Sky Blues remain undefeated as points shared at WIN Stadium
Wollongong Wolves came from two goals down to share the points against a well-drilled ten-man Sydney FC outfit at WIN Stadium on Friday night.
The visitors burst into a commanding two-goal advantage by half-time with Jaiden Kucharski and Adrian Segecic finding the net as the Sky Blues asserted their dominance in the opening half which has seen them go unbeaten this season.
However the visitors were dealt a blow in the second half as a red card to Nathan Grimaldi changed the game.
The Wolves fought back through Kuot Maliet scoring before an unlikely hero in defender Nick Littler netting a stoppage-time equaliser.
Sydney FC proved to be a threat from set pieces early on in the match.
In the ninth minute, an Adrian Segecic corner from the right found Aaron Gurd free inside the box, however, the defender headed wide.
Just four minutes after this though, another pin-point delivery from a corner from Segecic saw Jaiden Kucharski head home at the near post to give the young Sky Blues the lead. It was the young gun’s third goal of the 2022 NPL NSW Men’s campaign.
This kickstarted a period of purposeful play from the visitors with Segecic looking bright every time he received the ball.
Fifteen minutes in, both Kucharski and Patrick Wood saw shots blocked from inside the box.
Five minutes later, play was halted as a nasty collision saw Hayden Durose substituted with young goalkeeper Tomas Butkovic taking the gloves and making his debut for the home side.
Not long after, Sydney FC doubled their advantage with Segecic finding himself in behind the Wolves’ defence inside the box, eventually bundling the ball home.
Sydney FC continued to push forwards in the hope of grabbing a third with Wood driving into the box centrally in the 32nd minute and drawing a sharp save from Butkovic down to his left.
The away side went into the halftime break with a two-goal advantage after a strong display in the first half and it could have been more as Jimmy Van Weeren’s looked in the mood.
Josh Macdonald looked to pull a goal back for the hosts nine minutes into the second period wrestling to get a shot away with Adam Pavlesic equal to it.
Just after the hour mark, the Wolves were given a route back into the game with Sydney FC’s Nathan Grimaldi sent off as Adrian Arndt showed the youngster red amidst heavy protests from the young Sky Blues players.
It was believed that Grimaldi had tugged Peter Simonoski’s shirt on route to goal.
From the resulting freekick, Macdonald blasted the ball into the wall, however, it eventually fell back to him.
The winger swung a cross into the box which found Maliet who placed a left-footed shot into the far corner from the right channel of the box.
The Wolves continued the huff and puff and in the 92nd minute, they found the equaliser with Littler powering a right-footed effort from the right of the box into the far corner.
The hosts almost stole all three points at the death as Nicholas Duarte sent in a quality cross that was met by a menacing Leroy Jennings header only for the ball to bounce onto the right side of the bar much to the pain of the 1600 plus fans that witnessed what was a thrilling match.
Wollongong Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire was disappointed with his side’s display, especially in the first half.
“We didn’t play at all, especially the first 27 minutes of the first half and it’s an issue because it’s not the first time that that’s happened,” he said.
“You can’t at any level of football not turn up for that amount of time. You’re going to get punished.
“That’s [the performance] not acceptable and it’s something we need to address.”
Sydney FC coach Jim Van Weeren was pleased with the first-half performance and the character the side showed after going down to ten men.
“We were giving the ball away too cheaply; trying to go forwards too quickly at times,” he said.
“It’s called learning for us, but I think after the red card the boys showed great fight to stay in that [the game] for a long time and to come away with a point is a positive result for us.”
Sky Blues defender Aaron Gurd showed his class and asserted his name as one of the defenders to watch out for in season 2022 with a Man of the Match performance.
Match Stats
Wollongong Wolves 2 (Kuot Maliet 62’, Nick Littler 90+2’)
Sydney FC 2 (Jaiden Kuchaski 13’, Adrian Segecic 23’)
Friday 18 March, 2022
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referee: Joon Park and Harrison Fisher
Fourth Official: Jake Rose
Wollongong Wolves: 1.Hayden Durose (13.Tomas Butkovic 20’), 3.Darcy Madden, 4.Nikola Djordjevic, 8.Brendan Griffin, 9.Peter Simonoski (14.Nicholas Duarte 72’), 10.Takumu Tsujimura, 11.Josh Macdonald (25.Nav Darjani 69’), 15.Nick Littler, 16.Guy Knight, 22. Leroy Jennings, 20.Kuot Maliet
Substitutes Not Used: 5.Banri Kanaizumi, 19.Jake Lavalle, 12.Denim Nou
Yellow Cards: Josh Macdonald 37’, Guy Knight 45’, Peter Simonoski 56’, Nav Darjani 90+4’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney FC: 30.Adam Pavlesic, 3.Aaron Gurd, 4.Nathan Grimaldi, 8.Kealey Adamson (5.Kai Kamikura 76’), 10.Jaiden Kucharski, 11.Adrian Segecic, 12.Jake Girdwood-Reich (26.Alex Duricic 64’), 14.Zac Sapsford (6.Corey Hollman 64’), 17.Jayden Trenkoski (13.Clayton Taylor 76’), 18.Oscar Priestman, 22.Patrick Wood (9.Ben Gibson 83’)
Substitutes Note Used: 20.Max Vartuli
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nathan Grimaldi 62’
Player Ratings
3 – Aaron Gurd (SFC)
2 – Kuot Maliet (SFC)
1 – Adrian Segecic (SFC)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Reporter Timothy Gibson
