Bulli made up for last year’s defeat in the Illawarra Mercury Premier League Youth grand final by defeating Wollongong United 2-0 at WIN Stadium. Bulli went into the game on the back of 3 games in the finals series including a 3-1 win against 2nd placed Wollongong Olympic in the Preliminary Final. Wollongong United up until this point were unbeaten in their last 17 games accounting for 71% of the season.

The first chance came in the fifth minute when Wollongong United’s Daniel Cunzolo stepped for a freekick around 30 meters from goal on the right-hand-side but could only fire a ball into the arms of Braeden Kludass. Two minutes later Bulli responded when Luca Guadiosi whipped in a ball from the right-hand-side which narrowly missed the head of Damien Grew. On the ten-minute mark, Bulli had another chance when Grew played in Eddie English whose left-footed shot narrowly missed the top corner. In the 12th minute, Wollongong United’s Eden Murphy did well to beat a player before shooting straight down the keeper’s throat from outside the box.

27 minutes in, Bulli could’ve been ahead when Guadiosi’s deflected shot found Tom Plummer who could only head the ball into the keeper's hands. With 41 minutes played Bulli had another chance to open the scoring when Eddie English played a ball back to Eden McCall whose shot was deflected over the bar.

At the break neither could be separated, both sides had had their chances the second half would hopefully provide more goalmouth action.

After a slow start to the second half, it burst into life just before the hour mark when Tom Plummer put Bulli ahead, getting on the end of a cutback and putting a left-footed shot beyond the keeper. In the 82nd minute, Bulli doubled their lead through Luca Gaudiosi who finished into an empty net after the rebound from the original shot fell to him. Three minutes later, Bulli nearly made it three when Eden McCall did well down the left-hand-side pulling a ball back to Luca Gaudiosi who couldn’t find the net. In the 88th minute, Bulli kept pushing for a third when Seamus Macken-Walsh struck a ball over the bar. Within the same minute, Wollongong United created what would be their last chance of the game as Aaron Hales fired over the bar under pressure from Luke Toohey.

The fulltime whistle blew with Wollongong United’s 17 game unbeaten record and potential double being ended by Bulli. Wollongong United coach Yani Sekuloski emphasised that he ‘proud’ of his team this season. Bulli captain and goal scorer on the day Luca Gaudiosi claimed the Player of the Match award. Bulli coach Michael Grew said it was ‘fantastic’ to finally get one over Wollongong United. He also said that the ‘composure’ that his side showed meant the side were ‘good value’ for the win. This is a particularly significant result for Bulli aside from it being in the grand final, it also was the first time Bulli had won against Wollongong United or even managed to score a goal against them.

 

Sunday 23^rd September 2018 at WIN Stadium

Wollongong United – 0

Bulli – 2 (Plummer 57’, Gaudiosi 39’)

 

Wollongong United: Benjamin WUNCH, Jayden BARBARIC, Conner EVANS, Filip PILIPOVIC, Samuel ADNUM, Aaron HALES, Matthew VELJANOVSKI, Jayden CAPILLI, Ky SIMPSON, James STOJANOVSKI, Eden MURPHY

Substitutes: Connor WEARE, Samuel BURFORD, Jordan HONDROUDAKIS, Daniel CONZOLO, Dylan VLKANOVSKI, Toby KOSDA

 

Bulli: Braeden KLUDASS, Josh CARTER, Taro REGAN-WILLIAMS, Henry JENKINS, Samuel LENDRUM, Luke TOOHEY, Seamus MACKEN-WALSH, Cooper GROSSMANN, Damien GREW, Luca GAUDIOSI, Eddie ENGLISH

Substitutes: Tom PLUMMER, Eden MCCALL, Ruben MUHAREM, Sam MCKELLAR

 

Referee: Brodie MERCHANT

Assistant Referees: Lachie MCRAE and Ethan LEHN

Fourth Official: Stuart Derbridge

 

Report by: Timothy Gibson on Twitter, @Timg123_

Photo by Pedro Garcia