Port Kembla opened their Illawarra Premier League account with a 1-0 win over Albion Park White Eagles at Wetherall Park on Sunday afternoon. Brad Acev netted on his club debut less than 20 minutes into the match before Port nullified Albion Park’s attacking outlets.

It was a frantic opening two minutes with either Acev and Eiki Fukushige have chances for the respective sides before an indirect free kick was award to Port for a back pass but the set-piece was lollied into the wall.

In the 18th minute, the visitors surrendered a corner which was played to the far post where the usually reliable Chris Nathaniel scuffed his clearance back across the goal for Acev to lash past Brad Jardine who had sustained a knock to the knee only minutes earlier.

Albion Park’s best opportunity of the opening half came with 30 minutes played via a Shannon Fielding long ball which Joel Beattie flicked on for Ethan Kambisios who saw his shot tipped over the bar from Daniel Farina.

Port had a couple of snaps at the White Eagles goal in the opening stages of the second period through Mitch Di Pietro and Acev but the former was toed over while the latter was blasted straight at the goalkeeper.

Substitute Jayden Salucci could have put the game to bed on a couple of occasions in the final stages including a free header from a Luke Boersma free kick followed by a one-on-one situation where he opted to pass instead of shoot.

Albion Park nearly stole a point with a couple of moments in injury time including a gilt-edged chance for Cameron Morgan who sliced his strike wide with just Farina to beat.

This was Steven Dimitrievski’s first Premier League match in charge of Port Kembla and afterwards, he expressed his delight with a round one win ahead of their match against Fraternity Club Cup winners Corrimal Rangers next weekend.

“We had a plan, we played them last time in the Frat Cup, we knew what to expect and to be fair our boys probably dominated 90 per cent of that match,” Dimitrievski said. 

“Three points, I am very happy with that, made it difficult in the end… but fantastic 1-0 I’ll take it.”

“It won’t be easy [against Corrimal], there’s no team I fear in this competition but there’s no team I don’t respect, we’ve got to go out there and perform to get the three points.”

As for the White Eagles, assistant coach Rod Williams admitted his side were not up to the required standard despite nearly equalising late in the match.

“We were slow out the blocks, second to everything, it was not a typical Albion Park performance,” Williams said.

“We had a couple of chances towards the end that we probably should have nailed but for me, Port were the better side and deserved the three points.”

“It’s only round one of 22, there’s a long way to go but we have got to improve on that because it was a very poor performance.”

Albion Park face Wollongong United in round two but not before a trip to the Central Coast to face Killarney District in the FFA Cup on Wednesday night.

Sunday 24 March 2019 @ Wetherall Park, Primbee

Port Kembla - 1 (ACEV 13’)

Albion Park White Eagles - 0

Port Kembla - Daniel FARINA, William MOBBS, Nathan BELSITO, Karouna MICHAEL, Nobi MOCHIZUKI, Luke BOERSMA, Mitch DI PIETRO, Brad ACEV, Fabian IACOVELLI, Jason PEREZ, Josh CRAPIS - Subs - Jayden SALUCCI (on for DI PIETRO), Sandy LOWCOCK (on for CRAPIS), Bailey FLEMING (on for ACEV), Toni MUSUMECI, Colin HEAPY

Albion Park White Eagles - Brad JARDINE, Blake MCGINN, Araki NAOMICHI, Shannon FIELDING, Chris NATHANIEL, Eiki FUKUSHIGE, Ethan KAMBISIOS, Robbie DELBANCO, Joel BEATTIE, Chris GOMEZ, Cameron MORGAN - Subs - Shaun MCRAE (on for FUKUSHIGE), Kyle SENIOR (on for FIELDING), Yuki UNO, Valentino MERXHUSHI (on for GOMEZ), Jacob HUFTON

Referee - Bobby MAZEVSKI

Assistant Referees - Brodie MERCHANT, Ethan LEHN

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

Photo by Kiah Hufton