St George City denied by late goal against St George FC

St George City succumbed to a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 1-1 with local rivals St George FC on Sunday night at Penshurst Park.
The hosts were denied by the woodwork on several occasions, but they found the breakthrough through Presley Ortiz early in the second half.
Aeden O’Shea had a valuable impact off the bench for FC, claiming the equaliser in the fourth minute of additional time.
City got off to a fast start, creating two chances inside the first four minutes.
In the second minute, Ortiz raced in on goal down the left before rolling an effort just past the right post.
Two minutes later, a left-sided cross was headed back across goal for Kosta Petratos, who nodded onto the crossbar.
The hosts struck the bar again in the 12th minute when Maki Petratos took on a curler from the right edge of the box that dipped onto the crossbar.
St George FC took the ball down the other end four minutes later when Joshua Hong fired goalwards from the left box, but the ball bounced straight to Jack Kenny.
City went close with eight first-half minutes to play as the lively Maki Petratos twisted and turned in the right of the box to create a shooting chance, however, it cleared the bar.
A hard-fought first half ended with the teams still level despite the home side hitting the woodwork twice.
St George City took five minutes after halftime before they opened the scoring.
Jason Romero’s original shot from the left corner of the box came back off the right post, falling kindly for Ortiz, who made no mistake facing an open goal.
Romero hit the other post two minutes later when he fired goalwards from a similar area, being denied by the frame of the goal once more.
The visitors nearly equalised in the 65th minute, as a left-sided corner eventually dropped for Caio De Godoy; the defender unleashing a powerful strike that barely went over.
St George City began to sit in, looking to protect their one-goal lead with their opponents pushing on for an equaliser.
In the 85th minute, St George FC’s O’Shea executed a spinning shot from the left edge of the box, but the ball bounced safely to Kenny.
In the final minute of regular time, the visitors went close from a free-kick through Nikola Skataric, who did not keep his shot down as it fell just over.
City were denied three points by a late goal, conceding in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Skataric’s neat flick found O’Shea in the box. The midfielder prodded past Kenny to snatch a point for the visitors at the death.
City hoofed the ball forward from the kick-off, but not long later, the final whistle was blown.
Jané Talcevski was impressed with his team’s spirit in fighting back and finding the equaliser for their second draw of the NPL Men’s NSW season.
“Against an outstanding front line, we suffered there a bit in the first half for the first 15 minutes, however, we came back into the game in the second period of the first half,” Talcevski said.
“After the break, they came out and scored an early goal, and we had to really dig deep to find something.
“We made the necessary changes to add a bit more force going forward, and eventually we got the equaliser.
“We always know as a collective that we’ve got a spirit.
“That if we keep going, if we keep pushing, if we keep at it, we can always come back and recover, and that definitely showed tonight.”
Match Stats
St George City FA 1 (Presley Ortiz 50’)
St George FC 1 (Aeden O’Shea 90+4’)
Sunday 10 March 2024
Penshurst Park, Penshurst
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani and Issac Liu
Fourth Official: Charbel Geha
St George City FA: 1. Jack Kenny (GK), 3. Joshua Hong, 6. Tarik Ercan (C) (7. Nathan Roberts 78’), 8. Dominic Cox, 9. Yerasimakis Petratos (5. Fumoto Kamada 59’), 10. Jason Romero (2. Cameron Fong 85’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 25. Brodie Clarkson, 30. Presley Ortiz (14. Paolo Mitry 78’), 33. Louis Khoury (4. Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika 59’), 99. Matthew Keremelevski
Substitutes Not Used: 13. Joseph Knowles
Yellow Cards: Louis Khoury 20’, Joshua Hong 46’, Matthew Keremelevski 71’, Tarik Ercan 77’
Red Cards: Nil
St George FC: 20. Daniel Axford (GK), 2. Caio De Godoy, 3. Troy Danaskos (C), 5. Nicholas Kalogerou (10. Harry Jones 83’), 6. Patrick O’Shea, 7. Jesse Spang (19. Nikola Skataric 65’), 8. Conor Quilligan (22. Aedan O’Shea 70’), 9. Peter Grozos (11. Anthony Morabito 83’), 18. Mark Rodic, 23. Evangelo Souris 27. Jayden Seeto
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Andrew Di Blasio, 15. Mitchell Heapy
Yellow Cards: Peter Grozos 29’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Jason Romero (SGC)
2 – Troy Danaskos (SGFC)
1 – Dominic Cox (SGC)
Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_