Bulli FC have missed a golden opportunity to progress deep in the FFA Cup losing 2-1 to a classy Wollongong Wolves in front of a healthy crowd at Macedonia Park on Wednesday night.

It was an even clash with the ball travelling from end to end seeing both teams with a high number of chances, but it will be Bulli left hurting after an extraordinary number of late opportunities to equalize all squandered in front of goals.

Bulli coach Ben Smith conceded the chances lost.

“It was a tough loss, but we rode our luck at times as well,”Smith said.

“Towards the end we had 3 or 4 red hot chances so even just to force it to extra time would have been fair.”

In the 7th minute, Bulli striker Ben McDonald made a fleeting run down the left corridor taking it close to the goals before chipping a cross for the waiting Bulli attackers to be well defended by the Wolves.

Only two minutes late, McDonald was threatening again, latching on a through ball and drawing the Wolves keeper out of position whilst driving in a low hard cross to the waiting Ryan Emerton, with the ball well-defended by the Wolves before reaching their intended target.

Wollongong Wolves defence was rock solid, but continued drawing the officials attention with a number of fouls particularly on Bulli’s Sam Davies.

In the 23rd minute, a sizzler of an opportunity for the Wolves came through a ball from Danny Lazarevski on the right wing finding the chest of target man James Baldacchino on the edge of the penalty area, with the powerful Baldacchino strike thundering into the inside of the right goalpost to be cleared away.

In the 31st minute, Bulli FC broke the deadlock following a period of attack in front of the Wolves goals. The ball continued to return to the danger area following a corner kick, allowing Dylan Lewis to thread the ball to Sam Davies in the middle of a crowded penalty area, who unleashed the strike into the bottom left corner for the opening goal in the tense fixture.

The scoreboard read Bulli leading by one goal.

From the kick-off the Wolves nearly immediately countered the goal forcing the Bulli keeper Joao Oliveira to charge and bobble the save, with a Bulli defender getting in the way of the Wolves strike at the unattended goal to hold onto the narrow lead.

In the 37th minute, the dangerous quick feet of Wolves’ Peter Simonoski drew a poor challenge in the penalty area, earning a crucial penalty kick for Wollongong. Ricky Zucco stepped up to the plate and had no problems striking the goal for the equaliser

The Wolves penalty goal took the half time score to 1-1 in the tense fixture.

In the 62nd minute, the Wolves extra class shown through with a lovely goal to Peter Simonoski. From a ball put through by James Baldacchiono, Simonoski took his time from outside the penalty area and unleashed the strike past the Bulli keeper with ease.

This goal took the scoreboard to 2-1 to the Wolves with less than 30 minutes remaining.

Bulli introduced substitute Julian Minutillo to the fixture and he was immediately dangerous, beating two in the box and his strike earned a corner in the 76th minute.

Ben McDonald led the charge as Bulli continued to push for an equaliser until the final whistle. In the 83rd minute, McDonald was able to chip over a charging goalkeeper but also the crossbar squandering a golden late opportunity.

In the 89th minute, a Bulli corner was kept alive by defender Kenji Takahashi who headed it back into the crowded penalty area for a desperate game of air hockey. The Wolves keeper fell out of position allowing Bulli’s Guy Knight to have what appeared like an open goal but the pressure of the moment and the Wolves defence meant that the strike was sent wide and wasted.

The score at the final whistle of 2-1 was a fair reflection of the tenacious fixture.

Bulli coach Ben Smith was disappointed not to progress, but has found the 2016 FFA Cup experience a rewarding one.

“It has been good. It stretched the resources a bit, a few unfortunate injuries to come out of the other games but they can happen at training, they can happen in a regular game,”Smith said.

“It would have been nice to go to the next game, the next game appears an easier game on paper and from there you are then in the last 32 I believe, so it is disappointing from that front.”

Wollongong Wolves will progress to Round 7 of the FFA Cup to battle the winner of Wagga City Wanderers and Gladeville Ryde Magic.

Bulli FC will look to continue their table-topping Football South Coast Premier League form returning to Macedonia Park to battle fellow Round 6 FFA Cup losers Wollongong United on Saturday afternoon.

 

Wollongong Wolves - 2 (Zucco 37’pen., Simonoski 65’)

Bulli FC - 1 (Davies 31’)

 

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Macedonia Park

 

Wollongong Wolves: Baldacchiono, Collison, Hristovski, Kawase, Lazarevski, Mackenzie, Madden, Simonoski (Wilson 75’), Stojic (Ivanovic 89’), B. Zucco, R. Zucco (Bernal 72’)

Subs not used: Allport, Arcaba,

 

Bulli FC (squad): Oliveria-Woolmer, Baker, Takahashi, Best, Knight, Kerr, Clements, Davies, McDonald, Emerton, Lewis, Minutillo, Jackson, Miranda, Kuwada

 

Report by Daniel McGookin (@mcgoookin93)

Photo by Pedro Garcia