In ominous conditions at WIN Stadium, the Illawarra Mercury Youth Grade grand final saw the replay of the Bampton Cup final pit minor premiers Wollongong United against Woonona Sharks. Having risen to grab victories against Kemblawarra Fury, Wollongong Olympic and Bulli to qualify for the big show against the dominant United side who cruised in via a 5-3 win over Bulli.

United took the initiative in the match they were considered hot favourites. Inside the opening quarter of an hour chances were aplenty for United. Tim Wylie and Brad Acev both headed wide, Jake Webster blocked from in-behind the defence, and both Wylie and Dylain Chaplin shooting across the face of goal.

Most concerning for Woonona was when Zac McLaren headed a corner from the far post on goal, forcing a gloveman Kyle Booth to claw the ball off the goal line.

Again Woonona were playing with fire on 20 minutes as Kallin James appeared to take down Wylie in a contest for the ball inside the Sharks' box, however penalty shouts were waved away as Booth advanced to claim.

Joel Beattie had one of Woonona's few chances of the first half as he chased down a long ball, but a heavy touch eluded him and Nik Ristevski claimed a simple ball.

Finishing the half was another quality chance for United, as Wylie slid in a gorgeous cross for Acev, however the sliding shot struck the chest of Booth from close range.

Scores were still level at the break with nothing to show but Wollongong's dominance and a desperate Woonona defence hanging on for their opportunity.

Some inspirational words must've been had in the Sharks sheds, with a notable lift in the tempo of their play. They were able to get Daniel Loe on the ball more and were feeding off Caleb Russell up front.

On 61 minutes, it was Woonona who grabbed the opener, with Loe finding the bottom left to change the tide very much in the favour of the Sharks.

Only 7 minutes later Russell doubled the lead, showing great interplay with Loe in the box and turning onto his left to slide it under Ristevski.

Russell again drew a fine save from Ristevski 4 minutes later, away to his left, as Woonona grabbed the ascendancy.

Wollongong were unlucky to not grab one back on 77 minutes, as Zac Nicholas rounded Booth and put a soft shot on target. Cam Besgrove was able to track back and stop the ball on the line and prevent the goal, as Booth recovered in time to claim possession.

United were offering little going forward as the game wore on, with long balls for Acev to chase the only real threat.

Wollongong could very well have snatched an equaliser into second half stoppage time. Jake Leighton shot from outside the box which was going well wide, but a hopeful foot out from Chaplin changed it to be on target, with the ball striking Booth in goal unawares at pace.

A last minute penalty added to the late drama, with a Woonona handball allowing Acev to bring one back with a penalty to the bottom left, however full time brought any resurgence to an end.

Woonona coach Geoff Foster said "The boys controlled the game really well and sped it up when it needed it.

"We needed to block the centre because they come through you very narrow and we pushed them wider. That worked pretty well for us.

"The boys were very upset after the Bampton [Cup] defeat in a very tight game. We were a match for them, we just had to find our balance.

"Alot of these boys will progress to First Grade next season. We are a small club and we rely on our youth and juniors to feed into it."

 

 

Sunday 25th September - WIN Stadium

Referee - T. Bosevski

Assistants - M. Kusi-Appuah, N. Ryan, A. Naylor

 

Wollongong United 1 - Acev 90'+1

Woonona Sharks 2 - Loe 61' Russell 68'

 

Wollongong United - Ristevski, Cakarovski (Ugrinovski 81'), Hurt, Brooks, Webster, Leighton, McLaren, Chaplin, Acev, Wylie (Nicholas 63'), Mazevski (Davies 73')

Subs - Roe, Davies, Nicholas, Ugrinovski, Lynch, Adnum

Woonona Sharks - Booth, Kotrc, Breslin, James (Ellul 86'), Besgrove, Day, Loe (Storkey 78'), Mellor (Del 65'), Russell, Kennedy (Foster 57'), Beattie

Subs - Jardine, Del, Foster, Ellul, Storkey, Mindzas

 

Report by David Atherton (@daveatho5)

Photo by Pedro Garcia