A goal apiece in the second half saw Tarrawanna Blueys and Wollongong United share the points in a hard-fought game at Tarrawanna Oval on Saturday.

Wandi Jajaw gave the Blueys the lead in the 61^st minute with his 15^th goal of the season. But United new signing Sang-Yu Park followed up his Bert Bampton Cup semi final winner last weekend with the equaliser ten minutes later.

Both coaches agreed after the final whistle that a draw was a fair result on the day. It leaves the teams in 4^th and 5^th in the ladder so in a strong position to push for a place in the end-of-season finals.

Much of the first half was fought out in the middle of the park, with neither side creating many chances, leaving the two keepers with very little to do.

Rick Goodchild had the Blueys’ first effort on goal when he swept the ball away from United’s Dan Chapman, took one touch and then saw his shot just tipped over by Jordan Nikolovski.

At the other end, 23 minutes had been played before the visitors forced a save out of Christian Pretto, and even then he dealt very easily with Nathan Scicchitano’s shot.

But it was Scicchitano in the thick of the action again moments later when he picked up a square ball from Daisuke Yuzawa, and fired his right foot shot just over the bar.

In the 37^th minute, the Blueys had their best chance of the half, when Darren Stone’s pass finally pierced through the well-organised Wollongong defence, but Nikolovski got down well to block Ilija Prenzoski’s shot with his legs.

A shuffling of both teams’ formation led to a much more open and flowing second half.

Jajaw had spent most of the first 45 minutes prowling down the right flank, but to little effect. Switched to the centre for the second half, he looked much more dangerous.

His first real effort, though, came from a direct free kick, which he curled goalwards from 25 metres out, Nikolovski pulling out a fingertip save to flick the ball over for a corner.

Just on the hour mark, United had their best chance yet, when Scicchitano put Klime Sekutkoski through one on one with the Blueys’ keeper. Pretto blocked Sekutkoski’s shot and then immediately set up the move that led to Tarrawanna’s goal.

It was a long ball from Tom Preece that found Prenzoski out on the left flank bursting forward. United defenders looked for an offside flag, but none came, and Prenzoski unleashed a perfectly-placed cross into the path of Jajaw who had an open goal to aim for at the far post. The Blueys’ top scorer doesn’t miss chances like that and he duly despatched the ball to give his side the lead.

For the next five minutes Tarrawanna pressed for more. Prenzoski broke again, this time on the right flank, and went for goal himself only to see his shot cannon against the upright. And it was Prenzoski again who thought he’d put Darren Stone through on goal, though this time the linesman’s flag was raised for offside.

The visitors’ equaliser came out of nothing in the 70^th minute, though it was always on the cards once they’d made two attacking substitutions, bringing on Park and Johnny Martinoski to give them an attacking line of four up front.

Park charged down a clearance on the edge of the area and burst forward, beating one defender before unleashing a right foot shot that flew into the back of the net low to Pretto’s left.

The goal gave United belief in themselves and now it was their turn to push for a second. Martinoski saw one shot easily taken by Pretto and then another effort flew wide of the upright. And with two minutes to go it was Sekutkoski’s turn to see his shot tipped over by the now busy Blueys keeper.

At the other end Goodchild was hungry to add to his recent goal tally, though his best effort in the second half hit the side netting when he had broken clear down the right and might have hoped to hit the target. Late on, he almost set up Jajaw to hit the winner, but United’s Nathan Jagelman got his body in the way before the Blueys’ striker could pull the trigger.

“A draw was a fair result,” said Blueys coach Luke McGuire after the match. “It’s tight in the fight for the top five spots in the ladder, though, and we need to string a couple of wins together to give ourselves a good chance of being there at the end of the season. The next month is a biggie for us with some vital games.”

Oliver Vrtkoski was also pleased with his side’s performance. “The energy was back today and we created enough to take something away from this game, so I’m happy with the result.”

He is also looking forward to the return in the coming weeks of key players like Kota Kawase, Karouna Michael and Matt Floro, which will help his team’s push for the finals come the end of August.

In other games, Port Kembla edged out Albion Park 1-0 courtesy of a Takaos Teramoto goal whilst at Balls Paddock, goals to Tobin Zoomers and Ben McDonald saw Bulli beat Wollongong Olympic 2-0. Shell Cove notched up their ninth draw of the season following a 2-2 draw with Cringila. Shell Cove goals to Tommy Markovski and Sahand Mehvkhavari were cancelled out by goals to Daniel Atkins and Jonathon Liddle. Woonona produced an important 3-0 win over neighbours Bellambi with goals to Nathan Mucci, Ben Ellul and Tyler Bromham Fuller whilst in the Sunday game Dapto Dandaloo Fury flexed their muscles with a convincing 6-1 win over South Coast United.

- Simon Duffin -

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