Wollongong United's trophy cabinet now boasts the 2016 Fraternity Cup after a classy 3-1 victory over impressive opponents Kemblawarra Fury at Tarrawanna Park on Saturday afternoon.

In hot conditions, Wollongong United was able to offset an early Kemblawarra goal and nail three goals in retaliation to raise the Fraternity Cup at the end of the 90 minutes.

United Coach Oliver Vrtkovski was delighted with the Cup win, only months following United winning the 2015 Premier League title.

“We are ecstatic. It is always great to get some silverware first up,” Vrtkovski said.

“Winning any trophy is a great feeling, even though it is a pre-season cup. Teams are missing players, but we were missing players as well.”

The afternoon fixture began with the ball pin-balling from end to end, with each team slowly settling into their patterns and structures; all players getting an early boot on the ball.

In the 4th minute it was Kemblawarra Fury that threatened to score first, with David Hartas whipping a ball across the face of goal with Fury striker Matthew McNab unable to redirect the ball inside the posts.

In the 28th minute, Fury finally drew first blood following a number of probing attacking raids on United’s goals.

A low cross by McNab into Sam Munro who was loitering on the edge of the penalty area was brutally powered low by the striker, in-between an outstretched United goalkeeper Sam Nastic and the left post, for the scoreboard to truly represent Fury’s early dominance in the fixture.

Wollongong United was suddenly spurred into action, moving up through the gears and upping the tempo to take control of the Cup final, largely through dangerous charges up the right flank through Johnny Martinoski.

In the 35th minute following a United corner, Jordan Hooke looped a gorgeous second cross back across the face of goals to an unmarked Jinya An, who headed the ball with class into the netting to equalise.

At halftime, the score remained delicately poised at 1-1.

In the 48th minute, the fixture was slowly returning into its groove when out of nowhere, United’s Martinoski pounced onto a loose ball near the Fury penalty box, drew out Fury’s goalkeeper David Poeira before beating him all ends up and calmly slotting the ball into the open goals.

United took the lead 2-1 through the Martinoski goal, with pressure beginning to mount on Fury to level the game and force a Fraternity Cup Final penalty shootout.

In the 65th minute United’s Chris Smith received a lovely ball in the penalty box, beat one Fury defender and finessed the ball with class and ease into the bottom right corner to post the match-winner and a 3 -1 scoreline.

Substitutions were made by both teams but they all amounted to nothing as Fury failed to threaten United goals. Wollongong United listed numbers deep in their own half to defend out through to the final whistle.

Kemblawarra Fury coach Luke McGuire was disappointed following the loss, but saw plenty of bright signs for his club.

“I thought it was a pretty even game to be fair,” McGuire said.

“I am pretty positive of what we have ahead of us. We probably have five or six guys to come into the side.”

McGuire was of high praise of Wollongong United, believing that they could win the league by some margin.

Wollongong United’s coach Vrtkovski does not feel any additional pressure on his team following the two recent title trophies collected over the past months.

“We are creating chances, we are getting forward, we are keeping possession, we are strong in defence. There is no pressure on us at all.”

 

Wollongong United - 3 (An 35’, Martinoski 48’, Smith 65’)

Kemblawarra Fury- 1 (Munro 28’)

 

3:00 pm, Saturday 12th March, 2016

Tarrawanna Oval

 

Referee:Tony Bosevski

Assistant Referee: Steven Bozic and Mat Thoebald

 

Wollongong United: Nastic, Brooks, Tsovolos, Martinoski, Smith, Welch, Hooke, An, Kinjo, Reilly (Hajitofi, Mazevski, Davies, Brooks, Ristevski

 

Kemblawarra Fury: Poeira, Suttle, OConnor, Brown, Murray, Hartas, Iacovelli, Cecconi, McNab, Mears, Munro (Pender, Friedrich, Waller, Powell, Zufic)

 

Man of the Match: Jinya An

 

Report by Daniel McGookin

Photo by Pedro Garcia