In their first game back in the Illawarra Mercury Premier League since the 2013 season, Coniston’s return to the top flight was not the strong start they were hoping for, as Wollongong United claimed all three points with a 4-2 win at JJ Kelly Park on Saturday.

The visitors took the lead mid-way through the first half with Hikaru Kawasakiya and Ben Brooks heading home a pair of Shane Murray corners to give Wollongong United a 2-0 lead at the break. Kawasakiya added his second goal of the day shortly after the second-half kickoff before a Shane Murray penalty sent the visitors four goals ahead although a pair of late goals to Coniston’s Dinko Terzic and Kohei Enokido managed to give some consolation to Coniston supporters and pull the final result to a 4-2 win for Wollongong United.

With both sides coming off wins in the FFA Cup – Coniston winning 6-0 over Albion Park City and Wollongong United winning 3-0 over Fairfield Bulls – the opening match of the 2019 league campaign was one both sides could have been expected to grab points from, and it was the hosts who started the brighter of the two sides, with Coniston – now led by Jeff Allport, who guided Wollongong United to last season’s Premier League Grand Final – almost taking the lead in the 22^nd minute after a perfect through ball from Yuki Samoto sliced through the Wollongong United defence and found former Albion Park White Eagles player Kody Maude.

Maude was able to dribble the ball around a rushing Sam Nastic, but the new Coniston player took too long to bring the ball back onto his shooting foot, allowing defenders Matt Brennan and James O’Rourke to get back and recover the ball before Maude could fire into an open net and give Coniston the lead.

Despite Coniston having the stronger start, it was Wollongong United who ended up breaking the deadlock in the 26^th minute, with Wollongong United’s Hikaru Kawasakiya – who played alongside Maude last season at Albion Park - managing to rise over the Coniston defence to head home a deep corner from Shane Murray and give the visitors the lead.

Wollongong United doubled their advantage in the 31^st minute with an almost identical play to their opening goal, with another curling Shane Murray corner finding Ben Brooks deep inside the Coniston box and allowing the United player to head an effort near the left post and past a diving Blake Horton to send Wollongong United two goals up.

The visitors had a further chance to extend their lead in the 35^th minute after a great pass from Zac Maclaren found Naoki Ogawa, but Ogawa was unable to send United three goals up, his volleyed effort just firing over the top of the Coniston crossbar, ensuring that Wollongong United only held a two-goal lead going into the half-time break.

But United quickly came out firing for the second half, with Kawasakiya adding his second goal of the afternoon in the 48^th minute. Again, it was Shane Murray who was heavily involved in the play, with his free-kick down the right-hand side of the field flying into the box before being dealt with the Coniston defence. However, the defence was only able to clear the ball as far as a waiting Kawasakiya sitting on the edge of the box, allowing the forward to fire off a powerful effort that wormed its way past the defenders and around Coniston gloveman Blake Horton and give Wollongong a 3-0 lead.

Murray finally found himself on the scoresheet with Wollongong United’s fourth goal of the afternoon in the 58^th minute after Zac Maclaren was brought down in the box by Coniston’s Takayuki Kayano after a splitting run, allowing Murray the chance to convert from the spot. Murray looked at ease with the kick, firing a simple shot into the left-hand side of the net, sending Coniston’s Blake Horton diving the other direction and giving United an almost insurmountable 4-0 lead.

But Coniston have shown time and time again in recent seasons why they never give up and the side finally struck through for their opening goal of the match in the 74^th minute when Mark Picciolini was brought down in the box by Kane Wright. It was Dinko Terzic who stepped up to take the spot-kick for Coniston and his effort managed to find the back of the net, just slipping past the fingers of a diving Sam Nastic and giving Coniston their first goal of the league campaign and their first Premier League goal since 2013.

The hosts managed to pull another goal back in the 89^th minute after a cutting Mark Picciolini run allowed the Coniston forward to fire an effort at United shot-stopper Sam Nastic, but his effort was deflected and pushed out of the box to a waiting Kohei Enokido. Enokido needed no direction to fire a powerful effort at goal, with his shot firing into the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net, the only goal of the match from open play and one to pull the final score back to 4-2, Coniston’s charge back into the match coming a little too late to make a big impact.

The result sees Wollongong United kick their 2019 campaign off with the best possible start and Icko Atanasoski’s side will now travel to Terry Reserve next Sunday to take on Albion Park White Eagles and attempt to grab a maximum of six points from their opening two fixtures. Meanwhile, Coniston will be hoping to quickly put the result behind them and kick start their campaign when they host Wollongong Olympic next Saturday at JJ Kelly Park, but with the pre-season favorites kicking their campaign with a controlling 5-2 win over Cringila on Saturday, Jeff Allport’s side will have a tough task ahead of them.

Saturday 23 March 2019 at JJ Kelly Park, Coniston.

Coniston FC – 2 (Terzic 74’, Enokido 89’)

Wollongong United – 4 (Kawasakiya 26’, 48’, Brooks 31’, Murray 58’)

Coniston FC: Blake HORTON, Daniel WAGUS, Takayuki KAYANO, Rob BROWN, Denis STOJIC, Franc PIERRO, Mark PICCIOLINI, Dinko TERZIC, Yuki SAMOTO, Kohei ENOKIDO, Kody MAUDE

Subs: Boden ALLPORT (PIERRO 45’), Luke PICCIOLINI (SAMOTO 70’), Blake COAD, Brad MORIERA, Jim STEWART (WAGUS 65’)

Wollongong United: Sam NASTIC, Matt BRENNAN, Ben BROOKS, Hikaru KAWASAKIYA, Zac MACLAREN, Shane MURRAY, Zac NICHOLAS, James O’ROURKE, Billy TSOVOLOS, Kane WRIGHT, Naoki OGAWA

Subs: Charbel HADDAD (NICHOLAS 65’), Mohammed KARDOU (WRIGHT 78’), Jake LEIGHTON (MURRAY 70’), Dion STERJOVSKI, Zak BEDELOVSKI

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo courtesy of Dana Guthrie