Manly United still top of the ladder despite draw at Wollongong

Wollongong Wolves and Manly United shared the points in a 1-1 draw at WIN Stadium on Saturday night. 

Jake Lavalle gave the hosts the lead in first-half stoppage time, before substitute Bruno Mendes equalised for Manly midway through the second half.

It was a fast-paced opening 10 minutes to the match with both sides looking to nick a goal early on.

Within the first four minutes, a Manly corner found Alen Aganovic in the middle who rose highest but headed over the bar.

Six minutes later, Leroy Jennings had a right-footed shot for the Wolves from outside the box centrally that swerved narrowly wide of the right post.

In the 27th minute, Wollongong’s Joshua Macdonald fired a powerful first-time shot from the edge of the box; however it was straight at the goalkeeper.

The hosts conjured up another shooting opportunity two minutes after, but Lavalle’s effort slowly bounced into the gloves of Manly shot-stopper Jack Greenwood.

Half an hour in, United had a chance of their own with Seiya Kambayashi finding space in the right channel of the box and forcing Wollongong keeper Durose to bat the ball away.

The visitors continued to pile on the pressure towards the end of the half hoping to jag a go-ahead goal heading into the break.

In the 37th minute, Matthew Sim’s shot from outside the box was deflected just over the bar.

From the resulting corner, Kristian Santich drew a sharp save from Durose with his first-time shot from outside the box – the goalkeeper preventing the ball from arcing into the top right corner.

Three minutes later Sim had another chance, this time his header from the middle of the box was unable to trouble Durose.

With a minute to play in the half Kambayashi picked up the ball in a similar position to his first effort this time clearing the crossbar with his shot.

Despite Manly’s shot-dense finish to the first period, it was Wollongong who took a lead into the break, scoring in the third minute of additional time.

Lavalle slid a left-footed shot from the left of the box across the keeper and into the far-right corner.

At the break, the Wolves led the league leaders by a single goal, the home side hoping to earn their first victory since Round 11.

It was a comparatively slower start to the second half, as neither side created much early on.

Around the hour mark, Manly’s Sim had a couple of opportunities to restore parity firstly, forcing Durose into a save down to his left before sending a freekick just over the bar.

It proved to be an inspired substitution for the visitors as in the 69th minute, Mendes who had only been introduced early in the second half put the side level.

A corner swung into the box from the left caused chaos in the Wolves’ box with Mendes reacting fastest to bundle the ball into the goal from close range.

The visitors began to step up their attacking efforts and 77 minutes in, Sim struck the crossbar from a freekick on the right before Mendes’ follow up from inside the box was cleared off the line.

With seven minutes to go, Sim took responsibility for another freekick this time closer in, but the shot went over the crossbar.

Manly was unable to find a winner in what remained of the match as the sides took a point each.

Wollongong Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire was pleased with the commitment shown by his side, particularly in the first half.

“Disappointed not to win the game,” he said.

“I think the effort from the boys and some of the quality, especially first half – I thought we probably deserved more from it.”

Manly United coach Adam Griffiths felt his side should’ve taken all three points from the game given the number of chances created by his team.

“I thought we were a little bit flat first half; a little bit disjointed and under-confident when we’re a confident team that wants to play,” he said.

“Second half we made some changes and that definitely made a huge difference to the fluency of our play.

“We created a lot of chances. I think we should have won the game.”

Match Stats

Wollongong Wolves 1 (Jake Lavalle 45+3’)

Manly United 1 (Bruno Mendes 69’)

Saturday 25 June 2022

WIN Stadium, Wollongong

Referee: Kelly Jones

Assistant Referees: Matt Staples and Cameron Wright

Fourth Official: Isabella Libri

Wollongong Wolves: 1. Hayden Durose. 3 Darcy Madden (8. Brendan Griffin 87’), 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 6. Senna Stevenson, 10. Takumu Tsujimura, 11. Joshua Macdonald (20. Kuot Maliet 72’), 15. Nick Littler, 17. Marcus Beattie  19. Jake Lavalle, 22. Leroy Jennings, 24. Lachlan Scott

Substitutes Not Used: 12. Harrison Taranto, 13. Tomas Butkovic, 16. Guy Knight, 25, Nav Darjani

Yellow Cards: Joshua Macdonald 22’, Banri Kanaizumi 36’, Kuot Maliet 74’

Red Cards: Nil

Manly United: 20. Jack Greenwood, 3. Jesse Piriz, 4. James Oates, 5. Thomas Fay (22. Bruno Mendes 53’), 7. Seiya Kambayashi, 8. Dominic Ferguson (6. James Georgaklis 51’), 11. Matthew Sim, 12. Finn Ashton, 15. Kristian Santich (9. Daniel Fabrizio 84’), 18. Lucas Rainbird, 19. Alen Aganovic

Substitutes Not Used: 24. Mitchell Mattison, 27. Hunter Elliott, 42. Hugo Mckay

Yellow Cards: Jesse Piriz 36’, Finn Ashton 39’

Red Cards: Nil

By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Timothy Gibson