Late Sharks comeback proves huge in fight to avoid relegation
In one of the most thrilling circumstances, the Sutherland Sharks recorded a last gasp 2-1 victory over Manly United thanks to Takahide Umebachi to secure three precious points and their fight against relegation at Cromer Park on Friday.
A smart and direct penalty from Mitchell Stamatellis on the 82nd minute mark and then the equally as powerful the match winner from Umebachi in the 91st minute gave the visitors a humungous victory in their attempts to avoid relegation.
Manly were first to put the pressure on as two quickfire shots on the two-minute mark which saw Alen Aganovic haul his shot just wide of the post then Benjamin Koop failed to convert his overhead kick.
Five-minutes later Peter Kekeris saw his pass blocked away by Matthew Jackson in a promising situation.
Kieren Paull repeated the favour for his side shortly after as he thwarted a fast-paced and testing sequence of Sutherland passes by clearing the ball away on the halfway line by sliding in headfirst.
The hosts eventually recorded the games first strike after a handball from Jackson on the edge of the box. Kekeris made no mistake, speeding up his run toward the end and causing Nenad Vekic to manoeuvre the wrong way.
Miguel Bauza revived Sutherland’s hopes however just before the half-hour mark as he committed a nasty slide tackle on Jackson resulting in a straight red card being shown to the experienced Spaniard.
With the visitors pushing towards goals in the 56th minute, a crafty chance was created via a faultless run and then pass from Jay McGowan through to Jackson, he ultimately slipped centimetres away from goals.
The hosts looked like they were about to have two with Paull having only Vekic to beat before a last-ditch tackle in from behind via Stamatellis.
The tackle meant everything as on the 82nd minute mark, Stamatellis levelled the score from the spot smashing his penalty under the legs of Coates to level the score after a poor error of judgement from Paull in his own tackle attempt.
The chaos continued as following the goal Connor Rose was threatening to take the lead back only for Jake Garner to pull him down illegally and be handed the games second red card four-minutes from full-time.
It was worth the risk as in the 91 minute, Umebachi unleashed his shot and the winner into the bottom left corner delivering Sutherland the dramatic victory.
Stamatellis was happy to give his analysis post-game.
“It was a massive victory given the context of our season. Manly defended well but we grinded and never gave up. Full credit to our Boys. And for the rest of our season we have some big games coming up and we’ll continue to play a good brand of Football.
“As for Manly’s red card they were forced to sit back a little bit. We came out more composed in the second half and it showed, knowing we didn’t have to force things.”
Match Stats
Manly United 1 (Peter Kekeris 21’)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Mitchell Stamatellis 82’, Takahide Umebachi 90+1’)
Friday 26 July 2024
Cromer Park, Cromer
Referee: Karl Davies
Assistant Referees: Patrick Teleki and Isaac Riggs
Fourth Official: Benjamin Hutchison
Manly United: 2.Kieren Paull, (3.Zac Sfiligoi 60’), 4.Jesse Piriz, (5.Thomas Fay 79’), 6.Saxon Hillyer, 7.Peter Kekeris, (8.Joseph Fox 79’), 9.Benjamin Koop, (11.Connor Rose 60’), 12.Miguel Bauza, 18.Presley Ortiz, 19.Alen Aganovic, 25.Rocco Pelle, 31.Jay Coates, (39.Stefano Rossello 69’), 45.Bilal Belkadi
Unused subs: 41.Anthony Carreras
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: (Miguel Bauza 28’)
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nenad Vekic, 2.Kotaro Katsuta, (3.Jordan Roberts 51’), 4.Mitchell Stamatellis, 5.Takahide Umebachi, (6.Samuel Gulisano 83’), 7.Lachlan Macdonald, 8.Mohamed Ahmed, 9.Andrew Vlahadamis, 11.Jay McGowan, 15.Matthew Moric, 22.Jacob Garner, 27.Matthew Jackson
Unused subs: 10.Mason Fernandez, 14.Chris Lindsay, 77.Levi Sciuriaga, 99.Jacob Cremen-cowan
Yellow cards: (Jay McGowan 41’, Mohamed Ahmed 66’)
Red cards: (Jake Garner 86’)
Player Ratings:
3: Mitchell Stamatellis (SS)
2: Takahide Umebachi (SS)
1: Jay McGowan (SS)
-By Tobias Canning
