St George take the points in entertaining victory over the Wanderers

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After ending their winless run of three matches last week, St George City made it consecutive National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s victories, defeating the Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 at Wanderers Park.

The timer didn’t even clock over the first minute mark before the game’s first opportunity arose.

Earning a corner on the far side, Franco Maya provided Kosta Petratos with a glorious opportunity to open the game. However, he could only find the woodwork after getting his head to the ball.

Like St George, the Wanderers’ first real opportunity came through a header.

Acquiring a free kick just outside of the box in the 16th minute, skipper George Antonis, facing a five-man wall, fed the ball towards Zachary Sapsford, who was creeping around the left post.

However, the breakthrough goal was not to be claimed. Much to the dislike of the coaching staff, Sapsford failed to control the velocity of the ball and hit it wide.

While the home side dominated possession with multiple corners and free kicks in their attacking half, the travelling team would break the deadlock in the 27th minute- just after their coach was awarded a yellow card.

On the near side, a roaming through ball from Maki Petratos found Presley Ortiz.

While it looked like the Wanderers’ defence had it covered, Presley Ortiz managed to find the ball at his feet, even though it looked like he was hindered on the run.

In a play of individual brilliance, the St George City attacker got past two defenders before working the ball into the bottom right corner.

Aiming to extend their lead to 2-0, skipper Tarik Ercan decided to try his chance from seven metres outside of the penalty box ten minutes later in the 37th minute.

However, the skipper wasn’t expecting Lawrence Caruso to produce a magnificent save leaping in mid-air with the ball on target.

The glorious leap from Caruso saved the home side from going 2-0 down and was labelled the ‘Save of the Day’ by commentary.

After conceding consecutive corners, the Wanderers would go on to have one more chance to make it levelled at the half-time break.

Looking dangerous as always, winger Marcus Younis was able to set up Ariath Piol in a 1-2 combination. However, Piol was unable to guide the ball past Jack Kenny, finding the hands of the St George keeper.

After the break, the action went back and forth until the 50th minute. Pouncing on a St George turnover, Sapsfrod provided a beautiful through ball to Alexander Badolato past the opposing defenders.

In what seemed to be a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper, Ercan came out of nowhere to block Badolato’s shot on goal.

The block didn’t just save the scores from going level but gave the away team an aura of confidence. Four minutes after the heroics of their skipper, they were able to make it 2-0.

Brendan Hooper found Kosta Petratos in the box by his lonesome, who nailed the bail into the bottom corner past Caruso.

As the pace of the game picked up, so did the action. In the 62nd minute, Wanderer Jesse Cameron delivered a cracking goal from well outside the box with his right foot off one step.

Cameron’s opening goal of the season flew past Jack Kenny with the Wanderers faithful going ballistic on the sidelines, having just witnessed one of the ‘Goals of the Season’.

While both clubs would go on to trade attacking opportunities with each other, neither side had any clear-cut opportunities on goal.

This was until the 85th minute.

Taking an in-direct free kick, Alessandro Lopane lobbed the ball into the box, finding the head of Sapsford. Unfortunately, the header was millimetres from entering the goal and making the score 2-2.

Speaking post-match to Football NSW, St George City coach Mirko Jurilj was disappointed with the way his side played, despite earning the three points.

“That performance was very poor from us. (We) managed to scrape three points but it wasn’t great. The levels we showed last week to this week was just chalk and cheese,” he said.

“We were very flat, slow, lethargic, everything you don’t want in a football team, we were tonight.

“First and foremost we need to regroup.”

Match Stats 

Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 (Cameron 62’)

St George City 2 (Ortiz 27’, K Petratos 54’)

Wanderers Football Park, Rooty Hill

Saturday, 3rd June 2023

Referee: Stephen Lucas

Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris and Amber Morris

Fourth Official: Rowan Fisher

Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1. Lawrence Caruso (GK) 4. Teng Kuol 5. Luca Pecora 7. Marcus Younis (27. Farah Koko 78’) 8. Alessandro Lopane 10. Alexander Badolato 11. Zachary Sapsford 14. George Antonis (c) 22. Jesse Cameron 26. Yannis Frerck (18. Jok Akuien 46’) 77. Ariath Piol (9. Nathanael Blair 66’)

Substitutions Not Used: 20. William Loucas (GK) 21. Adam Bugarija 25. Ryley Hollingdale

Yellow Cards: Badolato 48’ Kuol 58’

Red Cards: Nil

St George City FA: 2. Pedro Arcanjo Ferrari Da Silva (24. Alexander Kyriacou 46’ (10. Paolo Mitry 57’)) 4. Brendan Hooper 6. Tarik Ercan (c) 8. Dominic Cox 11. Kosta Petratos 12. Jack Kenny (GK) 14. Dean Pelekanos 23. Franco Maya 30. Presley Ortiz (9. Marley Peterson 74’) 70. Yerasimakis Petratos (7. Nathan Roberts 84’) 99. Matthew Keremelevski

Substitutions Not Used: 46. Peter Kostopoulos 51. Salvatore Glinatsis (GK)

Yellow Cards: Hooper 56’ Maya 80’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings: 

3- Tarik Ercan (St George City FA)

2- Maki Petratos (St George City FA)

1- Zachary Sapsford (Western Sydney Wanderers FC)

By Ethan Lee Chalk