Cringila Lions have decimated Shell Cove F.C in the Thursday night Round 16 make-up clash at Crehan Park, which had huge bearings on the relegation battle in the Illawarra Premier League.

The 6 - 1 bloodbath at Crehan Park was was an emphatic return to the winner’s circle for Cringila, their first taste of victory since May 15 in their Round 8 clash against Wollongong United.

Returning coach Milco Savevski was a proud man following the result.

“To be honest I am surprised but I am happy,” Savevski said.

“I promised when I took over 4 weeks ago that we are going to fight until the end. We put hard work into the last four weeks and the boys have responded like this, I am so happy.”

Shell Cove looked most likely early in the fixture, with classy ball movement between Daniel Vellonio sending Kurdvan Abduljabbar behind the defence on the 5th minute saw an opening shot slapped away by the Cringila goalkeeper for an early scare.

The ball drifted down both ends of the park with no team owning the opening exchanges with the boisterous crowd constantly reminding the teams the enormity of what was on stake.

Cringila began to work into the game with signs of it paying off on the 21st minute, with a Daniel Vasilevski ball finding Hironori Kobayashi, who was able to wrong foot the defence to create space for a strike before devastatingly wasting it off-target.

Cringila began to own territory as Shell Cove consistently found themselves offside, and the Lions pressure paid off in the 28th minute as they nailed the opener.

A corner kick from Joel Taddeo targeted a flying Daniel Vasilevski angling towards goals who soared solo to power the header into the netting to open the account for Cringila Lions to lead 1-0.

Cringila only five minutes later doubled the lead through Hironori Kobayashi turning and supplying a classy ball to the diminutive Esala Ali who had a clear passage at goals and thundered it low into the net.

The rapid 2-0 lead crushed the spirit of Shell Cove, and from this point on Cringila really begun to run rampant throughout the rest of the 90 minutes.

Passing began to shut down for Shell Cove as players appeared to trust only their own boot in order level the game.

The half-time score was 2-0 to Cringila, much to the delight of the home supporters.

A Cringila free kick taken from near the corner flag in the 49th minute by James Eldred, floated into the pack for Jarryd King who got a royal touch on the ball for it to scurry into the goals at the near post,with the score now reading 3-0 for Cringila.

It was all Cringila from here, with great interplay between the quick feet of Esala Ali and vision of Daniel Vasilevski meaning shots were coming with increasing frequency from the Lions.

In the 58th minute Mikal Awad showcased some deceptive speed to latch onto a pass from the Shell Cove goalkeeper, and with great vision powered a strike above the out-of-position goalkeeper to curl into the netting for a spectacular goal from range to make it 4- 0 for Cringila.

Shell Cove regained some respectability in the score in the 69th minute with a classy ball down the right sideline by substitute Jake Waterman to Shohei Arakawa who sent an early cross in, and despite a touch from the Cringila defence the ball landed perfectly for Kurdvan Abduljabbar who punished it, with the score reading 4-1.

Shell Cove continued to build momentum until a Cringila counter in the 81st minute triggered a loose challenge from Nathan McGraw in the penalty area earning a penalty kick alongside a red card.

Cringila’s Todd Sparks had no trouble from the penalty spot, directing the strike right and wide of Shell Cove goalkeeper Adam Rodriguez for the score to read 5-1 for Cringila.

In the 87th minute Cringila’s Hironori Kobayashi rubbed extra salt in the wound, finding the ball with space and drawing the Shell Cove goalkeeper out-of-position and nailing the tight finish to add a sixth name to the scoresheet.

The result puts Cringila Lions five points clear of last-placed Shell Cove who are now facing the very real threat of relegation with three rounds remaining, after suffering point deductions throughout the season.

Shell Cove will travel on Saturday to PCYC to fight for survival against 5th placed Wollongong Olympic in their Round 20 Illawarra Mercury Premier League fixture.

Cringila Lions will return to Crehan Park also on Saturday afternoon, enthusiastic about their hopes to take more points away from 8th placed Port Kembla F.C.

 

Thursday 11 August, 2016

Crehan Park

 

Cringila Lions 6 (Vasilevski 28’, Ali 33’, King 49’, Awad 58’, Sparks 82’ pen., Kobayashi 87’)

Shell Cove FC 1 (Abduljabbar 69’)

 

Cringila Lions:Alexander Boullosa, Todd Sparks, Daniel Wagus,Jarryd King, James Eldred, Esali Ali, Mikal Awad (Joel Craig 75’), Joel Taddeo, Alexander Brbevski, Hironori Kobayashi, Daniel Vasilevski (Michael Stojanoski 86’).

Yellow Cards: Alexander Brbevski 43’

Red Cards: Nil

 

Shell Cove FC:Adam Rodriguez, Nathan Macgraw, Tode Dimovski (Jake Waterman 64’), Shohei Arakawa, Lucas Rossi,Ljupco Naumovski, Jonathan Barzel, Kurdvan Abduljabbar, Daniel Vellonio, Kazuhiro Obata, Alexander Crane.

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nathan MacGraw 81’

 

Report by Daniel McGookin

Twitter: @mcgoookin93

Photo courtesy of Pedro Garcia (library archive)