The third round of the Illawarra Premier League kicked off on Friday night at Crehan Park with two sides desperate to avoid consecutive defeats. It had been over two weeks since Cringila’s last match, a 5-1 thumping at the hands of Wollongong Olympic with their round 2 clash against Kemblawarra Fury washed out. Woonona suffered a similar fate in their opening match, losing 7-0 to local rivals Bulli.

Woonona were the first to fashion a goalscoring opportunity. The Shark’s number 7, Brendan Pattman worked space in the box, cutting back to Joel Beattie who placed it back for Luke McCosker who struck the ball from near the penalty mark. The goal-bound shot was blocked by the Cringila defence for a corner.

A couple of phases of play later Cringila took the lead through Sho Katayama who pounced on a mistake from Woonona centre back Aidan Breslin. Katayama showed his pace, racing away to meet Shark’s keeper Jacob Madden before placing the ball into the bottom right corner.

Come the 19th minute, Woonona came close to an equaliser through Pattman who latched onto a stray backpass. In two minds about whether or not he was offside, Pattman rushed his shot to the right of the goal. A missed opportunity for Woonona.

In the 33rd minute, Cringila nearly took advantage of another error from a Shark’s defender. This time Christopher Gibson turned the ball over allowing Takao Teramoto a run at goal only for Cameron Besgrove to recover for Woonona, putting in a crucial ball winning challenge.

Cringila went into halftime with a one goal to nil advantage, however, Woonona was able to have long spells of possession in their attacking half.

Within two minutes of the restart, the Lions had their second of the night through Jacob Martin. A cheap turnover, led to Alexander Brbevski making a surging run down the right flank going all the way into the Woonona box, he whipped the ball across the 6-yard box finding Martin to tap home.

In the 60th minute, Woonona boss, Geoff Foster brought Daniel Atkins into the game and within minutes he had created a fantastic opportunity for his side. From outside the box, Atkins played a through ball for Beattie to run onto, the forward was unable to get enough power on the shot and Alexander Boullosa collected the ball into his chest.

Cringila nearly finished off the game in the 65th minute through a wonderful passage of play. Teramoto linked up with Katayama to the left the Woonona box. Katayama’s shot from the corner of the 6-yard box beat Madden but it did not beat the post. The goal kick, a lifeline for the Sharks.

In the 70th minute, Atkins dinked the ball over the Cringila defence for Pattman to run onto. Pattman managed to flick the header towards goal but at full stretch, Boullosa tipped the ball out for a corner.

Pattman created his next opportunity minutes later by darting through the rigid Cringila defence. He let his shot go from the left of the goal but a Lion’s defender cut the strike off with a well times slide. From the rebound, Pattman jinked around the defender who was still on the turf and his next effort smashed against the post for a goal kick. An excellent effort from Pattman, who was proving to be the major threat from the Sharks.

Woonona, as they had for most of the game continued to maintain control of the ball high up the field but in the final 15 minutes, this did not translate into any clear-cut opportunities. Come the first minute of stoppage time, Cringila sealed the match through another counter attack. Brbevski raced down the right-hand side, cutting the ball across for Teramoto to tuck in - almost a carbon copy of the second goal.

The match finished 3-0, an impressive win for Cringila who should gain plenty of confidence from the result and their ability to score three goals. After conceding five against Olympic, the clean sheet is also an added bonus. After the match, Lion’s coach Wally Savor described the ability to keep a clean sheet as a “head thing” linking a solid defence to developing a winning mentality. Next up for Cringila is an away day against Tarrawanna on Good Friday, kickoff at 2.30 pm.

Woonona has now conceded 10 goals in their opening two matches, something Foster will look to address when his side face South Coast United on Tuesday night, making up for the washout in round 1. This match is at Ian McLennan Park, kickoff at 8 pm.

Post match interview with Cringila coach Wally Savor - https://soundcloud.com/dylaneloiarvela/cringila-boss-wally-savor-after-big-win-over-woonona

 

Cringila Lions - 3 (Katayama 9’, Martin 69’, Teramoto 90+1’)

Woonona Sharks - 0

 

Friday April 7th 2017 at Crehan Park, Cringila

Cringila Lions - Alexander Boullosa, Nathan Macgraw, Aleksander Todoroski,, Josiah Sherwen, Joel Taddeo, Todd Sparks, Shinchi Takeuchi, Alexander Brbevski, Rodney Lewin, Takao Teramoto, Sho Katayama

Subs - Nick Purdevski, James Volkanovski (on for Todoroski), Jacob Martin (on for Lewin), Daniel Ramirez, Tony Tupanceski

Coach - Wally Savor

 

Woonona Sharks - Jacob Madden, David Kotrc, Aidan Breslin, Christopher Gibson, Cameron Besgrove, Scott Curran, Brendan Pattman, Joel Beattie, Cameron Banks, Luke McCosker, Valentino Merxhoshi

Subs - Trent Worthington (on for Banks), Daniel Atkins (on for Curran), Kallin James, Jai Mellor (on for Merxhoshi), Lachlan Ahling

Coach - Geoff Foster

 

Referee - Andrew Naylor

Assistant Referees - Max Vercoe and Emojen Crawley

 

Report by Dylan Arvela on Twitter @dylaneloiarvela