United 58 outfoxed by St George City
St George City bounced back from their round 14 disappointment with an important 2-1 victory over Sydney United 58 in National Premier League Men’s round 15 action at Penshurst Park.
Having scored two goals early in the second half, the hosts were deserving winners from an entertaining contest in Sydney’s South with goals to Nathan Roberts and Jason Romero cancelling out a Carlos De Olivera strike earlier in the first half.
St George City’s first chance came from the set piece with Roberts finding Kosta Petratos with his in swinging cross from the left. Petratos headed wide at the back post just after the 10th minute.
There was plenty of intensity to the play as both times chased the opening goal. Sydney United 58 nearly opened their account from the set piece with club captain Adrian Vlastelica unable to direct his effort on target in the 19th minute.
The hosts almost took the lead in the 26th minute. A through ball from central midfield found Romero through on goal. The ace marksman was denied by the post from the right side of the box.
The visitors were the side that took the lead however after a quiet period in front of goal. De Oliveira scoring with a wonderful right footed strike from inside the area after Stephan De Robillard found him with the assist from the right as the clock ticked past 35 minutes.
St George City nearly hit back shortly after, a sharp save from Oliver Kalac denying Kosta Petratos inside the area.
The second half started in an entertaining manner as both sides went in search for more goals.
But it was St George City who had their equaliser five minutes after the resumption.
Tarik Ercan played a key role in the build up before a long range shot from Louis Khoury was saved by Kalac. The rebound fell invitingly to a City attacker who squared it Roberts who finished with his head.
The turnaround was complete in the 53rd minute. A lovely through ball from Brodie Clarkson allowed Romero to convert just inside the area slipping it through the keepers legs.
Roberts nearly made it three on the hour after winning the ball high up the field, his shot narrowly avoiding the bottom right corner.
It proved to be one of the final highlight as St George City recorded a much needed win to keep them in distance of the top six finals series.
Post game St George City coach Mirko Jurilj was happy with his sides performance.
“I thought we were good tonight.
“We created a lot more than they did in the first half and were our own undoing but the boys showed great character scoring twice in five minutes early in the second half.
“Good teams can see the game out and they really didn’t threaten us after we took the lead. I thought we were deserving of the three points against a good side.”
While his counterpart Zeljko Kalac was disappointed with his side’s performance.
“We weren’t good enough tonight.
“Defensively we were ok in the first half but with the ball we were terrible tonight.
”We haven’t played good football the last two weeks and the results show that with the one point from the two games”
Match Stats
St George City 2 (Roberts 50’, Romero 53’)
Sydney United 58 FC 1 (De Oliveira 38’)
Saturday 18 May 2024
Penshurst Park
Referee: Sam Kelly
Assistant Referees: Cameron Wright & Brad Wright
Fourth Official: Mitchell Renton
St George City: 1. Jack Kenny, 3. Joshua Hong, 4. Solomon-John Monahan-Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada, 6. Tarik Ercan, 7. Nathan Roberts (30. Presley Ortiz 72’), 8. Dominic Cox, 10. Jason Romero (19. Jesse Photi 72’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 25. Brodie Clarkson, 33. Louis Khoury
Unused subs: 2. Cameron Fong, 21. Ryan Reid, 38. Kai Kamikura, 88. Mohammed Khamis
Yellow cards: Romero 59’, Khoury 90’
Red cards: nil
Sydney United 58 FC: 1. Oliver Kalac, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 8. Shunta Nakamura, 9. Patrick Antelmi, 10. Carlos De Oliveira, 11. Matthew Hatch, 14. Liam McGing, 15. Tariq Maia (6. Adam Zervas 86’), 21. Dejan Bakrdanikoski (13. Allessandro Lacalandra 86’), 22. Stephan De Robillard (7. Jordan Ivancic 67’).
Subs not used: 3. Cristian Gonzalez, 17. Mathew Nikolovski, 24. Joshua Attard
Yellow Cards: Bakrdanikoski 44’, Maia 58’, Vlastelica 71’’
Red Cards: None
Player Ratings
3- Louis Khoury (SGC)
2- Fumuto Kamada (SGC)
1- Solomon-John Monahan-Vaiika (SGC)
By Justin Smith
