Round 3 of the Illawarra Premier League kicked off with Cringila securing a comprehensive 6-1 victory over the Picton Rangers at Crehan Park. Stefan Dimoski was the star man for the Lions with the wideman netting a brace as well as two assists.

The home side had a couple of chances in the opening few minutes with former Picton striker Mitchell Hall hitting the crossbar in the 2nd minute followed by a Nuno Pires effort which beat the Robert Cruikshank but was cleared off the line. In the 12th minute, Picton had their first attempt but Dayne Morley’s strike flew high and wide from the edge of the 18-yard box.

With half an hour played, Cringila hit the lead with Stefan Dimoski heading home a Mitchell Arcosa corner. Less than 10 minutes later, Dimoski had his second when he was played through on goal before blasting his shot into the bottom right corner. The two goals taking his season tally to four and giving the Lions a two-goal advantage at the break.

Cringila picked up their third of the match 11 minutes into the second half. Dimoski swung in the ball from the right win for the head of Nuno Pires at the far past who guided it under Cruikshank. Two minutes later the former Wollongong Olympic duo linked up against, this time Dimoski whipped a low cross from the byline for Pires to blast into the top of the net.

With twenty minutes remaining, Picton found the back of the net for the first time this season. A cross was hit in from the right to substitute Liam Storkey who smacked the ball first time into the bottom left corner from the edge of the area - a moment of real quality for the Rangers.

Any chances of a fightback were washed away when Cringila grabbed their fifth and sixth in the space of three minutes. In the 80th minute, Ibrahim Sesay - who had just been subbed on - was played through on goal, he tapped it around the goalkeeper before finishing into the empty net. This was followed by another goal from a substitute, this time Todd Sparks whose shot deflected off a defender and looped over the stranded Cruikshank. These goals rounded out the strong win for Cringila, who were just a clean sheet away from securing the perfect result.

Cringila have now won back to back Premier League matches for the first time since Round 11 of 2015. In Round 4 they travel to Tarrawanna, the Blueys have been a real bogey side for the Lions who have lost six of their last seven against them by an aggregate scoreline of 30-4. As for Picton, this result means they have conceded 19 goals in their opening three matches. They host 2017 Grand Finals winners Port Kembla in next Saturday.

Friday 6 April 2018 @ Crehan Park

Cringila Lions - 6 (DIMOSKI 30’ 39’, PIRES 56’ 58’, SESAY 81’, SPARKS 83’)

Picton Rangers - 1 (STORKEY 71’)

Cringila Lions - Alex BOULLOSA, Tyron MACLOU, James RALSTON, Anthony ROMEO, Josiah SHERWEN, Mitchell DI PIETRO, Mitchell ARCOSA, Nuno PIRES, Stefan DIMOSKI, Mitchell HALL, Jordan SEIB

Subs - Takao TERAMOTO (on for PIRES), Aleks PRENTOSKI, Ibrahim SESAY (on for DIMOSKI), Todd SPARKS (on for ARCOSA), Steve HRISTOVSKI

Coach - Wally Savor

Picton Rangers - Robert CRUIKSHANK, Sebastian MYERS, Scott MIRANDA, Nathan MACGRAW, Dayne MORLEY, Brendan BERKELEY, Kazuma NAGAISHI, Ryuki HIROTA, Ben ROBERTS, Connor DYMOND

Subs - Tyler SNELGROVE (on for MIRANDA), Cameron CAMILLERI, Liam STORKEY (on for BERKELEY), Connor O’NEILL, Alex MOJSOSKI (on for HIROTA)

Coach - Brett Morley

Referee - Nicholas Ryan

Assistant Referees - Anna Phipps and Brody Murrell

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

Photo by Kiah Hufton (Soccer Shots Illawarra)