Simonoski resurgence strengthens the pack

The explosive celebration of a late match-winning goal is one of football’s beautiful sights, and Peter Simonoski is building a reputation as a catalyst for such glorious scenes.
The Wollongong Wolves striker cunningly slipped in behind Hakoah’s backline to bag a dramatic 94th minute winner at Hensley Athletic Field on Sunday afternoon.
It was Simonoski’s second goal of the 2-1 victory after opening the scoring with a poacher’s effort in the early minutes of what was his first start of the 2018 NPL NSW Men’s season.
Simonoski is no stranger to such scenes having poked home another late winner against Sydney FC’s development team at a slippery Lambert Park a fortnight prior.
The goal against the Young Sky Blues was his first of the season, which was soon followed by a brace in last week’s 3-0 FFA Cup win over Kellyville Kolts.
The resurgence of form has seen the striker shake of an injury hampered pre-season to force his way into Jacob Timpano’s first team and into the Ultra Football Round 5 Team of the Week.
“I’m really happy with how things are going at the moment,” said Simonoski.
“I suffered a bit of an injury towards the end of pre-season so it kind of set me back a few weeks.
“Early in the season I was just trying to get my match fitness back up and am feeling good now so it’s great to be back out there playing, scoring goals, and winning games as well.
“Hopefully I can keep my starting spot and keep up the good form.”
Simonoski’s late winners have contributed significantly to Wolves’ total of tally 10 points from the opening 5 rounds; an impressive start to the campaign for the South Coast club who find themselves sitting fourth on the ladder.
“Things are going great to start the season so far,” said Simonoski.
“We got off to a good start but still haven’t hit our best yet, so hopefully we can keep up our form and keep winning matches and we’ll then see how things pan out for the rest of the season.
“The new boys that have come in are adding to our good core of players and everyone is getting along really well.
“Jake (Jacob Timpano) has us all buzzing in training and we’re really enjoying it and are raring to go every week.”
Next up for Simonoski and co. is a challenging tussle with fifth placed Sydney United 58 FC. Jason Culina’s men are nipping at Wolves’ heels on the ladder having hit a purple patch of form themselves with a trio of back-to-back wins.
“It’ll be a massive game on Saturday night,” said Simonoski.
“It’s always tough going on up to Edensor Park and Sydney United have won a few games in a row themselves so they’ve hit some good form.
“It’ll be a tough one, but we’ll go up there and do our best to bring home the three points.”
– By Michael Shoolman