South Coast United hosted Cringila in the final round of the Illawarra Premier League as they attempted to remain undefeated in the second half of the season, while the visitors required just a point to confirm safety regardless of the result of Fernhill and Corrimal. In what ended being a lacklustre affair, with neither team threating the goal throughout the match, South Coast snatched a stoppage-time winner with arguably the only clear-cut opportunity of the match.

In what was a meagre first half, the main talking point was Cringila’s appeal for a penalty in the 11^th minute. Striding towards goal, Ryoga Uemoto, struck a shot into South Coast United's stand-in skipper, Chris Valic, however, Cringila's cries for handball were turned down by referee, Greg Reid.

Cringila would have two more half-chances in the first half. In the 24^th minute, Aleksander Prentoski dribbled his way into the box but hit his shot over the bar, while in the 30^th minute, Jake Webster, turned with the ball in the box to create room for himself only to hit a weak effort along the ground straight into the hands of Jason Bleakley.

South Coast United’s chances were also few and far between. In the 36^th minute, a free-kick situated 25 meters out from goal was well within the range of their South Korean import, Byung Kuk Cho, however, despite getting the ball to dip he hit his shot over the crossbar. While in the 44^th minute, club legend, Ricky Bertakis rounded out the half with a speculative effort. A la James Rodriguez at the 2014 World Cup, Bertakis brought the ball down with his chest, swivelled on his right foot and caught the ball on the volley with his left. However, unlike Rodriguez, Bertakis shot landed nowhere near the target.

The second half panned out very similar to the first with neither team looking like scoring until the final fifteen minutes.

In the 77^th minute, a Cringila cross landed at the feet of substitute, Ibrahim Sesay. Having turned towards goal, Sesay, failed to connect properly with the ball as his shot rolled wide of the far post.

In the 81^st minute, Cringila had another opportunity when Takao Teramoto had the ball on the top of the box. However, he failed to take advantage of his good position hitting his shot straight into the hands of Jason Bleakley, who quickly threw the ball out to one of his midfielders who was subsequently fouled. With some quick thinking, the free-kick was lobbed over the top of the stretched Cringila defence, presenting Chris Smith an opportunity to get in on goal. Smith, though, ultimately failed to make the most of this opportunity, mishitting his shot on the half-volley wide of the upright.

As time ticked away, it seemed as though the match would remain in a deadlock. However, resonant of South Coast United’s fighting spirit of the second half of the season, they would conjure up one final chance to finish their season on a high. In the third minute of stoppage time, Dion Sterjovski dribbled across the edge of the box before slipping a pass in between two defenders into the path of Cameron Hanson. One on one with the keeper, Hanson coolly nipped the ball past the keeper, sending the full house at Ian McLennan Park into raptures moments before the full-time whistle blew.

Following the match, South Coast United’s, Greg Valic, who put away the boots for this match, focusing purely on his coaching duties talked about how securing safety had removed scoreboard pressure to get three points but expressed how he was still keen to get a result.

“I put pressure on the players to get a result, we had gone ten weeks unbeaten and I wanted to finish the season off properly.”

Valic went on to describe how the stoppage-time winner was a satisfying end to their season.

“To get three points with a 90^th-minute winner like that, there’s not many better feelings in football… so a great way to cap off what started off as a tough year but finished really, really positively.”

Valic the looked ahead to the next season revealing his intent on reaching the top five next season.

"It (the top five) has to be a goal of ours… it has been well documented that our financial capabilities are not as strong as other clubs so we have to be smarter in our player recruitment, we have to look for younger players, we have to take the time to develop them, which has happened this year, so that will be a model going forward… fingers-crossed that we can be break into the top five sooner rather than later and stay there.”

Meanwhile, for Cringila they will remain in the Premier League due to Fernhill’s loss to Corrimal. Like South Coast, they will also look to push for a position in the top five after a campaign in which they were in the relegation fight from the outset.

25^th August 2019 @ Ian McLennan Park

South Coast United – 1 (Hanson 90+3’)

Cringila Lions – 0

South Coast United – Jason BLEAKLEY, Dylan MENA, Chris VALIC, Chris SMITH, Tommy SKARA, Ricky BERTAKIS, Kolan HMDA, Yuya KOTAKI, Byungkuk CHO, Kieran BRODNIK, Dion STERJOVSKI.

Substitutes – Anton BATUR (on for Bertakis), Callum RUSSELL, Josh HAWKER (on for Brodnik), Cameron HANSON (on for Hawker), Harrison BARKER

Cringila Lions – Nikola RISTEVSKI, Alexander BRBEVSKI, James RALSTON, Anthony ROMEO, Jackson BROOKS, Jake WEBSTER, Todd SPARKS, Takao TERAMOTO, Steven UGRINOVSKI, Ryoga UEMOTO.

Substitutes – Ibrahim SESAY (on for Webster), Alexander MOJOSKI (on for Ugrinovski), Aiden BRESLIN.

Referee – Greg Reid

Assistants – Damien Demnelly, Jai Russell

Report by Nic Wilson, on twitter @_nicwilson

Full Interview with Greg Valic: https://anchor.fm/football-south-coast/episodes/Greg-Valic-on-SCUs-season-e53d7r