINDSAY, Coach – Jonathan COOPER, President – Kieran MURPHY

Yellow Cards:

Red Cards:

Lilli Pilli 2: 1. HARRISON Ben, 2. FARMER Harry, 3. ASKEW Jesse, 4. HODGE Aaron, 5. BOLAND Chris, 6. PARKER Mitch, 7. STOJANOVIC Nathan, 8. HODGE Dale, 9. BOLAND Dean, 10. STELZER Ned ©, 12. WOODS Jay, 14. GOLLINS Tom, 15. PINKUS Nathan, 25. HASSAN Redah, 44. MCPHERSON Steve, 46. HARRIS Daniel, 66. ROSMAN Casey

Coach – David SMITH, Coach – David PAGET, Manager – Peter ASKEW

Yellow Cards: Stojanovic 3’, Boland 87’

Red Cards:

By Micky Brock