The round eight clash between South Coast United and the Cringila Lions pitted two sides separated by a single point. South Coast came into the match on the back of a 4-1 defeat away to Bulli. Cringila travelled to Ian Mclennan Park knowing a win would push them into the top five after their 3-0 win over Picton last weekend.

The away side dominated the opening stages of the match, going close through a header from Milan Atlagic and a long range strike from Takao Teramoto. In one of their first forays into the attacking half, South Coast won a free kick 20 metres out from goal. Former Bankstown City attacker, Josh Brookes noticed Alexander Boullosa was unprepared in the Cringila goal and he curled it inside the right post putting the home side a goal ahead.

The goal did not change the pattern of play with the Lions imposing themselves on United. This pressure did not form into many goal scoring opportunities which led Wally Savor’s side resorting to a number of efforts from distance.

In the 37th minute, Chris Valic went down with head knock causing a lengthy stoppage. United player-coach, Greg Valic opted to play out the half a man down in order to assess the injury at the interval. Chris Valic was deemed unfit to return for the second half.

The opening stages of the second half resembled a majority of the first with a determined United side willing to throw their bodies around in order to prevent clear-cut opportunities for Cringila.

In the 70th minute, Cringila found a way to draw level. South Coast was pinned back in their own box while the ball made its way to Alexander Brbevski on the right wing. He floated in a cross for a rising Atlagic who pushed it over an outstretched Cameron Camilleri and into the back of the net.

In the 74th minute, the away side nearly took the lead through Sho Katayama. Teramoto broke into the right of the United box and instead of taking the shot himself he cut back to his compatriot who had his attempt blocked by a retreating Mate Nimac.

South Coast’s best opportunity to regain the lead came for Greg Valic in the 83rd minute. Tommy Skara whipped in a corner and Greg Valic made a run to the near post where he attempted to flick the ball inside the far post but his effort whistled over the bar.

With 10 minutes remaining Savor introduced Ibrahim Sesay into the action and in the 86th minute, the powerful midfielder made a surging run down the right wing. He managed to get around his defender before firing a low cross across the 6-yard box for Atlagic to tuck his second goal into the roof of the net.

The home side threw caution to the wind for the remainder of the match, pushing their centre backs into the forward line. This nearly paid dividends when Steven Dimitrievski managed to tower above his marker but his header went past the left of the goal moments before the full-time whistle. The match finishing 2-1 to Cringila.

The victory moves Cringila into the top five and only a point behind rivals Wollongong United. Cringila has a chance to continue their impressive start to the campaign when they host Bulli on Friday night.

South Coast United remain in 8th and they are still within 4 points of the top five. After the match, Greg Valic was frank about losing in the dying stages, “It is always disappointing when you go one nil up and you end up losing a game… to cop that [Cringila’s second goal] at the end, it really hurt.” His side has an opportunity to bounce back next Sunday when they travel to Memorial Park to face Corrimal.

 

Click the link to listen to the post match interview with South Coast United player-coach, Greg Valic - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/greg-valic-after-his-side-went-down-2-1-to-cringila

 

South Coast United - 1 (Brookes 9’)

Cringila Lions - 2 (Atlagic 70’, 86’)

 

Sunday the 14th of May, 2017 at Ian Mclennan Park, Kembla Grange

 

South Coast United - Cameron Camilleri, Chris Valic, Greg Valic, Steven Dimitrievski, Mate Nimac, Josh Brookes, Jason Pappas, Tommy Skara, Ricky Bertakis, Shinji Shozu and Yu Takahashi

Subs - Ivan Bratjanscak, Abdul Lawal (on for Takahashi), Moto Kinjo (on for C.Valic) and David Valic

Coach - Greg Valic

 

Cringila Lions - Alexander Boullosa, Nathan Macgraw, Grant Wilson, Aleksander Todoroski, Todd Sparks, Josiah Sherwen, Takao Teramoto, Shin Ichi Takeuchi, Alexander Brbevski, Milan Atlagic and Sho Katayama

Subs - Ibrahim Sesay (on for Brbevski), Rodney Lewin (on for Takeuchi), Daniel Ramirez, Jacob Martin (on for Teramoto) and Nicholas Purdevski

Coach - Wally Savor

 

Referee - Bobby Mazevski

Assistant Referee - John Ruscica

Report by Dylan Arvela on Twitter @dylanarvela