APIA Leichhardt FC continued their strong start to the 2022 National Premier Leagues NSW season with a 2-0 win against Wollongong Wolves at Lambert Park on Friday night keeping the Inner West club atop of the league ladder for another round.
Sean Symons stole the headlines for the hosts coming off the bench with a curling left-foot thunderbolt in the 83rd minute that rattled Luke Wilkshire’s men.
U.S. import Jason Romero made up for his earlier penalty miss and added a second goal in injury time for the 2-0 scoreline and continued his quality form in the NPL NSW Men’s competition.
Wollongong Wolves had their chances in a tight contest, with efforts on goal through Peter Simonoski and substitute Kuot Maliet, but they were unable to find a way past APIA’s experienced custodian Ivan Necevski in a game that was pulsating for the whole ninety minutes.
Under the Friday night lights in Sydney’s Inner West, both sides worked their way into the contest.
The first real chance fell in the 20th minute when Romero was fouled in the penalty box.
The striker dusted himself off but put his bottom left penalty was saved by Wolves custodian Hayden Durose.
Buoyed by the save, Wolves had their first opportunity of the contest.
Josh Macdonald found some space close to the box, but he curled his effort wide.
The game continued to be a chess match in the midfield with chances being rarer than hen’s teeth in the first half.
Wolves had the final chance of the half through Simonoski who arrowed his effort wide of the post as both sides headed to the break scoreless.
Coming out of the break and the action and contest started to heat up at the iconic Lambert Park facility.
APIA had a Nathanael Blair header that thudded off the post while Wolves custodian Durose was left stranded.
APIA went close once again on the hour mark as Romero stood over the free-kick just outside the area ready to strike.
He got the effort over the wall, but it landed safely in the hands of Durose as the clock continued to tick.
Both sides weren’t content with sharing the points as the game ramped up a level.
Wolves substitute Koul Maliet thrashed his effort over the post, then APIA had a pair of chances through Jack Armson and Romero which didn’t trouble the keeper.
Into the final ten minutes, APIA found their match-winner from the bench.
Sean Symons subbed on in the 62nd minute and in the 83rd minute latched onto a cushioned Romero pass before curling home to gift the hosts a 1-0 lead.
APIA weren’t going to sit on their lead heading into injury time.
Romero, who caused havoc all evening, danced through several defenders before he fed Symons again who went wide.
Romero did add a second late on when he slotted underneath the keeper for 2-0 in the 3rd minute of injury time.
Speaking after the match, APIA coach Danial Cummins was pleased with his side’s effort against a tough Wolves side.
“It was a tough game,” he explained.
“Luke has a good side who work hard, and we knew it was going to be an arm wrestle tonight.
“To keep another clean sheet at home is important to us. We changed the shape and got the goals.
“Sean Symons had a good pre-season and is getting back to his top form. We are playing a formation which works well for him.
“This is a tough competition, and we knew we had to start well. Our back four was exceptional including Themba Muata-Marlow and we got the result.”
Wollongong Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire was disappointed to lose the contest but was happy with the fight shown by his side.
“I was disappointed to walk away with no points,” he said.
“We didn’t create enough tonight and was disappointed to concede.
“I don’t think there was much in the game which showed. It was unfortunate we weren’t able to score but we will now look towards next week’s match.”
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt 2 (S. Symons ‘83, Romero ‘90+3)
Wollongong Wolves 0
Friday 1st April, 2022
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Timothy Danaskos
Assistant Referees: Joon Park and Joel Crawford
Fourth Official: Jerry Bitas
APIA Leichhardt: 1. Ivan Necevski, 5. Nick Azzone, 9. Jason Romero, 10. Franco Parisi (16. Sean Symons ‘62), 14. Jack Armson, 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 20. Nathaniel Blair (7. Matthew Cahill ‘67), 21. Michael Kouta, 23. Walter Scott, 38. Yianni Nicolaou
Substitutes Not Used: 3. Paul Galimi, 4. Josh Symons, 6. Simon Nicholas, 22. Luke Turnbull
Yellow cards: Ucchino ‘55, Cahill ‘68
Red cards: Nil
Wollongong Wolves: 1. Hayden Durose, 3. Darcy Madden, 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 6. Senna Stevenson (18. Ball ‘79), 8. Brendan Griffin, 9. Peter Simonoski, 10. Takumu Tsujimura (19. Jake Lavalle ‘85), 11. Josh Macdonald (25. Nav Darjani ‘85), 14. Nicholas Duarte (20. Kuot Maliet ‘57), 15. Nick Littler, 22. Leroy Jennings
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Harrison Taranto, 13. Tomas Butkovic
Yellow cards: Stevenson ‘60, Griffin ‘60
Red cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Jason Romero (APIA)
2 – Sean Symons (APIA)
1 – Hayden Durose (WW)
By NPL NSW reporter Justin Davies (@JustDavies90)