Wolves edge Suns in searing heat
Wollongong Wolves picked up their first win of the National Premier Leagues NSW season with a 1-0 victory over Rockdale City Suns at WIN Stadium on a sweltering Sunday afternoon.
Quivui Fowler’s first-half strike proved to be the difference in a match somewhat hampered by the soaring temperatures.
The heat clearly affected the continuity of the game from the outset, limiting the ability of the teams to match the levels of movement required for a flowing game of football.
The players however dug very deep to put on an entertaining display for the fans in between the necessary and merciful drinks breaks.
The result and back-to-back clean sheets clearly pleased Wollongong Wolves’ coach Jacob Timpano while Rockdale City Suns’ player-coach Paul Reid was left disappointed that his side left the game empty handed after a mammoth effort in the second half.
Harris Gaitatzis carved out the first opportunity of the match early on by cutting past Michael Robinson to find space in the box. His shot was parried into dangerous territory by Justin Pasfield only for Alex Canak to overthink his finish and sky his follow-up over the crossbar.
Midway through the half Fowler had the host’s first chance of the match after a burst of smart lead up play across the width of the park found him in space on the right. His tame shot from the edge of the box was well held by former Socceroo Ante Coric.
There was little Coric could do to deny Fowler just after the half hour mark. The winger played a ball into the feet of Yuzo Tashiro on the edge of the box; the Japanese import held the ball well before laying it back into Fowler’s path for a sweetly struck finish into the bottom corner.
Josh McDonald had the ball in the back of the net once again for the Wolves minutes later only for the goal to be chalked off by the linesman’s raised flag. The Western Sydney Wanderers’ youth product failed to hold his run before linking with Nick Montgomery’s smart pass.
The half time interval would have been welcomed by both sets of players who returned from the sheds for a second half played at a testingly higher tempo than the first.
Canak was first to threaten, weaving his way into Wolves’ 18-yard box for a shot only to be expertly marshalled by Robinson who tracked the striker’s run and made a fine block.
Daniel Petkovski came within inches of an equaliser soon after, clipping the crossbar with a header from a well-delivered corner.
Paul Reid looked to give his side the impetus with a couple of attacking substitutions on the hour mark, yet the brief delay allowed the hosts to reorganise themselves to briefly swing momentum back in their favour.
The Wolves created three decent chances in quick succession, with Covic holding both Tashiro’s bicycle kick and McDonald’s dipping shot either side of Takuya Nozawa’s volley which was well blocked by the Suns’ defence.
The visitors grew in stature once again and began to press forward in numbers, looking more likely to score while Wolves sat deeper with an organised defensive structure and sought to repeatedly hit their opponents on the counter attack.
Alec Urosevski broke inside from the left and dug out a decent shot at goal. James Baldacchino’s studs managed to take the sting out of the effort for Pasfield to make a routine save.
At the other end Tashiro found himself on the end of a couple of great passes for two shots in the same minute. Nozawa delivered the first, Pasfield’s clearance delivered the second; Covic confidently saved both.
The experienced goalkeeper was on hand once again to save Nozawa’s driven long-range effort to wrap up what was a busy second half.
The Suns continued to pile forward and looked good value for an equaliser – they were left distraught when claims for a late penalty were waved away when substitute Jordan Figon went down in the box – yet it wasn’t their day as Wolves held firm to keep them at bay and claim the three points.
Wollongong Wolves’ coach Jacob Timpano was happy with the result and the improvement his side have made since last week’s draw.
“I think we were good for the three points today,” said Timpano. “We started the match a lot better than we did last week where one or two sloppy mistakes almost cost us.
“I think we controlled the majority of possession and did a lot better than last week. In the end we created more chances to win the match so I think it was thoroughly deserved, but it was a huge effort by both sets of teams in these conditions.
“It obviously wasn’t a quick game but we had to play to the conditions and I was confident that our boys would be fit enough to last the distance.”
Back-to-back clean sheets have been hard to come by for the Wolves in recent years, so Timpano was also delighted by his side’s performance defensively.
“It’s something we haven’t done in a while but also something we prided ourselves on in preseason,” explained Timpano.
“Setting a strong foundation defensively takes structure, and again we’ve done that.
“It’s something we’ve been working on with Michael Robinson and (James) Baldacchino – they’ve played together for 4 or 5 years now so they have a good combination there supported by Pricey (Chris Price) and Taylor (McDonald) today. Also Darcy Madden is back today which is another option for us.
“I think the work of Monty (Nick Montgomery) and Ryan Ensor in front of them didn’t go unnoticed and Justin (Pasfield) between the sticks was a comfortable as ever today.”
Rockdale City Suns player-coach Paul Reid was understandably disappointed by the result, and on the flow of play in the second half felt his side deserved more from today’s match.
“Conditions were tough and we didn’t deserve to lose,” said Reid.
“I don’t know what Timpano thought, probably that they deserved to win but we went in 1-0 down at half-time with one shot at goal. In the second half we changed it a little bit – they had quite a few chances as we’d changed some things – but you know what, I honestly can’t believe that we’ve lost the game today.
“The boys put in a real good effort today. They were tough conditions for both teams, but to come away with a 1-0 loss is pretty hard to take really.”
Match Stats
Wollongong Wolves 1 (Quivui Fowler 31’)
Rockdale City Suns 0
Sunday 18th March, 2018
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Referee: S. Lucas
Assistants: J. Bell and D. Horstead
4th Official: B. Wright
Wollongong Wolves: 1. Justin Pasfield; 3. James Baldacchino, 4. Michael Robinson, 2. Taylor McDonald (5. Darcy Madden 84’), 6. Nick Montgomery, 7. Chris Price, 8. Takuya Nozawa (23. Steve Hayes), 10. Joshua McDonald (9. Peter Simonoski 76’), 11. Quivui Fowler, 17. Ryan Ensor, 30. Yuzo Tashiro
Substitutes Not Used: 12 Luke Kairies, 14. Ethan Kambisios
Yellow Cards: Joshua McDonald 58’
Red Cards: nil
Rockdale City Suns: 1. Ante Covic; 2. Daniel Petkovski, 3. Steven Hesketh, 4. Trent McClenehan, 6. Blake Riccutio, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Alex Canak (9. Bai Antoniou 76’), 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 12.Idriss El Hafiane (23.Jordan Figon 62’), 14.Brayden Sorge, 17.Toufic Alamaddine (21. Michael Neill 62’)
Substitutes not used: 5. Paul Reid, 25. Jake Soutter
Yellow Cards: Alex Canak 64’, Steven Hesketh 78’
Red Cards: nil
Player Ratings
3 – Fowler (WW)
2 – Gaitatzis (RCS)
1 – Robinson (WW)
-By National Premier Leagues NSW Mens reporter Michael Shoolman
