Albion Park finished too strong against the resurgent Lions outfit as they grabbed an important 2-1 win in this round 16 Illawarra Mercury Premier League clash at Crehan Park. The visitors dominated early and took the lead courtesy of an own-goal from centre-back Aidan Breslin before Cringila equalised through Takao Teramoto in the 35^th minute. But a Cameron Morgan strike in the 70^th minute sealed the win for the White Eagles.

Cringila were looking to continue their strong second-half of the season after their 1-0 win over now bottom-placed Fernhill last Saturday. As for Albion Park, their 2-1 win over Coniston saw them jump Corrimal into second following their loss to Olympic. The previous encounter between the two sides ended in a comfortable 3-0 win for the White Eagles in round five.

The first opportunity of the game came in just the second minute for the home-side when a long throw-in to the head of Ryoga Uemoto was flicked-on to the feet of fellow striker, Takao Teramoto. However, his shot was lashed just wide of the goal.

But in the bid to keep the title race open, Albion Park were agonisingly close on two occasions both through new signing, Cody Waller. In the 7^th minute, Cameron Morgan’s looping cross to the back post looked destined to be tapped in by Waller but an amazing reflex stop from Nikola Ristevski denied him from his maiden goal in Albion Park colours as it was saved onto the post. Then, just two minutes later, Waller was slipped through on goal by an accurate through-ball from Robert Delbanco but his curled effort was denied by the post yet again.

After almost scoring twice, Waller finally had a hand in the goal that gave the visitors the lead. His run up the left was met with a low, driven cross into the box that couldn’t be dealt with by the Lions as an unbalanced Aidan Breslin deflected it into his own net. A devastating start for Cringila as the visitors took a deserving lead.

It seemed to be all Albion Park in the opening quarter of an hour as they nearly went two ahead through Cody Wehmeyer in the 15^th minute. Some nice interplay passing up the left from Joel Beattie and Delbanco created a shot that deflected into the path of Wehmeyer into the box. But it was to the midfielder’s surprise that he dinked the ball over onto the roof of the net.

After withstanding the continuous pressure in their back third, Cringila were finally able to drive with an attack of their own in the 21^st minute. Teramoto caused some chaos up the left wing before delivering an accurate ball into the box that fell to captain, Todd Sparks. His first time effort looking for the bottom corner was deflected away. Then, just one minute later, Alexandaer Brbevski’s cross was almost a carbon-copy from the White Eagles first goal as the ball ricocheted off of Eiki Fukushige’s foot and onto the roof of the net. Cringila eventually started to find their feet.

As the game started to even out in possession, Albion Park looked deadly on the counter attack and it was Morgan coming on the end of a strong run from Beattie only for his near post shot to be saved by Ristevski.

But after defending for majority of the game so far, Cringila were able to grab their equaliser. It was some nice dribbling towards the edge of the box from winger Ibrahim Sesay that allowed him the space to shoot a low shot on goal. It curled and skimmed away from Brad Jardine who had no choice to parry it out but only as far as Taramoto who made no mistake tapping it in from six yards.

That was all the action in the opening 45 minutes.

The second-half started quite like the first as the White Eagles took control over the game yet again. A clearance from the back allowed Waller a chance to run onto goal but a bouncing ball made it difficult for him to make a good connection with the shot as Ristevski was able to save one-on-one.

Ristevski made another diving save in the 60^th minute as he tipped Morgan’s free-kick from 20-yards out onto the crossbar and out for a corner.

In the 64^th minute, the home side thought they had the goal to put them ahead but referee, Peter Ilcevski deemed an illegal push on Jardine following a deep free-kick to disallow the goal.

After they thought they scored down one end, the Lions conceded just six-minutes later down the other thanks to a powerful strike from target-man Morgan. The goal was created magically as Shannon Fielding picked up the ball with a clean and silky roulette and drove through the midfield. His inch-perfect through ball to Morgan was enough to help the striker blast it first time into the right side of the net, giving Albion Park the lead once again.

The Lions then pushed forward with purpose in the final 10 minutes, looking to snatch their equaliser. It was the head of Jake Webster almost saving them on two occasions but on both times fell just short. In the 80^th minute, a long cross from the left-hand sideline went all the way to the back-post where a leaping header from Webster back across goal was just missed by Sesay and out for a corner. It was from the corner that Webster would jump the highest again and send an effort goal-wards but an alert Jardine was able to get a strong hand to it and save.

In the end, Albion Park holding off a fast-finishing Cringila as they ran out 2-1 winners in this well-fought and physical game.

The loss for Cringila still sees them planted in 10^th spot, five points behind Coniston and four points ahead of South Coast. Both sides are still yet to play this weekend as Coniston travel to Corrimal and South Coast host Wollongong United. Next week the Lions are back on the road when they take on Bulli at Balls Paddock.

The win for Albion Park secures second spot for another round. They currently trail Wollongong Olympic by four points who still have to play Woonona on Saturday. Next week they return home to take on Corrimal in a game that would be surely be the battle for second place and knock the other out of a possible title contention.

 

Friday 5 July at Crehan Park

Cringila Lions: 1 (TERAMOTO 35’)

Albion Park White Eagles: 2 (BRESLIN o.g 10’, MORGAN 70’)

 

Line-Ups:

Cringila Lions: Nikola RISTEVSKI, James RALSTON, Aidan BRESLIN, Anthony ROMEO, Jackson BROOKS, Alexandar BRBEVSKI, Takao TERAMOTO, Jake WEBSTER, Ibrahim SESAY, Todd SPARKS, Ryoga UEMOTO.

Subs: Steven UGRIMOVSKI, Thomas RICHMOND, Jonathan LIDDLE, Rory BILLINGTON.

 

Albion Park White Eagles: Brad JARDINE, Cody WALLER, Shannon FIELDING, Cody WEHMEYER, Eiki FUKUSHIGE, Blake MCGINN, Robert DELBANCO, Hristijan TANOSKI, Araki NAOMICHI, Cameron MORGAN, Joel BEATTIE.

Subs: Yuki UNO, Luke DEBROT, Valentino MERXHUSHI, Jacob HUFTON.

 

Referee: Peter ILCEVSKI.

Assistant Referees: Caleb BLANCH and Harry LEE.

 

Report by Nathan Turner, on Twitter @nathanturner23_

Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton