Bottom two placed sides, Cringila and South Coast United battled it out at Crehan Park on Saturday night as both teams were in search for their first win of the campaign. It was the Lions getting the better of their opponents with four different scorers helping them to a 4-2 win in this round 11 Illawarra Mercury Premier League clash.

Both teams sat on two points each after 10 rounds with South Coast having a nose in front with for and against. Cringila were looking to continue an impressive start under new coach, Stuart Beedie after their impressive 1-all draw with Wollongong United last weekend. Whereas South Coast fell to Woonona, 1-0.

The game started with plenty of drive and intensity as the players looked to surge forward early on. South Coasts’ Dion Sterjovski looked to show plenty of pace as he drove into the middle from the left before delivering a shot from distance straight to Nikola Ristevski.

However, with Cringila controlling the game and the ball, they were able to take the lead just 10 minutes in. A dinked free-kick from Aleksandar Prentoski into the box was met by the head of Takao Teramoto who had no trouble finding the net to open up the scoring.

Just four minutes later, Teramoto was unlucky to find the net again when his side footed shot from the right hand side caught the side netting.

Sterjovski looked the most likely to create something for the visitors with his weaving runs back infield causing chaos for the Lions’ defence. His run and pass to Josh Hawker set up the striker for a shot on the angle but a strong hand from Ristevski denied the goal.

It wasn’t until the 35^th minute that the game really sprung into life. Alexander Brbevski’s cross to Teramoto looked destined for the net off the striker’s head but was pushed wide thanks to the diving hand from 16-year-old debutant, Mitch Wilson in goal.

It was from the corner that the ball would land at the feet of Jake Webster who had a shot which blasted into the crossbar. South Coast failed to clear as a pin-ball type situation followed when the ball hit many legs before falling to Anthony Romeo who slot it into the bottom left to double Cringila’s advantage.

But just three minutes later, a planned set-piece worked to perfection as a Tomi Skara free-kick from the corner flag was met by a diving header from captain, Greg Valic who tipped it into the roof of the net, halving Cringila’s lead.

The Lion’s two-goal cushion was restored just minutes later when Valic was caught on the wrong side of Webster in the box and ultimately pulled him down to give Cringila a penalty. Alex Mojsoski making no mistake from 12-yards slotting it past Wilson for their third.

That was all the action for the first-half as a resurgent Cringila outfit took a two-goal lead.

The Lions came out firing to start the second half and it was a long range shot from Ryoga Uemoto forcing Wilson to a low save. The ball then rolled to Teramoto who tapped it in only to be brought back for offside.

Whilst dominating the game, the Lions scored their fourth in the 53^rd minute through Uemoto. A quick break up the left saw the ball find the feet of Teramoto who delivered an early cross to the edge of the area for Uemoto. The striker having no trouble rounding Wilson and tapping it home into an open net.

The game started to ease off a little following the goal as the home side were happy to sit back and play on the counter. South Coast kept the ball for majority of the second half but couldn’t pose any threating chances on the Lions goal.

The closest they came was in the 62^nd minute when a ball was delivered into the box where substitute Chris Smith outjumped everyone else only to header his flick-on wide.

Although, just three minutes later, South Coast pulled one back. It was another accurate free-kick from deep by Skara curling and dipping into the box. With no player attempting a play at the ball, it bounced off Aiden Breslin’s leg and rolled into the net for an own goal. South Coast had a bit of time to play after grabbing a second.

The best chance after the goal came from the home side in the 71^st minute when Webster sent Teramoto a nicely-timed through ball after a South Coast attack was shut down. Teramoto holding the ball just long enough to deliver a beauty of a cross straight back to Webster who was continuing his run forward. Webster met the ball with a header, only for it to bounce off the post and out.

South Coast threw everything they had at Cringila to finish the game but a much improved defence held on to help the Lion’s to a 4-2 victory, the first of the season.

A very important three-points for Cringila sees them jump South Coast into 11^th to finish the first half of the campaign. The Lions host table-toppers Wollongong Olympic next week looking to keep their good-form intact. Whereas for South Coast, they take on Tarrawanna at home who they only narrowly lost to, 1-0 in round 1.

 

Saturday 1 June at Crehan Park.

Cringila Lions: 4 (TERAMOTO 10’, ROMEO 35’, MOJSOSKI 41’, UEMOTO 53’)

South Coast United: 2 (G. VALIC 38’, BRESLIN o.g 65’)

 

Line-ups:

Cringila Lions: Alex RISTEVSKI, Aleksandar PRENTOSKI, Aiden BRESLIN, James RALSTON, Anthony ROMEO, Alexander BRBEVSKI, Takao TERAMOTO, Jake WEBSTER, Alex MOJSOSKI, Todd SPARKS, Ryoga UEMOTO.

Subs: Ibrahim SESAY (MOJSOSKI 84’), Jackson BROOKS, Daniel WAGUS, Steven UGRINOVSKI, Rory Billington.

 

South Coast United: Mitch WILSON, Dylan MENA, Chris VALIC, Greg VALIC, Zac HAWKER, Tomi SKARA, Callum RUSSELL, Josh HAWKER, Brodie MURRELL, Byungkuk CHO, Dion STERJOVSKI.

Subs: Chris SMITH (CHO 45’), Ricky BERTAKIS (MURRELL 62’), Anton BATUR (SKARA 83’), Daniel STARR.

 

Referee: S. BOZIC

Assistant Referees: P. HUTTON & L. CABASSI-POWER

 

Report by Nathan Turner, on Twitter @nathanturner23_

File Photo: Pedro Garcia