STALEMATE was the name of the game at WIN Jubilee Stadium as St George drew nil-all with Sydney United 58 in wet and heavy conditions.
Sydney United 58 dominated possession in the initial stages and looked dangerous early.
The best chance of the first half came in the 33′ minute when a mistake at the back by the St George defence saw the dangerous and up and coming star Mark Cindric pick up possession with only the keeper to beat.
Cindric pushed his shot just to the right of the posts and the score remained at nil, as it would all afternoon.
Nevertheless, United continued to sustain pressure in the St George half and Cindric was presented with another opportunity inside the box as the ball was crossed in from the right flank but again he pushed his shot at goal just to the right.
Had his radar been more accurate United could have escaped with this one.
As it were, United would have felt hard done by to come off at the break without a lead as they dominated field position and possession but were unable to capitalise on their opportunities.
Straight after the interval a lovely ball was played into the box by Anthony Tomelic which found the head of Stepjan Paric but it went just wide again of the goal and the outstretched hand of St George keeper Dion Shaw.
Another great opportunity found the way to Luka Glavas after a great cross into the box found Paric in a perfect position to score, but Glavas’ header was just off the mark and another opportunity went begging for United.
St George got their best opportunity in the 66′ minute as Bruno Pivato found space and dribbled the ball into the box but the Sydney United defence was strong and denied Pivato a clear shot at goal.
St George had a run of possession in the middle of the second half and it led to David Talevski having a crack at goal from just outside the box but it was comfortably handled by Sydney United goalkeeper Diego Barcena.
United again looked threatening as the ball was crossed in from the left hand side by Matthew Bilic and it found an open Cindric who headed it at goal but it was well stopped at a comfortable height by Shaw.
Although not a bad result, Sydney United 58 FC will be disappointed that they couldn’t capitalise on their opportunities to take the game away from St George after having the better of the opportunities.
Sydney United 58’s coach Mark Rudan was disappointed that his side couldn’t make the most of their chances but was happy with the effort the team showed.
“It’s a bit frustrating but you can’t fault the players, they (St George) played with a packed defence and made their intentions quite clear, to get bodies behind the ball and play really defensively," Rudan said.
“We had opportunities, we worked on that and we spoke about it but we definitely dropped two points today.”
Meanwhile Saints coach Manny Spanoudakis was happy with the result.
“We definitely showed a lot of character today, it’s been a difficult seven days for us, we had a cup game on Wednesday that went for 120 minutes, and there were many boys who had to back up today against a very good Sydney United 58 side.”
Match Stats
St George 0
Sydney United 58 0
Sunday April 27th, 2014
WIN Jubilee Stadium, Carlton
St George FC: 1.Dion Shaw; 2.Costa Andricopoulos, 3.David Dascal, 5.Bill Tsanidis, 6.Mirko Jurilj, 7.Chris Gomez, 8.Nick Nopoli, 10.Bruno Pivato (Laureano Gomez Castro 75′), 15.Djordje Degenak, 19.David Talevski (Tayfun Buyukkopru 82′), 23.Lenox Tweneboa (Jonathan Castano-Acero 73′)
Substitutions Not Used: 21.Lucas North, 13.Lenox Tweneboa
Yellow Cards: David Talevski 19′, Bruno Pivato 38′, Costa Andricopoulos 64′, Mirko Jurilj 86′
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney United 58: 1.Diego Barcena; Anthony Tomelic, 4.Nathan Sherlock, 6.Mitchell Stamatellis (Mitchell Speer 78′), 9.Robert Mileski, 11.Luka Glavas (Ante Tomic 63′), 15.Mark Cindric, 16.Stepjan Paric, 17.Theo Kofinas, 19.Matthew Bilic, 20.Ibrahim Haydar.
Substitutions Not Used: 41.Jayden Diacono, 12.Ivan Pavlak
Yellow Cards: Anthony Tomelic ‘56
Red cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Stepjan Paric (SU)
2 – Bruno Pivato (SG)
1 – Theo Kofinas (SU)
– By Jack Hislop, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at WIN Jubilee Stadium
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