The Round 2 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s match between St George City FA and Western Sydney Wanderers got underway but there was not much action – only 11 minutes in fact when experienced referee Craig Fisher sent the players into the dressing room for 30 minutes with the home side leading 1-0 due to persistent lightning strikes.
However, the storm wouldn’t cease and, even more worrying for the officials, were the lightning strikes. Eventually, with no end in sight to the light show above Penshurst Park, Mr Fisher called the game off at 8pm with St George City FA leading 1-0 thanks to an early Maki Petratos goal and definitely the correct decision was made for player safety.
After a spectacular day in Sydney where summer was in full flight, the ferocious storm hit Sydney’s southern suburbs completely out of the blue.
The match itself opened in spectacular style when a nice flowing move that saw St George City FA press forward before Petratos scored with a well-worked diagonal shot after only two minutes of play.
A few minutes later a dangerous corner from Franco Maya rebounded off the crossbar. However, as the storm in Sydney’s southern suburbs continued referee Fisher had no other option but send all the players into the dressing room in the 11th minute. And after several reviews of the weather the game was called off for the evening.
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
