Bulli's push for the League Champion's Title took a massive hit on Sunday when South Coast United staged a stirring second half comeback from two goals down at the break, to take a share of the points.

This is the second time in a matter of a few weeks that Bulli have failed to go on with the job after building two goal leads and on this occasion it means that they have dropped back to second on the table, one point behind leaders Kemblawarra Fury with just the five rounds to play.

The state of the pitch (hard & bumpy) certainly was detrimental to Bulli's usual style of play which is normally possession based and played from the back but there were two teams out there having to deal with the same conditions.

Early on, it look like Bulli were in the groove when as early as the fourth minute, Julian Minutillo cut in from the left only to see his low drive whistle wide of the far post.
A short time later, Ryan Emerton was played in on goal with a delightful through ball from Aaron Baker but just as he was about to pull trigger from ten metres, Robert Brown, who was to have a strong game at the back for United, came across in cover with a last ditch tackle to deny Emerton.

Both sides were doing there best to play a short passing game as best they could especially through the middle area of the park but there were mounting occasions where the longer ball was required to prise open the opposing defences.

On 26 minutes, Liam Unicomb, who has been amongst the goals for SCU in recent games, had an opportunity to add to his tally, when he latched onto a long through ball but when a couple of covering defenders appeared on the scene, the left sided striker skied his shot over the bar from the edge of the penalty area.

Five minutes later, Bulli took the lead after benefiting from a long clearing kick from keeper, Yuya Kawata whose raking clearance found Minutillo wide on the left. Minutillo did extremely well to control the pass but once he did his next touch released Ben McDonald into space with only United keeper, Jason Bleakley to beat.

As the keeper advanced from goal to narrow the angle, McDonald seized the opportunity to lob the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net for the opening goal of the game.

On the 40 minute mark, the Home side had the chance for an equaliser when a super cross field pass of 40 metres by Denis Stojic cut out Baker and found Unicomb in space. Unicomb took the ball in his stride but found the angle to much to overcome as his well struck shot was parried away for a corner by Kawata.

Right on the stroke of half time, Bulli doubled their lead from a corner. Emerton knocked over the cross from the left to the far post where Guy Knight nodded the ball back across the face of goal where McDonald laid the ball off to Minutillo who was able to find the back of the net from close range.

From this position of strength, one would have expected the League Leader's to go on with the job in the second half but they didn't count on the spirited resistance of a side sitting in ninth position going into this afternoon's encounter.

Bulli did have a couple of half chances to increase their lead early in the second period but failed to capataliase and the longer the game went the more South Coast came into the game in an effort to get something from a game that appeared to be a lost cause at the break.

More intensity appeared in United's play as they applied a lot more pressure high up the pitch in an effort to unsettle the Visitors.

On the hour mark, Aden Wade tried a shot from distance which failed to trouble Kawata but it wasn't long before their persistance paid off with a goal to reduce the deficit.

After penning Bulli back in a sustained period, United right full back, Yuke Kiyohara made an incisive run down the right flank and when in a position adjacent to the Bulli penalty area, the full back fired in a low precise cross which was met on the edge of the six yard box by Jun Lee (only been on the field six minutes as a sub) and the slightest of touches diverted the ball into the back of the net in the 65th minute.

This goal proved just the tonic the United needed as they went in search of another which should really have come just seven minutes later. Bulli turned the ball over 40 metres from their own goal and the ball was quickly played through to Tommy Skara but with only the keeper to beat from just inside the penalty area, he failed to make any decent contact with the ball being scrambled away to safety.

United were really taking it to their more favoured opposition now and scored a deserved equaliser on 77 minutes. Stojic who had a whale of a game in the heart of the mid-field for United won another ball where it really matters and his pass found Dinko Terzic some 35 metres from goal in centre field. With the goal in his sights, Terzic didn't hesitate to unleash a speculative effort from distance which didn't raise much higher than six inches from the ground.

Whilst the ball was hit with some force, Kawata in the Bulli goal had a good sight of the ball but his effort to save low to his right was a bit cumbersome and whilst the Keeper got a right hand to the ball it wasn't strong enough to divert the ball away from goal as the ball nestled in the bottom right corner of the net.

With the game now evenly balanced and just under a quarter of an hour to play there was still time for either side to grab all three points.

There was more frantic play at both ends of the pitch in the remaining period and both sides had one good chance to grab the glory in the dying embers of the game.

With two minutes left of normal time, McDonald saw a header from the edge of the six yard box sail just over the bar after he met a cross from Knight but just couldn't get over the top of the ball.

Likewise in stoppage time, at the other end Unicomb had a header at the far post from a cross from Skara but couldn't direct his effort goalwards.

The game ended in a two-two draw which was a just reward for South Coast whose committed effort in the second half was terrific.

Bulli were second best in the intensity department when South Coast 'asked all the questions' during their fight back and surprisingly the Visitors didn't change anything tactic wise when the chips were down except for a 'like for like' change on the right flank.

South Coast Coach, Greg Valic was ecstatic after the final whistle especially with the fantastic effort by his side in the second stanza.

Valic felt that in the first half, his side were a bit passive and showed too much respect to the opposition.

At half time, he tweaked the side a little bit and got his charges to force the issue and raise their intensity which they did in spades.

 

Match Stats

 

South Coast United 2 (Jun Lee 65', Dinko Terzic 77')

Bulli 2 (Ben McDonald 31' Julian Minutillo 45')

 

Ian McLennan Park, Kembla Grange

 

Referee: Bobby Mazevski

Assistant Referees: Mitchell Thorpe & Dylan Arvella

 

South Coast United: Jason Bleakley, Lee Gilroy, Aden Wade, Robert Brown, Dinko Terzic, Anton Batur, Tommy Skara (Jun Lee 59'), Oliver Carrasco, Liam Unicomb (Christian Saffiotti 90+2'), Denis Stojic (Cameron Sulevski 88'), Yuke Kiyohara

Subs not Used: Mate Nimac, Chris Lavereski.

Yellow Cards: Jason Bleakley 60', Denis Stojic 83' Robert Brown 92'.

 

Bulli: Yuya Kuwata, Aaron Baker, Kensi Takahashi, Scott Best, Guy Knight, Jim Kerr, Sam Davies, Ryan Emerton, Ben McDonald, Dylan Lewis (Lewis Clements 75'), Julian Minutillo.

Subs not Used: Matthew Naylor, Corey Horner, Kyle Jackson, Joao Oliveira.

Yellow Cards: Ben McDonald 66'.

 

Report by David Naylor

Photo: Pedro Garcia (library archive)