Title chasing Bulli took a while to hit their straps against final five aspirants Wollongong United in Sunday's clash at Balls Paddock but when they did, they rode to a fairly comfortable victory by a margin of five goals to one.

Wollongong United had the better of the opening exchanges and should have gone ahead on eight minutes when an interchange of passes between youngsters, Brad Acev and Tim Wylie opened up the Bulli defence through the middle and left Wylie with a clear sight of goal in open space inside the penalty area but on an angle. Wylie made good contact with the ball but his effort was well saved by Bulli Keeper, Yuya Kuwata who had 'stayed large' and was able to beat the ball away.

On 15 minutes United's Karouna Micheal tried his luck on goal when he picked up a loose ball after Bulli had turned possession over rather cheaply in their own half of the field which allowed Micheal a short run towards the penalty area but his effort from distance was wide of the mark.

During the first 25 minutes, Bulli's usual possession/attacking style of play had been somewhat stifled by their opponent's ability to get numbers behind the ball and work hard defensively to nullify clear goal scoring opportunities. That's not to say that Bulli weren't making inroads into their front third of the pitch because during this period United conceded quite a number of corners mainly due to some scrambling defence.

That all changed on 27 minutes when the home side opened the scoring with their first shot on goal and through an unlikely source. Leading scorer, Ben McDonald and worked himself into a position wide on the left and his square pass found left full back, Guy Knight on the edge of the United penalty area. Up to this point, the marking had been very sound but on this occasion a defensive lapse allowed Knight to work himself into space and find a clear sight of the target.

To his credit, it took a great curling shot form the defender to arrow the ball towards the far top corner which United Keeper, Sam Nastic could only gaze at, has he was rooted to the spot with the ball nestling in the 'bird's nest'.

Bulli were now starting to find their rythym, and on the half hour mark Ryan Emerton swung in a corner from the left which found McDonald lurking unmarked on the edge of the six yard box. Fortunately for the Visitors, McDonald couldn't rise high enough to get above the ball which sailed over the cross bar when contact was made.

However, two minutes later the gangly striker scored his 15th goal of the season when he netted from the edge of the six yard box. There had been somewhat of a scramble inside the United penalty area when the ball found it's way out to Bulli's James Kerr 15 metres from goal. Kerr's effort on goal was mis-hit but the ball managed to find a path to McDonald who did the rest from close range.

Any intensity that United had brought to the game in the opening period had now almost disappeared and they were at 6's & 7's as the contest approached half time.

Three minutes from the break, the visitors conceded a third goal and what a great individual goal it was. This has been a breakthrough season for Dylan Lewis who has been promoted to first grade after a stellar couple of years terrorising defences in Youth Grade and scoring goals for fun.

Coach Ben Smith has predominantly had Lewis playing wide right up front in a 4-3-3 formation and despite being out of sorts in the last 2 or 3 games has managed to find the back of the net 12 times in his 17 appearances which is a great return 'first year in'.

His 13th of this term came as result of picking up in the ball in his customary position out wide and setting off on a weaving run of some 20 metres which took him past two defenders, using his imposing strength along the way before picking his spot with a neat finish when face to face with Nastic.

With the scoreline 3-0 against them, there appeared no way back for United as they appeared to lose interest as the first half wore on.

However, United were first to score after the break which should have provided them with a life-line although too be fair the goal was gifted to them by some ordinary defending from the home side four minutes after the resumption.

There appeared no imminent danger when Bulli had possession of the ball on the edge of their own penalty area with three defenders (Kenji Takahashi , Kerr & Kuwata) and only one attacker (Micheal) in the vicininty.

With virtually no pressure Kerr's back ward header to Kuwata caused hesitancy with the keeper and despite having possession of the ball, the keeper allowed the ball to squirm from his grasp whereupon Micheal pounced to pick up the crumbs and knock the ball into an empty net.

One might have expected Wollongong to shift up a gear with this slice of fortune but sadly that was as good as it got for the visitors as Bulli snuffed out any semblance of more attacking play from United and were much the better side in the second half as they lay siege on the United goal.

On 61 minutes Bulli restored their three goal lead when Julian Mintillo finished off a sweeping move which began with a long free kick from Aaron Baker which was taken from deep inside his own half. His 40 metre pass hit McDonald 25 metres from the United goal. McDonald's quick control and release found Minutillo who in turn played the ball straight back to McDonald who was now in space and facing the United goal inside their penalty area. The No. 9 drew the last defender and played a square ball back to Minutillo who had no trouble finding the back of the net when faced with only Nastic to beat.

The scoring was completed eight minutes later when another terrific passing movement from the home side this time involving McDonald whose sublime crossfield pass found Lewis in his usual wide position on the edge of the United penalty area and Lewis' first time pass found Emerton in an ideal position around the penalty spot and the midfielder finished the move off nicely with aplomb.

If not for the heroics of Nastic in goal, who pulled off a number of great saves during the second half, the score-line could quite easily have ballooned out even further.

In the end United would have been happy to hear the final whistle in what was a fairly comprehensive win to Bulli. The home side now have the week off with no game next weekend whilst for United it's back to training in an effort to re-group for next Sunday's Bert Bampton Cup Final against Wollongong Olympic.

 

Match Stats

 

Bulli 5 (Guy Knight 27', Ben McDonald 33' Dylan Lewis 42' Julian Minutillo 61', Ryan Emerton 69')

Wollongong United 1 (Karouna Micheal 49')

 

Balls Paddock, Woonona

 

Referee: Tony Bosevski 

Assistant Referees: Stuart Bell & Brodie Merchant

 

Bulli: Yuya Kuwata, Aaron Baker (Matthew Naylor 62'), Kenji Takahashi, Scott Best, Guy Knight(Corey Horner 82'), Jim Kerr, Sam Davies, Ryan Emerton, Ben McDonald, Dylan Lewis, Julian Minutillo(Lewis Clements 69').

Subs not Used: Marcus Beattie, Joao Oliveira

Yellow Cards: Aaron Baker 50',Matthew Naylor 81'

 

Wollongong United: Sam Nastic, Jake Leighton (Matthew Floro 46'), Ben Brooks, Jackson Brooks, Daisuke Yuzawa, Motoki Kinjo, Karouna Micheal, Steven Dimitrievski (Zac Mazevski 63'), Tim Wylie, John Martinoski, Brad Acev (Nick Ristevski 74').

Subs not Used: Matthew Lynch, Jake Webster.

Yellow Cards: Nil.

 

Report by David Naylor

Photos by Pedro Garcia