APIA drop vital points at the hands of the Sharks
APIA Leichhardt’s Premiership and Finals hopes have hit a major snag following the club’s 1-1 draw at the hands of current cellar-dwellers Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw in the rescheduled Round 18 clash on Wednesday evening.
Pat O’Shea, for the second successive match, powered the home side into the lead with a towering header before Jack Armson restored parity prior to the break with a hotly contested goal the Sharks’ players felt was from an offside position.
Final late drama ensued as Ivan Necevski belied the years to majestically save a James Andrew penalty and possibly rescued their finals hopes on a bitterly cold and rainy night in the Shire.
Jeremy Cox fired the first shot in anger when using Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu as a decoy to cut inside and unleash a shot from 25-yards that sailed over the bar in only the 2nd minute, a sign of intent from the home side. Ahmed-Shaibu also fired over moments later.
Matthew Cahill headed a cross over at the other end in a lively start to proceedings in the teeming rain but it was Adrian Ucchino who was forced to clear off his line as Sutherland played the high press from the off.
Jason Romero twisted and turned in the Sutherland box and should have done better and buried his shot into the netting but it was deflected for a corner in the 13th minute. APIA were getting chances of their own on a difficult night for football but neither side could, so far, take one.
Yianni Nicolau found space down the right and centred for Armson on the edge of the area but his scuffed shot was dealt with comfortably by Sharks’ gloveman Anthony Bouzanis.
It was Cahill’s turn to become the provider and he curled in a wonderful centre for Romero whose first-time effort deserved better than flashing wide of the woodwork from a central position.
Chris Lindsay replied with a tantalising free kick that James Baldacchino should have planted between the sticks to open the evening’s account when it looked easier to score, but was left to hold his head when the ball soared skyward from inside the area.
Necevski thwarted Andrew at his near post in putting the ball out for a corner and it was Sharks’ skipper O’Shea who headed home from a flicked pass to give his side the lead.
It was, in fairness, unfamiliar territory for Sutherland during the current 2022 season but deserved on the balance of chances created, particularly as they should have been 3-2 up at this stage of the match.
As it was, their defensive frailties were in evidence once more when Armson got on the scoresheet with a well-worked but scruffy equaliser in the 44th minute with many believing it should have been negated for offside. It was a moot point as the goal stood and the match was all square once more.
It was a goal that changed not only the dynamic of the game but the half-time team talks too.
Nick Sullivan replaced Luke Sauer for the Sharks after the break to add impetus to the attack whilst APIA retained their starting eleven.
Cox worked an opening but a last-ditch lunge saw the ball deflected out for another corner that reached Baldacchino on the edge of a crowded area that he was unable to connect cleanly with under pressure and the opportunity dissipated.
The freer-flowing football of the opening 45 minutes was no longer evident on a challenging night with chances now being at a premium.
In a moment of irony, Armson stuck the ball away but was, this time, called offside proving the ups and downs of football life.
Ahmed-Shaibu came close with another deflected effort that went across the face with no one following in close enough to tap home.
Necevski saved point-blank from Andrew before Ucchino upended Ahmed-Shaibu, pouncing on the loose ball in the area to concede a penalty. The spot-kick was taken by Andrew but majestically saved by the APIA ‘keeper and the chance for the Sharks to register a long-awaited win was gone in a fleeting passage of play.
Andrew returned the favour and played Ahmed-Shaibu in but the striker saw his shot turned around the post by Necevski when athletically down to his left.
There was a late twist when Romero finally found space to fire goalward in stoppage time only to see the ball rebound back off the base of the post before being scrambled out for a corner.
It was a tough night for the teams with the 1-1 draw suiting neither and leaving APIA coach, Danial Cummins to comment at the whistle.
“At this point of the season a draw is a loss as far as we’re concerned.
“We won’t harp on about that, we dropped two points tonight but to be fair, Sutherland played some good football and we could easily have walked away with no points.
“If it had been in the middle of the season and we were to walk away with a draw then fair enough but where we are right now, and where we want to be, it feels like a loss.
“I said to the guys last week we needed a minimum 10 points from our last four fixtures if we were to give one of the top two spots a go and we’ve dropped two tonight and go into our final three games needing to win them all to give us that opportunity and with Sydney Olympic, Marconi Stallions and Sydney United 58 to come, that’s no easy task.
“We were a little bit off tonight and similar to last weekend, we created the chances but couldn’t put them away and the longer Sutherland were kept in the game the harder it became for us. Had we taken the early chances and put them away early it would have been a different story but that’s football and we know what we need to do from here.
“That was a hard shift tonight and we’re in a bit of a rut at the moment, a few boys out injured and the like but no excuses. We can and must put our chances away for the remaining games.”
“The boys really battled hard tonight,” Sharks’ coach Steve Gordon said.
“We spoke about it being a tough year, things not going our way but only we can put that right.
“Their goal, we felt it was another offside decision that’s gone against us, but it is what it is and then we got the penalty with about 10 minutes to go and you have to say it was a good save by Ivan [Necevski] but we battled away tonight.
“We dug in and you need to battle in this competition because APIA are a very good side, very physical and good in the air but we just dug our heels in.
“That’s football and on another week that could well have been a loss in previous seasons so we found a way to hang in there and had the ascendancy late in the game but proud of the boys against a big team and we got something out of the game
“We’ve only got a few games left obviously in what’s been a very tough season and the boys want to get what they can out of it and finish on a high but a terrific effort tonight.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 1 (Pat O’Shea 35’)
APIA Leichhardt 1 (Jack Armson 44’)
Seymour Shaw, Miranda
Wednesday 13th July 2022
Referee: Rebecca Mackie
Assistants: Lance Greenshields and Brodie Merchant
Fourth Official: Jackson Mackie
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 2. James Baldacchino, 6. Patrick O’Shea, 8. Jason Madonis, 9. Jeremy Cox (18. Mitch Smith 78’), 12. Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu, 14. Chris Lindsay, 17. James Andrew, 23. Mark Rodic, 25. Luke Sauer (22. Nick Sullivan 46’), 99. Lachlan MacDonald (10. Evan Ball 90+5)
Substitutes Not Used: 7. John Fotopoulos, 10. Evan Ball, 26. Jacob Cremen-Cowan,
Yellow Cards: Mark Rodic 20’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt: 1. Ivan Necevski, 4. Josh Symons, 7. Matthew Cahill (3. Paul Galimi 68’), 8. Diego Celis, 9. Jason Romero, 14. Jack Armson, 15. Thema Muata-Marlow, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 19. Fabian Monge (10. Franco Parisi 78’), 21. Michael Kouta, 38. Yianni Nicolaou
Subs not used: 5. Franco Farinella, 6. Simon Nicholas, 22. Luke Turnbull, 23. Walter Scott
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
