After a crazy weekend of Illawarra Premier League action, Corrimal and Bulli had a lot to live up to at Memorial Park. Following Tarrawanna’s unexpected loss to South Coast United, the match took on a much more significant context as Corrimal now had an opportunity to move into second, 3 points off Olympic, while Bulli now had a chance to go equal on points with the Blueys. However, after an intense 90 minutes of football, it was Corrimal who prevailed, thanks to goals from their formidable strike partnership of Tomoki Wada and Van Elia.

There was rarely a dull moment during the game, with both sides playing a high-quality brand of football and both creating numerous chances - the first of which fell to Bulli’s centre-back, Kenshi Takahashi in the 12^th minute. Having received the ball on the half-way line, Takahashi strode roughly 15 metres towards the goal where he released a venomous shot that appeared destined to nestle in the top right corner, only for Nic Loe to pull off a brilliant save.

However, only 5 minutes later it was the Corrimal defenders who had to save Loe who was undone by a Bulli short corner manoeuvre. Playing the corner to the corner of the 18-yard box, Bulli hit an in-swinging cross towards the goal that floated over Loe's head which was cleared off the line by the Corrimal defender situated on the far-post.

In the 19^th minute, Corrimal had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when the ball fell to the feet of last week’s hat-trick hero, Van Elia, on the edge of the 6-yard box. With no defenders around him, the Corrimal crowd was left dismayed when their star forward hit the ball straight at Bulli's star keeper, Yuya Kuwata.

In the 21^st minute, Corrimal had another chance to score when Tomoki Wada struck a shot from the edge of the area towards the bottom right corner but was denied by an outstretched Kuwata. Yet despite the save, it was evident that Corrimal had now taken the ascendency of the match.

Corrimal continued to dominate possession and maintain an attacking threat for the remainder of the half but lacked precision in the final third, missing multiple passes and hitting many wayward crosses. Having snuffed out all of Corrimal’s attacks so far, it appeared that Bulli would be going into the sheds having kept the scores level, however, this was not to be the case, as Alvin Ceccoli and Wada stood over a freekick in a prime goal scoring position on the stroke of half time.

It was Wada who struck the ball and he couldn’t have hit it much better. Hitting it over the wall, curling it towards the side netting, Kuwata managed to get a hand on the ball but could only palm the ball into the post which deflected into the back of the net giving Corrimal the lead as the half time whistle blew.

Corrimal continued using the momentum they had built in the first half upon coming out of the sheds, creating multiple chances in the opening minutes of the half which included a corner in the 53^rd minute which Bulli scrapped off the line.

However, things took a turn for the worst for Corrimal when Lukas Stergiou was shown red in the 65^th minute following his involvement in an altercation between the two sides.

The one-man deficit reduced Corrimal’s dominance as Bulli mounted a resurgence, having a flurry of chances with a quarter of the match remaining.

In the 78^th minute, Rui Kumada had a chance to equalise following a poorly cleared corner which he blazed over the bar and the entire Corrimal team sat defending the box from the edge of the area.

In the 82^nd minute, Bulli found themselves with a freekick in a near identical position to Wada's, however, unlike Wada, Mitchell Del Turco smashed his freekick into the Corrimal wall which rebounded to Ryan Emerton whose follow-up shot was wayward.

It was 4 minutes later though that Bulli would be left to rue missing out on their half-chances when Van Elia dispossessed a Bulli defender in his own area. Having won the ball, Elia wove his way across the box before letting go of a thumping effort, giving Kuwata no chance between the sticks, securing victory for Corrimal.

Corrimal drew out the final minutes before the final whistle blew which confirmed their ascension to 2^nd place on the table. It was a performance they would be proud of; out playing a top side in Bulli even while playing much of the second half with ten men. They will go into next week’s clash with Port Kembla confident of taking away 3 points, putting further pressure on table-toppers Wollongong Olympic.

Bulli on the other hand drop into 7^th following Woonona’s win over Fernhill; an unfamiliar position for the defending champions. They’ll look to leapfrog the Sharks when they take them on next week in a crucial clash at Balls Paddock.

9^th June @ Memorial Park.

Corrimal – 2 (Wada 45’, Elia 86’)

Bulli – 0

Corrimal – Nic LOE, Dean PENDER, Jason ZUFIC, Alvin CECCOLI, Ben ZUCCO, Banri KANAIZUMI, Matt GALANTI, Lukas STERGIOU, Tomoki WADU, Van ELIA, Tim WYLIE.

Substitutes – Daniel CARRENO, Sam MATTHEWS, Dani GUIDO, Jake GATES.

Bulli – Yuwa KAWATA, Kenshi TAKAHASHI, Trent SIERRA, Rui KUMADA, Luke FOSTER, Ryan EMERTON, Sam DAVIES, Aaron BAKER, Blake HEWSON, Mitchell DEL TURCO, Brendan PATTMAN.

Substitutes – Kyle HAZEBROEK, Sam MIRANDA, Ben MCGINNES, Sam LENDRUM.

Referee – Greg REID.

Assistants – Brendan FOTHERINGHAM, Liam WEBB.

Report by Nic Wilson, on twitter @_nicwilson

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn