Wolves snatch valuable away victory at Manly
The Wollongong Wolves re-entered the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s finals race after scoring a goal in each half to secure a valuable 2-1 victory over Manly United at Cromer Park.
Goals from the in-form Leroy Jennings and young gun Liam Wille cancelled out Dejan Pandurevic‘s fifth goal of the season to draw Luke Wilkshire’s men level on points with the Northern Beaches club.
It was the home side who started the brighter, forging two golden opportunities inside the opening 10 minutes.
First, Jack Fulton’s shot was parried out into the path of Pandurevic who spurned his close-range strike wide of an open net.
A minute later, Richie Cardozo slipped a superb ball in behind for Luca Kmet, who was smothered by an onrushing Durose.
In the 13th minute, a deadly Wolves counter-attack broke the game open with the away side’s first attack.
Quality distribution from Durose played Marcus Beattie in behind, and via a touch from Lachlan Scott, Leroy Jennings found himself in on goal – making no mistake in curling the ball past Sam Benton.
Jennings went close again on 32 minutes before Scott stung the palms of Benton after 40, but Wollongong was unable to add to their tally as they headed into the sheds with the slimmest of advantages.
In a mirror to the first half, Wollongong started the second half as Manly did the first: with a positive showing, before conceding a sucker punch.
The home side’s goal came after Daniel Loe was punished in the area for a push on Dejan Pandurevic – who saw his initial penalty saved by Durose, before crashing home the rebound.
However Manly weren’t level for long, as after Fulton saw his free header saved, the Wolves took the lead again.
Yet again Jennings was involved, this time teeing up Liam Wille who steered a powerful finish inside the back post.
While Manly pushed hard late for a second equaliser, their quest was unsuccessful as the full time whistle was greeted by jubilant scenes within the Wolves’ technical area.
Wollongong coach Luke Wilkshire was pleased with his side’s ability to come away from the win in challenging circumstances.
“It’s a tough place to come up here,” he said.
“We’ve started to find some form and we’re back to playing the way we want to play and I thought the boys really deserved the three points.
“We’re missing players, we’ve had injuries, suspensions and the boys have come in and stepped up.
“I think young Dax Kelly and Jake Lavalle coming in were fantastic, and that was important considering the position we were in.”
Contrastingly, Manly skipper Sam Gallagher was disappointed his side were ultimately unable to deal with the counter-attacking threat of their opponents.
“It’s frustrating as we knew that was their danger and they got us on it twice,” he said.
“I feel as though we dominated them in possession but that’s their danger and we just didn’t deal with it.
“But we’re very positive; we feel like we’re strong and have matched it with the best teams. We definitely feel we have a good team that can push (for finals) but we just have to be a bit more deadly in the final third and switched on at the back.”
In Round 14 action, Manly will look to return to winning ways on the road to competition frontrunners Blacktown City, while the Wolves look forward to a clash with Mount Druitt Town Rangers.
Match Stats
Manly United FC: 1 (Pandurevic 54’)
Wollongong Wolves: 2 (Jennings 13’, Wille 72’)
Saturday, 22 May 2021
Cromer Park, Dee Why
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees: J. Adabajou, M. Staples
Fourth official: A. Naji
Manly United FC: 19. Sam Benton, 2. Kieren Paull, 15. Jesse Piriz, 4. Jimmy Oates, 16. Seiya Kambayashi, 5. Sam Gallagher, 24. Finn Ashton, 7. Jack Fulton (Scott Balderson 79’), 12. Luca Kmet (31. Ben Gibson 64’), 10. Richie Cardozo, 14. Dejan Pandurevic
Substitutes not used: 1. Jacob Madden, 20. Alen Aganovic, 6. James Georgaklis, 40. Mitch Mattison
Yellow cards: Pandurevic 22’
Red cards: Nil
Wollongong Wolves: 23. Hayden Durose, 2. Taylor McDonald, 5. Dax Kelly, 6. Ethan Kambisios, 7.Marcus Beattie, 8. Brendan Griffin (17. Jake Lavall 35’), 11.Leroy Jennings, 14. Brendan Low, 15. Daniel Loe, 20. Liam Wille (10. Nav Darjani 92’), 24. Lachlan Scott (13. Stefan Dimoski 90’)
Substitutes not used: 19. Evan Ball, 9. Jarvis Paterson, 1. Aidan Munford
Yellow cards: Loe 54’, Darjani 92’
Red cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Leroy Jennings (WW)
2 – Hayden Durose (WW)
1 – Jake Lavalle (WW)
– By Football NSW reporter and commentator Chris Curulli (Twitter handle @ChrisCurulli)
