Sharks made to work hard for win
A dismal Shire evening welcomed South Coast Wolves to Seymour Shaw Park to take on second-placed Sutherland Sharks – the home side scoring a 3-1 win to maintain the pace of League leader, Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
Panni Nikas netted a double for the Sharks, the first a scintillating free-kick, and one to Nathan Elasi as the home side continued their winning ways and relentless drive up the table in pursuit of Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
The visitors kicked off and within 8’’ seconds had a shot from distance that was woefully wide of the mark with many hoping it was a sign of things to come.
At the other end, a pass back from stand-in skipper Michael Robinson in the 3’ minute had goalkeeper Thomas Hamilton under pressure to clear with Sharks striker Brad Boardman bearing down, the opening few seconds not intimidating the home side.
With the rain streaming down it caused a few anxious moments on the slippery synthetic surface for both yet neither created any clear cut scoring opportunities in a fairly evenly balanced opening period where the less fancied Wolves were more than holding their own.
Nathan Elasi tried his luck from distance keeping the ball low on the slippery surface that had Hamilton nervously sprinting across his line and glad to see it slip narrowly wide of the left-hand upright as the Sharks began to press higher up the pitch and force their counterparts back.
Steve Hayes turned sublimely in the box and struck a sweet left-footed shot that again slid past the post for the Wolves as they hit on the counter.
Perry Moustakas and Nick Stavroulakis found themselves in referee Kurt Ams’ book in quick succession for the Sharks more due to the conditions than dangerous play.
Robinson gave away a free-kick on the edge of the D when bringing down Elasi in a very promising position for the home side that was curled into the top left-hand corner by Panni Nikas who executed the shot with style and grace to give the Sharks the lead in the 22’ minute.
It was scant justice to the Wolves who had been giving as good as they got against their more fancied opponents and were left to play catch-up football yet again, a position they find themselves in with too much regularity during this campaign.
Klim Gjorseski, playing his best game for the Sharks this season, skipped his way down the left flank for Sutherland and tailored a measured cross for Nikas who this time over-ran the ball and could only help it on its way for a goal-kick in the 29’ minute.
Less than 60’’ seconds later, Robinson who got the final block to deny another Sharks attack.
Sutherland upped a gear but struggled to put the game to bed against a resilient Wolves defence led by Robinson and right-back Jack Keating, again putting in another fine performance.
South Coast were getting forward in the space allowed them before being closed down resulting in plenty of efforts from distance that were wide of the mark however, being drawn on they were being exploited by the fast flowing mobile attacking game of their hosts.
The forays forward became sporadic for the Wolves as Sutherland contained them without over exertion at times although John Martinovski, Mitch Del Turco and Hayes looked lively when playing as a triumvirate.
Joseph Lavelle felled a darting Boardman in the box to concede a penalty neatly tucked away by Nikas in the 44’ minute when cheekily chipping down the centre and over the despairing dive of Hamilton to double the home lead.
It rattled South Coast but thankfully the half-time whistle sounded shortly after allowing time to sort themselves out during the break but with Sutherland in this form it would be a tough ask to keep the scoring down let alone get anything from the match.
It would need a half-time talk little short of brilliance should the Wolves get out of the hole they dug themselves, the opening stanza performance good overall but inconsistent with the only certainty being Sutherland would come at them hard after the break as they attempted to reduce the goal difference between them and league leaders Bonnyrigg.
The Sharks replaced shot-stopper Nathan Denham at the interval to be subbed by Andrew Depta who was tested immediately by Hayes who again spun in the box, to his right this time, and fired low with the Sharks substitute getting his body behind the ball to save.
Nikas whipped over a vicious in-swinging corner in the 54’ minute that Lavelle had to head off the line as it beat all and sundry following in.
South Coast, instead of lumping the ball long, attempted to play out of trouble and, perhaps, with luck would not have found themselves two down on the night but as is always the case when near the bottom of the table it appears to go against you, yet the style and brand of football is pleasing to the eye and has won many admirers this season as the Illawarra club promote from the local youth set-up and are a work in progress.
Gjorseski fired in a low cross on the left for Boardman to dummy that left Nathan Elasi alone at the back stick to side-foot home and increase the lead further with 62’ minutes on the clock as the Wolves were caught square at the back again.
Sharks striker Boardman attempted to replay Gjorseski with a delightful back-heel however Keating was able to nip in and scuff the ball away for a corner in a last ditch effort.
Perry Moustakas had a head-in-hands moment when guilty of one of the misses of the season after Jamie McMaster attempted a long range drive that was partially blocked by the Wolves defence and dropped perfectly for the centre-back who blasted wide from 6-yards out.
