Coniston secured their first points back in the top flight with a 3-1 over rivals Cringila Lions on a glorious afternoon at JJ Kelly Park. Matt Tschentscher opened the scoring with his maiden first grade league goal before Dinko Terzic and Yuki Samoto scored either side of half time. The visitors only goal came late on through substitute Jake Webster.

Cringila had a couple of half chances in the opening 20 minutes through striker Ryoga Uemoto including a half volley which he sprayed over the bar and a tight angled free kick which forced Blake Horton into a decent save.

Coniston had two speculative opportunities of their own over the next 10 minutes before they found the back of the net in the 32nd minute. Kody Maude broke down the left wing and into the area before cutting the ball to Tschentscher who tucked it away.

The second goal came five minutes later with Maude also picking up his second assist of the afternoon. This time, he swung the ball in from a corner on the left to the back post where Terzic was unmarked to nod home and see his side two goals up at the break.

The Lions had three chances to pull a goal back in the first 10 minutes of the second period including a scrambling effort from captain Todd Sparks which was blocked inside the six-yard box by Daniel Wagus.

The home side tightened their grip on the result shortly after the hour mark when Samoto dribbled uncontested to the edge of the area before placing the ball in the top right corner, out of reach of the outstretched Nikola Ristevski.

Cringila were able to sneak a consolation goal in the 84th minute after a defensive mix up saw Takao Teramoto break into the right of the box before cutting back to Webster who founded the base of the left post which cushioned the ball into the goal.

The win lifts Coniston up to eighth on the table ahead of their first away match of the season against Albion Park White Eagles. Coniston coach Jeff Allport was relieved to pick up the three points after decent performances without reward during the opening fortnight of the season.

“We needed to get on the board,” Allport admitted.

“I was pleased with the performances over the first two games, there was improvement from Wollongong United to Olympic and certainly in the first half [today] there was improvement again.”

Allport also sounded out Tschentscher, the scorer of the opening goal, who is one of a number of youth products coming through Coniston’s ranks.

“He deserved [the goal], he’s a great kid… he did ever so well to get the goal and I think that will give him the confidence to kick on,” he said.

As for the Cringila, today’s showing was perhaps their most disappointing of the season. It leaves the Lions as the only side yet to pick up a result and they face a trip to Ray Robinson Field next weekend to take on Fernhill who are directly above them on a single point.

Saturday 6 April 2019 @ JJ Kelly Park, Coniston

Coniston - 3 (TSCHENTSCHER 32’, TERZIC 37’, SAMOTO 64’)

Cringila Lions - 1 (WEBSTER 74’)

Coniston - Blake HORTON, Boden ALLPORT, Kody MAUDE, Takayuki KAYANO, Kohei ENOKIDO, Yuki SAMOTO, Dinko TERZIC, Daniel WAGUS, Rob BROWN, Brad MORIERA, Matt TSCHENTSCHER

Substitutes - Blake COAD, Rory EVAN (on for WAGUS), Connor O’NIEL, Matt POPOSKI (on for TSCHENTSCHER), Travis ANDERSON (on for MORIERA

Cringila Lions - Nikola RISTEVSKI, Alexander BRBEVSKI, Aiden BRESLIN, Jackson BROOKS, Aleksandar PRENTOSKI, Todd SPARKS, Aleksandar NAJDOSKI, Alex MOJSOSKI, Ibrahim SESAY, James RALSTON, Ryoga UEMOTO

Substitutes - Takao TERAMOTO (on for MOJSOSKI), Jake WEBSTER (on for BRBEVSKI) Anthony OLIVER, Andrew PRESILSKI, Mitchell PRESILSKI

Referee - Blake HERBERT

Assistant Referees - Jay WALPOLE, Lachlan MCREA

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

Photo by Pedro Garcia