St George City outgun inconsistent Wolves
St George City continued its impressive National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s debut with a highly entertaining 5-3 victory over the Wollongong Wolves at Penshurst Park on a balmy Saturday evening.
The action began in the second minute when St George City’s Italian star Pedro Ferrari made a fantastic run down the right flank and crossed to Aiden Mostofi in the middle, but his final touch was just wide of the mark.
Wollongong Wolves on the other hand opened the scoring in the 12th minute with their first real chance of the encounter. It was Alex Masciovecchio who danced superbly through the home side’s defence before slotting the ball into the far corner of the net in what was a classy individual goal.
St George City hit back in the 21st minute via the penalty spot.
Wollongong Wolves defender Senna Stevenson brought down Ferrari in the box which gave referee Nathan Shakespear no choice but to award a penalty for the hosts.
Up stepped a cool and calm Dean Pelekanos who sent Nenad Vekic the wrong way and it was game on.
The Wolves then regained the lead in the 30th minute when Jake Trew slotted home from a rebound off the crossbar in front of an open goal. It was Trew himself who put pressure on the defence and captain Tarik Ercan’s attempted clearance unfortunately was miscued and hit the woodwork from which Trew then benefitted.
It was indeed end-to-end action at this stage as the many fans were given their money’s worth at Penshurst Park.
There was an almost immediate reply by St George City as the home side equalised for a second time. It was Mostofi who played a delightful through ball to Presley Ortiz whose shot from close range fired past Vekic and it was 2-2.
The game continued to be a highly entertaining affair and a few minutes later St George City took the lead for the first time of the match when a ball from the right reached Mostofi in the box and he delicately slotted the ball home to give the Red and Whites the 3-2 advantage going into the break.
The second half started off at a cracking pace again with an early goal to St George City as they took a 4-2 lead. Some determined work by Ortiz down the right side saw him fire a ball to Nathan Roberts at the far post who bundled the ball home much to the delight of the St George City fans.
Mirko Jurilj’s men could have made it five when Mostofi turned beautifully in the 48th minute and unleashed a cracker of a shot that ended up just wide of the mark.
Wollongong Wolves scored their third in the 51st minute through a set piece – Masciovecchio took a corner that reached Banri Kanaizumi who, with a towering header from almost the edge of the box, sent the ball straight into the back of the net in what was a trademark goal by the Japanese defender.
In the 65th minute a great shot by Paolo Mitry forced Vekic into an outstanding save but it was indeed a superb volley from some distance by Mitry.
In the 77th minute Franco Maya tried an audacious shot from a very long distance and, with Vekic off his line and back peddling, the ball ended up just wide of the target.
In the 80th minute some confusion from goalkeeper Nicholas Burke almost gifted Masciovecchio a goal as he tried his luck but fired just over the crossbar.
It was game set and match in the 86th minute as Shakespear awarded St George City their second penalty of the night.
Vekic brought down Maya in the box and the latter dusted himself off to beat Vekic from the spot that finished the game 5-3.
St George City coach Mirko Jurilj was very happy with the outstanding win but still frustrated to have conceded three goals.
“Three points are good, but we do some silly things on a weekly basis,” he said.
“We made four changes today and those boys haven’t necessarily played a lot of minutes, but they were impressive and ultimately we did score five goals, albeit two were penalties.
“We earned those penalties though, but we still need to work on some of our own execution and ball retention.
“We are improving all the time but if you don’t execute, you get caught on transitions. “Overall, I am happy with the three points and for having scored five goals.”
Wollongong Wolves coach David Carney on the other hand was clearly frustrated with the evening’s proceedings.
“Who would be a coach?” he said rhetorically.
“Two penalties too. Look I don’t know what the stats are like but in the second half we were all over them.
“We made them look better than they are because we scored three goals but made some very silly mistakes.
“We shouldn’t have lost the ball in some key moments and that’s a bit of inexperience but, like I said, they are not a great team, yet we got beat 5-3. We need to work on defence this week as we just can’t keep conceding goals like we did.”
Match Stats
ST GEORGE CITY 5 (Pelekanos 21’ pen. Ortiz 32’, Mostofi 36’, Roberts 47’, Maya 87’ pen.)
WOLLONGONG WOLVES 3 (Masciovecchio 12’, Trew 30’, Kanaizumi 51’)
Saturday 18th March 2023
Penshurst Park
Referee: Nathan Shakespear
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani and Aaron Bloch
Fourth Official: Jackson Tippett
ST GEORGE CITY: 1. Nicholas Burke, 2. Pedro Ferrari (9. Marley Peterson 93’), 3. Daniel Alessi, 6. Tarik Ercan, 7. Nathan Roberts (70. Maki Petratos 58’), 8. Dominic Cox, 10. Paolo Mitry, 14. Dean Pelekanos, 20. Aiden Mostofi (24. Alex Kyriacou 58’), 30. Presley Ortiz (23. Franco Maya 73’), 99. Matthew Keremelevski.
Substitutes not used: 12. Jack Kenny, 26. Thomas Lopez
Yellow Cards: Kenny 40’, Pelekanos 54’, Burke 80’
Red Cards: Jurilj 85’
WOLLONGONG WOLVES: 1. Nenad Vekic, 3. Harrison Buensel, 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 6. Senna Stevenson, 7. Marcus Beattie, 8. Samuel Riak, 9. Takumi Ofuka (11. Nav Darjani 67’), 10. Mirza Muratovic (99. Josh MacDoanld 55’), 14. Jake Trew, 25. Alex Masciovecchio, 88. Chris McStay.
Substitutes not used: 13. Thomas Butkovic, 15. Ethan Beavan, 16.Sami Benton, 29. Ben Giason,
Yellow Cards: Carney 63’, Riak 72’, Masciovecchio 84’, Vekic 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Aiden Mostofi (SGO)
2 – Pedro Ferrari (SGO)
1 – Alex Masciovecchio (WW)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
