In their Round 2 match at North Wollongong PCYC, Woonona posted a comfortable win against Shell Cove FC, thanks to their superior match fitness and clinical attack despite the 2-1 scoreline.

After the opening whistle blew, it took Woonona less than three minutes to make their mark on the scoreboard, as they pounced on some loose passing by Shell Cove, before quickly moving it to Sho Tadoroki, who put it away decisively.

The first 20 minutes of the match belonged to Woonona, who dominated the 1-on-1 contests and moved swiftly in counter-attack. They were also helped by the Shell Cove forwards, who gave up easy possession and were disjointed in their attacking forms.

The Shell Cove defence was solid, despite letting Tadoroki through early, and the pressure they created in the mid-field gave them the foundation with which to start finding their attacking channels out wide, with Lucas Rossi and Jacob Miller linking up nicely towards the back-end of the first half.

But the score remained one-nil at half-time, Shell Cove being unable to convert their forays up the side-line into a scoreboard result.

After a few close Woonona misses, early in the second half, Shell Cove found a tighter attacking formation and started to move the ball with precision and vigour, producing a few close misses of their own.

Just when Shell Cove began to look especially dangerous, Woonona fired the ball through mid-field, putting Hayden Nicol into space in front of goal, stepping past the last of Shell Cove’s defence, before curving it into the back of the net.

With the score-line against them and time running out, Shell Cove seemed to lose the aggression that they’d brought into the first half, slipping into the same loose formations that had brought them undone in the first half.

With the score-line in their favour, Woonona moved with composure and patience around the pitch, dominating the mid-field and keeping the Shell Cove forwards under constant pressure when they managed to move the ball into their half.

If Woonona hadn’t controlled the game up to that point, then they were certainly looking to put their stamp on the final quarter of the match. Their forward play was clinical, with the Shell Cove defence tiring, and they were given plenty of chances by the Shell Cove forwards, who gave away plenty of possession and territory.

Woonona were looking very close to putting their third notch over Shell Cove, when in the dying minutes, some desperation from the Shell Cove forwards saw Wada Masahiro scamble the ball into the net.    

Shell Cove coach, reflected on the loss, saying that ‘we have to work on our passing game, staying in shape, [Woonona] were a bit fitter and used their chances well… They were the better team on the day’.

Woonona coach Brendan Anderson was understandably positive about the win, saying that ‘a lot of the boys played well, a definite improvement from last week in terms of our shape and ability to keep the ball… I’m pleased with the result’.    

At the final whistle, the score rested at two goals to one, and Woonona will take confidence from an authoritative display into their match-up next week having already secured a semi-final position.

 

Woonoona – 2 (Tadoroki, Nicol)

Shell Cove – 1 (Wada)

Sunday 28^th of February, 2016

North Wollongong PCYC

Referee – Greg Reid

Assistants – Bobby Mazevski and Angela Gray

Woonoona – Jardine, Minch, Gibson, Franco, Hutton, Morlando, Worthington, Merxhushi, Tadoroki, Zuzuki, Pattman (Meikle, Ayoub, Nicol, Ellul, Banks)

Shell Cove – Rodriguez, McGraw, Naumorski, Kazuhiro, Abduljabbar, Miller, Rossi, Waterman, Nikolovski, Masahiro, Rusic (McAteer, Livieri, Treneski)

Story by Oliver Chaseling