St George too dominant for Bulls Academy at home

After the last meeting between the two clubs ended in a 0-0 draw, St George City has taken the spoils in a 4-1 victory in a dominant performance in windy conditions at Penshurst Park on Saturday night.

Aiming to continue their storied run this season, St George nearly got off to a perfect start in terrible windy conditions at Penshurst Park. The home team only had to wait four minutes before they found their first opportunity past the Bulls’ defenders.

Receiving the ball on the right edge of the box, Maki Petratos delivered multiple stepovers before driving the ball in low and hard towards the net.

However, he couldn’t get past the gloves of Bulls keeper Alexander Robinson, who was continually tested throughout the opening minutes.

Nearly 20 minutes later, in the 17th minute, underdogs Bulls Academy was presented with the first big chance of the game- it came after they dominated possession with the ball.

On a tight angle in the box, Mason Wells – thrown into the starting team – came close to breaking the deadlock after multiple corner opportunities for the away side.

Despite the poor angle, he did better than expected and found himself with St George City’s new goalkeeper, former Mariner Yaren Sozer. In his club debut, Sozer proved his worth by reacting quickly and getting down low to save the shot on target.

Constantly being strong on the counter-attack finally paid off for St George in the 34th minute. One of four changes made to the starting team, Paolo Mitry intercepted a poor Bulls pass near the halfway line.

Tracking down the field with an overlap, Mitry found Maki Petratos. Petratos had no trouble slotting the ball into the back of the net, scoring his seventh goal of the campaign and equalling his brother Kosta as the club’s leading goalscorer.

Unfortunately for the Bulls Academy, it wouldn’t be the only goal they would concede in the first half, with St George scoring on the 45th-minute mark.

At the front of the action once again, Maki Petratos started a brilliant passage of play on the left-hand side, finding Preston Ortiz, who found Franco Maya.

Nearly scoring earlier in the game with a free-kick, Maya punished the Bulls’ lacklustre defence, providing a valuable low cross across the goal with Nathan Roberts getting the final touch, claiming the game’s second goal.

After going toe-to-toe with St George for the majority of the first 45 minutes, it was a disappointing end for the NPL NSW’s last-placed side.

Fresh out of the half-time break, both teams were quick to get going delivering pressure with their intensity. Down by two goals, the Bulls received a glorious chance in the 47th minute, particularly Ariath Piol.

With the ball whipped into the middle of their attacking box, Piol was unable to get clean contact bundling the clear-cut opportunity.

Adding to the Bulls’ woes, Paolo Mitry would make the score 3-0 in the 52nd minute. The goal came after a cross from the home side entered the middle of the box. With multiple players surrounding the ball, it was leapt on by Mitry, bundling it in.

Despite being ahead by three goals, it didn’t stop St George from trying to make it an even greater score. Alexander Kyriacou took a wayward shot on goal, failing to find clean contact but surprised the keeper and had to be cleared off the line.

Moments later, Paolo Mitry and Kosta Petratos nearly added more goals as the home side’s constant attack punished the Bulls, who struggled to control possession in the middle of the park.

While the Bulls didn’t give up hope of adding a goal, it was St George who would put the nail in the coffin in the 82nd minute, Not to be outdone by his teammates, Presley Ortiz buried the ball into the goal, scoring his third goal in consecutive matches.

After being scoreless for 86 minutes, the Bulls would manage to drag a goal back through Ali Auglah. Coming back into the team, Auglah curled the ball past the wall off a free kick on his left foot into the front post, making the score 4-1 to end the game.

Speaking to Football NSW after the game, St George coach Mirko Jurilj was happy with the result but disappointed they let a goal in during the final stages of the game.

“(The) performance was okay, the scoreline suggests that we were totally dominant but I don’t think we were total dominant. They’re a good young side (and) their position on the ladder doesn’t tell the whole story,” he said.

“I’m disappointed we conceded a goal in the last five minutes or so, we were a little bit sloppy, little bit indecisive but cannot complain.

“They were sharp, agile and quick so we had to keep up with them for 94 minutes. They could’ve scored another goal or two near the end there, so wasn’t quite happy.

“To only lose five games so far (this season), I think it says a lot about these boys…hopefully we can find some more consistency throughout the 90 minutes.”

Match Stats

St George City 4 (Y. Petratos 34’ Roberts 45’ Mitry 52’ Ortiz 82’)

Bulls Academy FC 1 (Auglah 86’)

Saturday 8 July 2023

Penshurst Park, Penshurst

Referee: Chris Hughes

Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani and James Makris

Fourth Official: Joel Crawford

St George City FA: 1. Yaren Sozer (GK) 3. Daniel Alessi (c) (33. Julian Dal Bianco 83’) 4. Brendan Hooper 7. Nathan Roberts (11. Kosta Petratos 57’) 8. Dominic Cox 10. Paolo Mitry (99. Matthew Keremelevski 72’) 14. Dean Pelekanos 23. Franco Maya 24. Alexander Kyriacou 30. Presley Ortiz 70. Yerasimakis Petratos (25. Andre Vlahadamis 83’)

Substitutions Not Used: 12. Jack Kenny (GK) 48. Zakariya Hammoud

Yellow Cards: Cox 46’

Red Cards: Nil

Bulls FC Academy: 2. Luca Pecora 6. Frans Deli (22. Edward Caspers 54’) 8. Mason Wells (7. Ali Auglah 66’) 11. Stephen De Robillard (27. Jed Drew 66’) 13. Jordan Ivanic (16. Oliver Jones 66’)  18. Federico Gagliano (52. Rhys Youlley 54’) 19. Jesper Webber 20. Ariath Piol 30. Alexander Robinson (GK) 32. Isaac Hovar 53. Joel Bertolissio (C)

Substitutions Not Used: 41. Patrick Williams (GK)

Yellow Cards: Youlley 55’ Ivanic 63’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3- Paolo Mitry (St George City FA)

2- Yerasimakis Petratos (St George City FA)

1- Dominic Cox (St George City FA)

By Ethan Lee Chalk (Twitter- @EthanLeeChalk)