Ortiz breaks Manly United hearts with very late equaliser

Manly United were left heartbroken by a dramatic late equaliser against St George City in a 1-1 draw at Penshurst Park on Saturday night.

It was a game of few chances but United’s Brazilian talisman Bruno Mendes scored what looked to be the winner early in the second half.

However, in the fourth minute of additional time, City snatched a point through substitute Presley Ortiz.

The visitors were denied the perfect start when Benjamin Koop’s outside-of-the-foot effort from the edge of the area dropped onto the crossbar less than two minutes in.

St George responded three minutes later with Maki Petratos curling one over with his left foot from outside the box.

There was a lack of shots early on as the teams battled for a hold on proceedings.

City had a chance half an hour in when Tarik Ercan hooked a volley from the middle of the box wide of the right post following a set piece.

The side started to get a bit of control after this making several dangerous inroads into the United box, but the away team remained defensively resolute.

They had another opportunity with three first-half minutes to play.

Maki Petratos lined a strike up from the right edge of the box that forced Manly goalkeeper Levi Kaye into a crucial finger-tip save down to his right.

Manly managed to hold out St George until the break.

City carried on after the break with Kosta Petratos shovelling a shot over the bar in the 51st minute.

However, just seconds later, United turned the game on its head by opening the scoring.

Mendes raced into the box in on goal and rounded City goalkeeper Jack Kenny to the right before slotting home a clever finish from close range.

The hosts started their pursuit for an equaliser and almost found it in the 69th minute.

Substitute Ortiz made room for a powerful curling shot that looked destined for the top right corner but for an exceptional reaction stop from Kaye.

Eight minutes later, St George streamed forward again with Paolo Mitry volleying over the bar from the middle of the box.

Manly had two fantastic chances to seal the points in the 86th minute.

Seiya Kambayashi’s shot from the left of the box was well batted away by Kenny before Stefano Rossello rolled his follow-up effort just past the left post.

Kambayashi again tested the glovework of Kenny from the left of the box deep into the stoppage time but the goalkeeper caught the ball.

From there, Kenny launched the ball down the other end and it fell at the feet of Ortiz who slid an accurate shot into the bottom left corner.

Match Stats

St George City FA 1 (Presley Ortiz 90+4’)

Manly United FC 1 (Bruno Mendes 52’)

Saturday 24 June 2023

Penshurst Park, Penshurst

Referee: Hassan Jomaa

Assistant Referees: Patrick Teleki and Daniel Drewitt

Fourth Official: James Makris

St George City FA: 12. Jack Kenny (GK), 2. Pedro Ferrari, 3. Daniel Alessi, 6. Tarik Ercan (C) (4. Brendan Hooper 61’), 7. Nathan Roberts (10. Paolo Mitry 61’), 8. Dominic Cox, 11. Kosta Petratos (25. Andrew Vlahadamis 75’), 14. Dean Pelekanos, 23. Franco Maya, 24. Alexander Kyriacou, 70. Maki Petratos (30. Presley Ortiz 61’)

Substitutes Not Used: 9. Marley Peterson, 51. Salvatore Glinatsis (GK)

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Manly United FC: 20. Levi Kaye (GK), 3. Jesse Piriz, 4. James Oates (C), 7. Seiya Kambayashi, 9. Benjamin Koop (8. Connor Rose 65’), 10. Bruno Mendes (39. Stefano Rossello 85’), 12. Kristian Santich (2. Kieren Paull 65’), 19. Alen Aganovic, 22. Bilal Belkadi, 23. Harry McCarthy (41. Stefan Visscher 78’), 29. Hunter Elliott

Substitutes Not Used: 21. Nick Rainbird, 30. Jay Coates (GK)

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings: 

3 – Levi Kaye (MU)

2 – Presley Ortiz (SGC)

1 – Bruno Mendes (MU)

Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_