St George FC battle in hard fought victory over embattled Sharks
Sutherland Sharks woes continued as they felt the wrath of local rivals St George FC, losing 3-1 in yet another tough loss on a chilly winter’s evening at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Saturday.
Peter Grozos opened the scoring with a delightful curling effort from out of nothing before Troy Danaskos added a second midway through the half, powerfully heading home from a corner. Moric pulled one back before the break for Sutherland after a goalmouth scramble to reduce the lead.
Aeden O’Shea came off the bench to settle the tie with a neatly flicked goal at the near post late on to secure a home win and three points for St George.
Two early St George crosses needed the merest of touches to put the home side ahead in the opening minutes before the Sharks, after a sluggish start, levelled the playing field in the greasy conditions after heavy rain before kick-off that would continue sporadically throughout the game.
Maxx Green and Matty Jackson combined with the latter forcing Andrew Di Blasio into the first save of the match when palming the ball around his left-hand post in the 7th minute of play.
Jay McGowan, showing great pace down the left, centred but the chance was squandered in the box when a calmer head was required but within seconds Grozos scored a left-footed belter from outside the box at the other end to open the scoring for St George. The shot lacked nothing; pace, direction and whip to curl past the hapless Nenad Vekic in the Sharks’ net.
Danaskos almost made it 2-0 in the 24th minute when his shot from the edge of the area took the slightest of deflections but Vekic saved well.
The Saints club captain was not to be denied for long though when powerfully heading home from a corner three minutes later. The number 3 motored into the area unchecked to force the ball home.
Sutherland got back into the game before the break when Moric reduced the deficit in adding the finishing touch to a goalmouth scramble with St George unable to clear their lines.
In a surprisingly free-flowing first-half, St George found themselves a goal to the good going into the break in an often tense, uncompromising derby fixture.
With the game finely balanced the second-half promised much, both sides making changes for the restart, substitute Justin Poon getting a shot off in the 55th minute that lacked pace for an easy gather for Vekic.
What enfolded in the tumbling rain was a titanic struggle with no shortage of endeavour but little in the way of goalmouth action in an increasingly nervy and tense match, such were the stakes riding on the result.
Conor Quilligan should have settled the tie in the 76th minute when rounding Vekic and an open goal gaping invitingly only for Sutherland’s scrambling defence to get a foot in to block the effort. It was the best move of the second-half that should have led to St George regaining their two goal cushion.
It was eventually restored via substitute O’Shea, on for barely four minutes, who flicked home at the near post with nine minutes remaining.
The result was a tougher task than the scoreline might suggest with Jane Talcevski, St George Coach, stating afterwards.
”The game was certainly much tougher than the finishing scoreline,” he said.
“Considering we had the week off last week and not playing Central Coast, I think we played very well and created a lot of chances.
“We got in behind them a lot but our arrival into the box was too often ineffective tonight even though we led two-nil. As we all know, that scoreline is always a tricky one if they pull one back and start to gain momentum but we showed a lot of character in the side to grind out the result.
“The second-half was scrappy at best and became a battle of individual duals ultimately, particularly given the conditions, but we have to be happy with the result,” he ended.
It was another tough day at the office for embattled Sharks’ Coach, Steve Zoric, who added.
“It wasn’t our best performance today, our final third play was lacking and allowing two early soft goals left us chasing the game,” he said.
“The first goal put us on the back foot and and we didn’t pick up for the second.
“I felt in the second-half the quality of football was poor but we had to push forward and try for an equalizer and got caught at the back on the counter.
“I don’t think either team really controlled the game but we had to push on, got caught out and lost the game but this side is starting to gel now so the results will come if we continue to play this way but add that clinical final ball and finishing to our game.”
Match Stats
St George FC 3 (Peter Grozos 16’, Troy Danoskos 27’, Aeden O’Connor 81’)
Sutherland Sharks 1 (Matthew Moric 42’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Saturday, 18th May 2024
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistants: Aaron Bloch and Charbel Geha
Fourth Official: Hayden Michlmayr
ST George FC: 1. Andrew Di Blasio, 3. Troy Danaskos, 5.Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Pat O’Shea, 8. Conor Quiligan (7. Jesse Spang 83’), 9. Peter Grozos (22. Aeden O’Shea 77’), 10. Harry Jones (2. Ciao De Godoy 87’), 11. Anthony Morabito (30. Justin Poon 46’), 18. Mark Rodic, 23. Evan Souris, 27. Jayden Seeto
Subs not used: 12. Dylan Bozicevic, 20. Daniel Axford
Yellow Cards: Peter Grozos 60’, Andrew Di Blasio 89’
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Nenad Vekic, 3. Jordan Roberts (8. Mo Ahmed 82’), 4. Mitch Stamatellis, 5. Takahide Umebachi (22. Jordan Graoroski 82’), 9. Maxx Green (7. James Cakovski 74’), 11. Jay McGowan, 14. Chris Lindsay ((10. Mason Fernandez 46’), 15. Matthew Moric, 23. Ethan Beavan, 26. Jacob Garner, 27. Matty Jackson (6. Sam Gulisano 57’)
Subs not used: 99. Jacob Cremen-Cowan
Yellow Cards: Jordan Roberts 45+1’, Jay McGowan 52’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Troy Danaskos (SGFC)
2 – Evan Souris (SGFC)
1 – Peter Grozos (SGFC)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
