Corrimal keep their title hopes alive with an important win over finals hopefuls Woonona when they left it late to secure a 1-0 win in this round 19 Illawarra Mercury clash at Memorial Park. Defence dominated the game as neither side were able to break the deadlock until Corrimal’s Tomoki Wada stepped up with a brilliant solo effort to bag the winner in the 81^st minute.

The Rangers finished as 3-1 winners last week against Cringila away from home whereas Woonona were on the end of a remarkable comeback from Albion Park as they settled for a three-all draw. The reverse fixture between the sides ended in a 5-2 win for Corrimal in round eight.

Woonona started the game stronger out of the two sides with clever one-twos around the edge of the box causing havoc for the Corrimal defensive line early on. They were able to get shots away on two occasions but it was both Corey Haines-Grose and Jai Mellor slicing their shots just wide of the goal inside the opening 10 minutes.

The game then steadied into an even contest and Corrimal had the next opportunity in the 23^rd minute when Alvin Ceccoli sent a corner in towards the near post. The ball was flicked on by the foot of Tomoki Wada and the head of Banri Kanaizumi but a scrambling Woonona defence was able to clear off the line.

Just one minute later, Corrimal created the best chance of the game. It was Van Elia’s touch and through-ball on the turn that sent Wada onto goal. With the ball bouncing in-front of him, the striker sent a volley looking destined to dip into the top corner but was incredibly denied by a diving save from Ben Wunsch in goal.

In the 31^st minute, the Rangers thought they had the opener when Elia and Wada combined well in the box that saw Wada finish into the bottom right but would only be pulled back for a handball by Elia.

This was all the action in the opening 45 minutes.

The first opportunity of the second half fell to the visitors through a Haines-Grose free-kick close to the corner flag. His in-swinging curled cross was tipped goal-wards by the head of Mellor but couldn’t angle it on target as it flew wide.

In the 60^th minute, a long range effort from Ben Zucco following a corner was drilled back into the box where a stray foot from Tim Whylie almost deflected the ball in. But thankfully for the Sharks, it bounced wide of the goal.

Just minutes later, Elia’s touch and turn was able to get him past his player before driving towards the goal. His shot towards the far post was slashed wide.

As the game went into the final 15 minutes, both teams pushed forward to get the win. Haines-Grose stepped up to take a free-kick from 30 yards out but his ambitious effort was saved comfortably by Nic Loe.

Then, in the 79^th minute, Haines-Grose had the chance to put his team ahead when he went through one-on-one. He pinched the ball off Jason Zufic at the back before running onto goal. The striker trying to put it onto his left foot but an unbalanced shot aiming towards the left was saved by the outstretched arm of Loe in a quick-reflex stop to keep the game level.

The miss from Haines-Grose proved costly for the visitors as Corrimal went up the other end just one minute later and scored. Zufic made amends of his mistake by sending Wada through with an accurate pass. Wada with still a lot to do, took it around a defender and Wunsch in goal before dribbling it into the net, sending players and fans into a frenzy.

The game didn’t get any easier for the Sharks either when winger Jarred Morley was shown a straight red following his challenge with a Corrimal player, forcing them to play the last five minutes with 10-men.

The last chance of the game fell the way of Corrimal when Whylie was slipped through onto goal in the 89^th minute. His first touch was good but an onrushing Wunsch was able to force the body save to keep his team in the game going into stoppage time.

But the Rangers held on in the end to run out as 1-0 winners over Woonona who seemed to never bow out of the game.

It was an important win for Corrimal as Albion Park’s draw with SCU yesterday allowed them to push three points clear of them in third, and still five points behind Olympic at the top of the table. Next week they travel to Ian McLennan Park to take on South Coast United.

As for Woonona, the loss sees them slip outside the top five - the first time since round 12 – following Wollongong United and Tarrawanna wins on Saturday. Next week they are back on the road when they travel to Crehan Park to take on Cringila who are coming off a scoreless draw with Port Kembla.

 

Sunday 28 July at Memorial Park

Corrimal Rangers: 1 (WADA 81’)

Woonona FC: 0

 

Line-ups:

Corrimal Rangers: Nic LOE, Paul GUIDO, Jason ZUFIC, Alvin CECCOLI, Banri KANAIZUMI, Matthew GALANTI, Lukas STERGIOU, Tomoki WADA, Ben ZUCCO, Van ELIA, Tim WHYLIE.

Subs: Dean PENDER, Daniel CARRENO (GALANTI 73’), Peter KYRIAKOUDES, Yani MAURITIS.

 

Woonona FC: Ben WUNSCH, Tyren MACLOU, Tyler BROMHAM-FULLER, Jeremy LOPEZ, Christopher GIBSON, Kota ODAKURA, Jesse FRENCH, Dylan CATON, Jai MELLOR, Corey HAINES-GROSE, Jarred MORLEY.

Subs: Trent WORTHINGTON (CATON 48’), Bradley STRUDWICK (MACLOU 87’), Tyler SNELGROVE, Bede CLARKE, Chris WEARING.

 

Referee: Bobby MAZEVSKI

Assistant Referees: Greg REID and Josh SPAIN.

 

Report by Nathan Turner, on Twitter @nathanturner23_

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn