St George FC and Manly United played out a thrilling 1-1 draw at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Saturday with the headlines falling to the visitors courtesy of super-substitute Miguel Bauza for his scintillating late equaliser.
Pat O’Shea, noted more for his heading prowess, was on hand to superbly volley home the opener for St George but the home side couldn’t see it through and conceded a 90th minute equaliser to the fast finishing Northern Beaches outfit via the lethal boot of Bauza.
Zac Sfiligoi had the first opening in the match from a 30-yard free-kick in the 3’ minute that sailed well wide of the mark and didn’t trouble Andrew Di Blasio between the home sticks.
Troy Danaskos then sent in a delightful centre that was deflected by the Manly defence that crept past the woodwork after some terrific passing out wide but not the result the home crowd craved.
It was always going to be a tight tussle between the sides particularly as United were forced into fielding many youngsters with several first-team starters absent, and chances likely to be at a premium, but Danaskos came close to opening the scoring when seeing his header rebound back off the post in the 12th minute to be scrambled clear by the Blues once more.
William Faulder headed over at the other end, again from a corner after a swift counter attack, a ploy United were adopting for this match by sitting a little deeper and inviting St George on to hopefully expose the space in behind.
One plus point for the visitors was they possessed plenty of pace in the side and utilised it to their advantage. In response, the Saints were controlling the midfield and again came close with another header, Connor Quilligan this time, who saw his effort cleared off the line 25 minutes in.
The home side were creating the better chances, however sporadic, that only required the finishing touch.
Manly remained defiant at the back however, St George dominated the first-half possession but couldn’t make it count as the game remained deadlocked and scoreless going into the half-time break.
The Saints made one change for the start of the second period but the battle for midfield continued with neither able to grasp the game and net the all-important first goal.
Di Blasio saved comfortably from Connor Rose after 52 minutes but the shot was tame after rounding Danaskos and powering to the edge of the box before firing into the side netting from a Peter Kekeris pass moments later.
United were starting to find the space and timing they searched for in the first 45’ minutes.
The Kekeris/Connor Rose combination worked again forcing Di Blasio into a reaction save down to his right on the line just three minutes later as the visitors got onto the front foot although the latter found his way into the book shortly after for an awkward tackle.
Saxon Hillyer blocked a Quilligan effort in reply but it was O’Shea who found the net almost immediately to open the scoring with a wonderfully taken volley on the hour leaving Manly little option but to push out in search of a leveller.
Rose was replaced just after the hour by Ben Koop and Miguel Bauza replaced William Faulder as Coach Patrick Zwaanswijk changed the point of attack. Behind by just the solitary O’Shea strike meant they were still in the game with everything to play for and go for it they did creating several half chances.
The changes kept coming from the visitors when Joseph Fox replaced Hillyer and Aeden O’Shea coming on for Grozos for St George, moves that sparked the game into life with increased intensity.
Great work down the right flank and a pull back for Evan Souris nearly gave the home side the second goal but he was unlucky to see his shot rebound off the inside of the upright and away to safety with Kieran Paull putting another into the side netting for Manly as both teams pressed hard for the two-goal cushion or the equaliser in spectacular fashion.
Manly were not to be denied though and a late, late thundering strike via substitute Bauza restored parity, United showing their battling qualities right to the end in a never say die second-half display.
It was edgy stuff but with no further addition to the scoreboard the points were shared with manly Coach, Patrick Zwaanswijk, stating at the whistle.
“Both teams came here to win this game,” he said.
“I think it was a very good game to watch, as a neutral, and a 1-all draw was probably the right result although I thought we had the best chances to win the match at the end.
”The first-half didn’t really create any big opportunities but after the break we had two or three really good chances, not counting the goal which was down to individual quality, and their goal came out of nothing really.
“It was a good game of football with fair challenges but in a game like this with two sides trying to win, the fine margins are important and in the first-half we had really good counters but we didn’t execute them well unfortunately.
“It’s more to do with the communication between the backs and forwards but the plan was not to sit too deep and to draw them out so we could get in behind and it’s there where we let ourselves down a bit in the first-half.
“We made a couple of changes in bringing on a couple of first team players who are coming back to fitness and pressed higher, made more of our forward runs but our young players out wide did really well too and the side always works hard and believes in themselves and we got the late equaliser which I feel we deserved,” he ended.
For Saints’ Coach, Jane Talcevski, it was a case of what might have been when he added.
“Potentially we may have switched off a little at the end and you can’t give time and space to these types of players,” he commented.
“It’s hard to keep that concentration in football sometimes and we gave him (Bauza) half a yard and he took it.
“We recognised in the first-half the way they like to build and draw you out then hit you on the counter with diagonal balls and I felt we did a reasonable job there.
“That changed with their formation in the second-half when applying more pressure on our defenders but a lot of the issues surrounded the ability to bring the ball down, find the second line and attack their defence which we were unable to manage tonight.
“We created enough chances to win the game, particularly in the first-half, but we didn’t take them and the result is we’ve conceded a late goal and taken one point instead of three.”
Match Stats
St George FC 1 (Pat O’Shea 60’)
Manly United FC 1 (Miguel Bauza 90’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Saturday 25th May 2024
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistants: Mayson Griffith and Arinath Gobinath
Fourth Official: Hayden Kaye
St George FC: 1. Andrew Di Blasio, 3. Troy Danaskos, 5.Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Pat O’Shea, 8. Connor Quilligan (7. Jesse Spang 85’), 9. Peter Grozos (22. Aeden O’Shea 74’), 10. Harry Jones (17. Thomas Brown 87’), 11. Anthony Morabito (30. Justin Poon 46’), 18. Mark Rodic, 23. Evan Souris, 27. Jayden Seeto
Subs not used: 12. Dylan Bozicevic, 17. Thomas Brown, 20. Daniel Axford (g/k)
Yellow Cards: Peter Grozos 44’
Red Cards: Nil
Manly Utd FC: 1 Levi Kaye, 2 Kieren Paull, 3 Zac Sfiligoi, 4 Jesse Piriz, 6 Saxon Hillyer (8. Joseph Fox 73’), 7 Peter Kekeris, 11. Connor Rose (9. Ben Koop 64’), 19 Alen Aganovic, 22. Blake Bambose, 29. William Faulder (12. Miguel Bauza 64’), 45. Bilal Belkadi (Stefano Rossello 82’)
Subs not used: 27. Corey Cronin, 31. Jay Coates
Yellow Cards: Connor Rose 57’, Peter Kekeris 74’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Pat O’Shea (STG)
2 – Kieran Paull (MU)
1 – Evan Souris (STG)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