The Wolves response was to go up the other end in the 70’ minute and reduce the deficit through Ricky Zucco blasting home past the hapless Depta with Moustakas still getting back into position.
Zucco attempted a curling free-kick, alla first-half Nikas, but couldn’t curl it back enough in the 85’ minute that would have opened the match up for a grandstand finish in testing the young Sharks reserve ‘keeper, however it never materialised and the Wolves were left to rue another three points that had slipped away.
It was left to Hamilton to have the last word when blocking strongly from an Elasi effort at point-blank range but it wouldn’t have changed the final result but he did it again when substitute Chris Naumoff wanted more time on the ball than he had and squandered another excellent Sharks chance to extend the lead.
Robbie Stanton, Sharks coach, commenting after the match stated:
“We held possession really well in the conditions and South Coast tended to sit off us a bit in the first-half and I thought we showed terrific patience and ball rotation to unlock them a few times.
“The free-kick from Panni (Nikas) was superb and the penalty was cheeky but I feel a couple of times we missed easier efforts and certainly in the second period we should have put another two or three away.
“Credit to them as they started to push a little higher in the second 45’ minutes and give us a bit of grief but I wanted a clinical and efficient performance tonight and we know a 2-0 score line is always a difficult one so we wanted to grind it out and get this one out of the way as they are always a hard team to play against.
“They are always tough and we didn’t expect anything different.”
The turning point hinged on the free-kick but Stanton added:
“They still sat back at 2-0 during the first-half when I thought they may have pressed a bit higher and in truth I felt they tried to but our rotation was excellent with Panni (Nikas), James (McMaster) and Stav (Nick Stavroulakis) swapping well tonight, not singling out or hone in on individuals, but their movement was vital to the result tonight in the triangle.
“That was a major factor in the Wolves not being able to press higher and gave us the edge to gain the three points although they have plenty of speed in the front third too.”
Wolves coach Richard Lloyd responded:
“That was a pretty good free-kick by Nikas he came up with by any standard.
“And you don’t give up a goal like that from that sort of area.
“We obviously came with a plan against the second top team in the competition so we were never going to throw caution to the wind and make it easy for them.
“Some good things came out of the game for us tonight in the way we defended and kept our shape at times but two set-pieces has cost us in the first-half and the third was fair play to them as they worked it well but we managed to get one back and kept playing to the final whistle.
“We still believe things are going to turn for us and remain positive because we are playing some good football.
“We have a lot of young players in the side and it will take time to get the results we feel we are capable of but I am surrounded by a structure that realises this and we need to be patient as we nurture this squad as they gain experience against the likes of McMaster, Nikas and so on and learn how to cope with that level of opponent.
“The club has been patient and believes in what we are trying to do and after the first goal we tried to sit at a certain line and get our strikers working as much as possible but Sutherland came down the left and attacked the right extremely well.
“Robbie (Stanton) has them well drilled at that and they managed to carve us up a little down there but we will learn from this and take the positives from this defeat as we look to the future.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 3 (Nikas 22’, 44’ (pen), Elasi 62’)
South Coast Wolves 1 (Zucco 70’)
Saturday 1st of June, 2013
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Andrej Giev
Fourth Official: Lachlan Daniel
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham (22.Andrew Depta 46’); 2.Nick Littler, 6.Matthew Gordon, 7.Nathan Elasi, 9.Brad Boardman (19.Chris Naumoff 73’), 10.Jamie McMaster, (3.Michael Stuart 87’), 13.Reo Morinaga, 14.Nick Stavroulakis (C), 15.Perry Moustakas, 17.Klim Gjorseski, 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 4.James McKenzie, 37.Dylan Fox
Yellow Cards: Moustakas 15’, Stavroulakis 17’, Boardman 48’, Gjorseski 65’
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 20.Thomas Hamilton; 2.Jack Keating, 4.Michael Robinson (C), 6.Chris Nathaniel, 8.Steve Hayes, 10.Ricky Zucco, 11.John Martinoski (15.Matthew Floro 90’+1’), 12.Joseph Lavalle, 14.Mitchell Del Turco, 17.Zac Mackenzie, 21.Sam Matthews
Substitutes Not Used: 5.James Baldacchino 13.Josh Bingham, 26.Jacob Timpano, 1.David Hamilton
Yellow Cards: Hayes 52’, Zucco 76’
Red Cards: Nil
(Player Ratings for second round will not be listed with Team of the Year announced at the awards dinner later this year)
-By Micky Brock
