Mitchell Del Turco (Orange Shirt) looks to shake off the attention of Scott Curran & Guy Knight (Bulli) in Saturday’s encounter.

                     Picture courtesy of Andrew Linturn (Fotosportz)

 

 

 

 

 

The Match of the Round in Round 8 at Dandaloo Sportsground brought together the top two teams from Season 2014 in what promised to be a mouth-watering clash with both sides leading the way this season.

Coming off a surprise last round loss to Tarrawanna, Bulli (four points adrift) were desperate no to lose any further ground on Dapto Dandaloo who had started the season in fine form with five straight wins.

It was the visitors who drew first blood as early as the second minute in their first real attack to put the Fury on notice.
A free flowing passing movement ended with Matthew Naylor who was able to get into an advanced position from his Full Back Role down the right side whipping in a great ball across the face of the Fury six yard box with Julian Minutillo nipping in, in front of DDF Keeper, Mitchell Blowes, to side foot the ball home.

This set the tone for the rest of the game which turned into a very open game of football with both sides intent on playing a very good brand of counter attacking play.

Bulli should have doubled their lead on 18 minutes when Hayden Mowbray jinked his way past two defenders and found himself in a ‘one on one’ with Blowes 12 metres from goal. After doing so well to get himself into this position, Mowbray looked certain to score but the attacking mid-fielder fluffed his lines at the last moment and skewed his shot wide.

As so often happens in the game we love, Dapto Dandaloo benefitted from this huge let-off and were back on level terms within 60 seconds.
Alvin Ceccoli, who was at his marauding best up down the Fury’s left side all game, got to the by-line and his pinpoint cross was met by Ricky Zucco whose firm header found the back of the net from close range.

With the game going ‘end to end’ it always looked that more goals were imminent and it was Bulli who fashioned the best chance to take back the lead in the opening half after stringing another good passing movement together which ended with Mowbray playing in Ben McDonald. However, McDonald’s well struck shot brought out a great save form Blowes who deflected the ball away for a corner.

 Ten minutes into the second stanza, two goals in two minutes saw the pendulum swing heavily the vistor’s way. Another swift movement turning defence into attack featured a terrific defence splitting pass from Tobin Zoomers which released Cameron Littler into space wide on the right. With Littler advancing on goal, Blowes did his best to close the angle down but the wide man delivered a sublime chip which beat the Keeper all ends up as the ball went in off the underside of the cross bar for the goal of the game.
The Fury were rocked further a short time later and with their defence in a bit of disarray, McDonald was able to capatalise as he slotted home from close range.

Bulli were on a roll now and the game was put to bed with 20 minutes to play when Minutillo latched onto a loose ball 25 metres. He still had a bit of work to do for his second goal of the game but he took the opportunity extremely well to bend the ball around a couple of defenders as the ball nestled in the bottom corner of the net with Blowes stranded.

Two minutes later, the Fury almost pulled a goal back when a stunning volley from Zucco from the edge of the penalty area brought the best out of Ben McGuiness in the Bulli goal with a save of the highest quality as he turned the ball away for a corner.

The icing on the cake was provided by Bulli Captain, McDonald who finished off the scoring in the 89^th minute.
With the Fury pushing players forward in an effort to ‘save face’ they were punished when caught short at the back. A quick pass from deep found the lanky striker on the half way line and he took off towards the DDF goal with a couple of defenders in pursuit.
McDonald was able to shake off the attention of the two defenders and when he made his way into the penalty area his finish was very good as he powered the ball home.

With the final whistle sounding we were left with a fairly emphatic score-line of five goals to one in favour of Bulli after a very workmanlike performance from the 2014 League Champions.

The result was a trifle unkind on the pace setters who worked hard throughout the 90 minutes but were brought undone by a ruthless display by Bulli.
Ceccoli and Shane Lyons worked their socks off whilst Zucco put in a decent shift for the vanquished.

The foundation for Bulli was set by a strong defensive display and the mid-field getting the better of their counterparts. To top it off, the front three of McDonald, Minutillo & Littler played their part by finishing off the great service received throughout.

Tarrawanna have moved into third position on the table with a four goals to two victory over Shell Cove FC at Tarrawanna Oval.
The Bluey’s are not playing the best football in the competition but they are grinding out results and are scoring lots of goals to boot.
In Wandi Jajaw, new signing from Parramatta FC, they have the league’s leading goal scorer, whose ten goals from five games is no mean feat at this stage of the season.
Tarrawanna opened the scoring in the 11^th minute through Darren Stone but when Tommy Markovski equalised 12 minutes after the break it looked like the visitors might break through for their first win in the IPL.

Up stepped Jajaw and his second half trick (63’81’82’) broke the spirit of the Cove but they were able to peg the deficit back when Isaac Lee scored four minutes from time.

Wollongong United moved up to fifth on the table when they defeated fourth placed Albion Park WE by two goals to one at Macedonia Park.

Two penalties awarded within six minutes of each other mid-way through the first half proved to be the difference between the two sides although from all accounts, United were the better side over the 90 minutes and deserved the three points.
The first penalty (21’) was converted by Johnny Martinoski whilst Matt Floro was on the spot for the second one (27’). Chris Smith reduced the arrears for the White Eagles deep into stoppage time.

Wollongong Olympic scored their second win of the season with a come from behind win over Port Kembla at PCYC.

Mark Picciollini opened the scoring in the 38^th minute as the visitors took a one nil lead into the break.

Whatever was said at half time by ‘stand in’ coach Rob Birkin appeared to work wonders in the second half as the home side stormed to victory.
Skipper, Brendan Fordham got the ball rolling on the hour mark before Olympic took the lead 12 minutes from time with new signing from Dapto Dandaloo, Nicholas Nils-Goram scoring on debut.
Port’s hopes of getting something from the game evaporated late on when James Volcanovski was sent off (2^nd yellow).
The three goals to one victory was sealed in time added on by Paul Kohler.

Woonona capatalised on their recent improvement in form by securing a precious one goal to nil victory and first win of the season over South Coast United at Ocean Park.
With a few players now back on deck from injury, a 25^th minute goal from Christopher Gibson was enough to give the Sharkies all three points but the visitors cause was not helped when Sinan Dilber was sent off on the cusp of half time for a language issue.

In the remaining game played on Friday night at Crehan Park, Cringila Lions and Bellambi had to settle for a share of the points in a one all draw.

With the game scoreless at half time, the visitors took the lead through Sang-Yu Park seven minutes after the re-start before Stefan Dimoski found himself in the right spot at the right time in a goal mouth scramble 20 minutes later to complete the scoring.