Spirit sink Manly with early strikes
NWS Spirit FC rose into the top half of the table after two early goals saw them secure a 2-0 victory over Manly United at Cromer Park on Saturday night.
Both Kota Odakura and Mitchell Davidson struck within the opening half an hour to grant David Perkovic’s side an unassailable lead.
Despite there being a few more flashpoints in a tense affair, no further goals would be converted as the Spirit travelled home with a result that saw them ascend into eighth on the ladder.
Looking for a second-straight victory, the visitors started brightly, with Mitchell Davidson stinging the palms of Levi Kaye with a warning shot on ten minutes.
Two minutes later, Spirit took the lead, as Odakura pounced on a loose ball in the area and cannoned it into the bottom corner.
Manly almost struck straight back as a corner fell to Ben Koop at the far post, but the attacker was unable to steer his effort on target.
Following that point, the flow of play continued to favour Spirit who soon found a second via the penalty spot.
Some lovely link-up play saw Davidson’s backheel play through Jordan Gomez, who was brought down in the area by a back-tracking Bilal Belkadi.
Davidson then made no mistake from the spot, sending Kaye the wrong way as he doubled the away side’s advantage.
Spirit so nearly made it three on the brink of half time, as Peter Kekeris sprung the offside trap and drove through on goal – but could only steer his effort narrowly wide of the target.
The second half started in lively fashion as Davidson glanced a header wide three minutes in.
Manly then went up the other end and played through half-time substitute Harry McCarthy, who cut inside well before curling his effort past the wrong side of the post.
The end-to-end action continued as Kaye denied Lobo with a fingertips save, before getting down low once again to keep out a Kekeris strike.
There were Manly shouts for a penalty after Ben Koop nearly capitalised on a defensive slip up in the 65th minute, before Spirit were left appealing in similar fashion when substitute Matthew Cahill was dispossessed inside the final ten minutes.
Marcus Lal and McCarthy popped up with a couple of half-chances for the hosts late on, but it would eventuate to be a frustrating night in front of goal for Patrick Zwaanswijk’s men.
Post-game, Spirit Head Coach David Perkovic was pleased with how his side got the job done.
“Obviously we got off on the front foot and scored two quality goals,” he reflected.
“We had a couple of other really good chances in the game as well.
“We attacked very efficiently and defended very strongly, so overall we’re very pleased with the performance and result.”
Next weekend Manly will look to climb back up the table when they host Marconi, while Spirit return home to and take on Sydney Olympic.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 0
NWS Spirit FC 2 (Odukura 12’, Davidson 29’)
Saturday 1 July 2023
Cromer Park, Cromer
Manly United FC: 20 Levi Kaye (GK), 3. Jesse Piriz, 4. James Oates (C), 7. Seiya Kambayashi, 9. Benjamin Koop (39. Stefano Rossello 67’), 10. Bruno Mendes (31. Marcus Lal 72’), 12. Kristian Santich (6. Finn Ashton 67’), 14. Connor Rose (11. Matthew Sim 72’), 19. Alen Aganovic, 22. Bilal Belkadi, 29. Hunter Elliott (23. Harry McCarthy 45’)
Substitutes Not Used: 93. Montgomery Partington
Yellow Cards: Mendes 6’, Elliot 37’, Belkadi 58’, Ashton 69’
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit FC: 1. Christopher Marques, 3. Musashi Kokubo (C), 4. Kota Odakura, 5. Jordan Gomez, 6. Corey Kavanagh (19. Daniel Mitwali 77’), 7. Richard Darko, 9. Mitchell Davidson (17. Matthew Cahill 72’), 10. Peter Kekeris (11. Ollie Wiggin 72’) 13. Simon Nicholas, 16. Kyle Shaw, 21. Luiz Lobo (2. Anthony Younis 85’)
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Jacob Madden, 26. Maisam Awaz
Yellow Cards: Mitwali 83’, Gomez 88’
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Amber Morris and Arinath Gobinath
Fourth Official: Ayad Naji
Player Ratings:
3 – Kota Odakura (NWS)
2 – Jordan Gomez (NWS)
1 – Kyle Shaw (NWS)
Report by NPL NSW Commentator and Reporter Chris Curulli (Twitter @ChrisCurulli)
