It was an emphatic victory for Corrimal at home, who smashed 5 goals past a ten-men Fernhill to mark the half-way point of the Illawarra Premier League.

It never looked like it was going to be an easy afternoon for the visitors, who were sluggish early on, lacking urgency in defence, allowing Corrimal to take control of proceedings.

It wasn’t long until the Rangers had a good chance to open the scoring as Van Elia dribbled into the box in the 5^th minute. Passing two defenders upon making his way into the box, Elia had an opportunity to shoot but decided to flick the ball to his strike partner, Tomoki Wada, who was also hesitant to shoot and returned the ball back to Elia. Eventually, Elia shot but horribly miskicked it wide.

In the 20^th minute, it was Wada who fluffed his opportunity to score when Elia cut the ball from the by-line across the 18-yard box. Despite having the time and space to let the ball come across his body onto his left foot, Wada took a touch with his right cramping himself up which led to him missing the target from the edge of the 6-yard box.

However, it was barely more than a minute later that Corrimal had an opportunity to redeem their missed chances when they were awarded a penalty after it was adjudicated that Elia had been fouled contesting a header from a Tim Wylie lobbed cross, who had just flicked the ball into the area having outstretched his left leg to prevent the ball going dead for a goal kick. Elia made no mistake converting the penalty he had won, blasting the ball down the centre of the goal, giving Bryce Daenell in goal no chance as he lay hapless on the ground. Yet it was the aftermath of this goal that would have more of an impact on Fernhill as Robert Watson saw red for dissent.

Already under siege with eleven, Fernhill's chances of coming away with much-needed points became even slimmer as they began to endure 70 minutes one man down.

In the 27^th minute, Wada appeared to make amends for his earlier mistakes as he coolly half-volleyed the ball into the back of the net. However, to Corrimal and Wada's disbelief, he was ruled to be offside, which served as a relief for Fernhill and buoyed on the strong away crowd.

However, the relief for Fernhill was short lived as Corrimal mounted attack upon attack yet couldn’t hit the target. Opportunities falling to Elia who flashed a shot across the face of the goal and Wylie whose free header on the edge of the six-yard box somehow missed the target.

Having only managed to concede one goal, Fernhill had a golden opportunity to nab an equaliser in the dying minutes of the half as skipper, Jordan Hughes, dribbled into the box on the counter. As he reached the edge of area Hughes shot straight into the legs of the on-rushing defender, which provided a fortuitous deflection into the attacker’s path. All Hughes had to do was place the ball past keeper Nie Loe but hesitated and chose to take on the impending central defenders, who diffused the situation.

The second half began in the same fashion as the first when Elia pierced through Fernhill’s defence in the 56^th minute. One on one with the keeper, Elia could’ve placed the ball either side of Daenell but attempted a chip which not only lobbed the keeper by a significant margin but also the crossbar.

In the 58^th minute though, Corrimal finally scored their second courtesy of midfielder, Lukas Stergiou. It was goal of determination rather than beauty, with Stergiou initially tackling Fernhill’s central defender who turned blind, which caused the ball to bumble towards the 18-yard box. Chasing the ball, Stergiou charged down Daenell's attempted clearance and passed the ball into the open net after running onto his own deflection.

It could’ve been 3 goals in just moments later, but it just wasn’t going to be Wada’s day in front of goals. In the 59^th minute, he expertly cushioned the ball with his chest into his path towards goal but hit his one on one shot wide. In the 60^th minute, the ball was crossed to Wada which he caught on the half-volley only this time to be denied by Daenell, who acrobatically pulled off the save of the day.

However, it was apparent to all that the flood gates were bulging and would only crash wide open too soon. The tired legs of the Fernhill ten could not hold on for much longer, thus the inevitable happened with 10 minutes remaining as Corrimal delivered a whirlwind finish to the match.

In the 81^st minute, Wada recognised his troubles in front of goals, and unselfishly played the ball across the box to Elia, in a two against one situation, and Elia was all too happy to slot home his second.

In the 84^th, minute Elia was off celebrating his hattrick, having easily rounded Daenell, who was visibly exhausted from trying best to keep Fernhill in the contest all afternoon.

In the 89^th minute, substitute Daniel Carreno, capped off Corrimal’s day with their fifth. Careno bustled his way into the box, past defenders, calmly placing the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, showing his teammates what they should've done in the first half.

A crushing Corrimal victory propels them into 3^rd place, a position they would like to solidify in the second half of the season, consequently pushing for the minor premiership.

On the other hand, Fernhill will hope that the crippling defeat is not a sign of things to come as they prepare for a clash with Woonona next week. They’ll need to avoid any repeat performances of today or they may find themselves in a relegation battle come the end of the season.

2^nd June 2019 @ Memorial Park

Corrimal – 5 (Elia 23’, 81’, 84’, Stergiou 58’, Carreno 89’)

Fernhill – 0

Corrimal – Nie LOE, Dean PENDER, Jason ZUFIC, Alvin CECCOLI, Ben ZUCCO, Banri KAIUAIZNI, Matt GALANTI, Lukas STERGIOU, Tomoki WADA, Van ELIA, Tim WYLIE.

Substitutes – Daniel CARRENO, Davil CULIDO, Jake GATES, Yani MAURIKIS

Fernhill – Bryce DAENELL, Ryan HUNTER, Robert WATSON, Kurt FULGER, Tatsunori NAKAGAWA, Andrew DRAPANIOTIS, Ben RIACH, Yogi OGAWA, Jordan HUGHES, Jack LOMBO, Alex ROOKE.

Substitutes – Alex JOSIPOVIC, Nicholas ANAGNOSTRADIS, Elias AYOUB, Rhys WILSON

Referee – Blake HERBERT

Assistants – Lachie McRAE, Jackson COCKS

Photo courtesy of Murray Walker