NWS Spirit put a dent into Wollongong Wolves’ finals hopes holding their opponents to a 0-0 draw on Sunday afternoon at Ian McLennan Park.
Wollongong had the bulk of the ball in the game, but both teams created opportunities to grab a winner.
The Wolves almost made a dream start to the match in the 7th minute when Sebastian Hernandez found Takumi Ofuka in the left of the box; the Japanese drawing a top save from Christopher Marques.
Spirit returned fire seven minutes later as Michael Konestabo found space in the middle of the pitch and slipped Takeru Sugita into the left of the box. Sugita hit a powerful shot that Vedran Janjetovic held onto in the Wollongong goal.
Spirit fired another warning shot in the 18th minute as Jacob Chidiac sent a header bouncing past the right post.
The visitors were millimetres away from the opener in the 26th minute. Simon Nicholas received the ball in the left of the box and drilled low shot that beat Janjetovic but Darcy Madden slid in to scoop the ball away from the line.
Moments later, Richard Dako took aim from a similar area, the ball spinning wide of the right post.
Wollongong went close in scoring themselves just after the half-hour mark. Lachlan Scott picked off Spirit defender Kyle Shaw’s attempted clearance and quickly passed the ball to Jake Trew whose poked effort was caught by Marques.
The side took confidence from this latest chance and kept Spirit pinned back for most of the rest of the first period, but they could not find the telling chance heading into the sheds.
The hosts carried on this momentum into the second period and within four minutes Christopher McStay forced Marques into a sharp stop from the edge of the box.
Spirit created a chance of their own five minutes later as Nicholas swung in a left-sided cross that Darko headed onto the top of the net.
In the 55th minute Wollongong’s Yagoub Mustafa lined up a long-range effort, testing Marques who took the pace off the strike before holding onto the ball.
The chance kept coming and three minutes later, Spirit’s Konestabo rolled a shot from the left edge of the box narrowly past the right post.
Hernandez tried his luck from range for the Wolves 62 minutes in, sending a left-footed shot just over.
Wollongong continued to keep their opponents defending after this and produced another opportunity in the 79th minute. Substitute Alex Masciovecchio did well to evade a couple of challenges in the right of the area to take on a strike that Marques saved well.
Two minutes later McStay’s right-sided corner bobbled around in the box before Hernandez had a shot from point-blank range, however, Marques saved.
The Wolves were almost left to rue these missed chances with a couple of regular minutes to play. Spirit’s Frankie Ljucovic hitting an effort just over the top from outside the box.
Despite Wollongong’s dominance of the ball, they failed to find the killer blow to keep them in a strong position for finals football, as they drew with Spirt at home.
The Wolves now have to beat Manly United next Sunday and hope St George City defeat Sydney United 58 who currently occupy sixth spot to book the last finals place for 2024.
Wolves defender Darcy Madden said he was left frustrated by the result as a win would have put the side in a strong position to get finals football. However, he said he was pleased to keep a clean sheet, including his last-ditch stop on the line in the first half.
“I think it [the ball] was on the line actually so I’m grateful that the officials got that one right,” Madden said.
“It’s a very competitive league.
“Take nothing away from our endeavour and it was up to us and unfortunately we were just making small errors, and we weren’t clinical enough in key moments of the season.”
NWS Spirit FC’s Grant Cornwell said the team were eager to keep a clean sheet against a Wollongong side that they were expecting to be tricky opposition.
“We knew coming here that they’re [Wollongong] a tough side to play,” Cornwell said.
“Clean sheets have sometimes been a bit harder to come by this year so we’ve focusing a lot more defensively, especially with [Melbourne] Victory coming up in our [Australia] Cup game as well.”
Match Stats
Wollongong Wolves FC 0
NWS Spirit FC 0
Sunday 18 August 2024
Ian McLennan Park, Kembla Grange
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris and Amirhossein Hosnani
Fourth Official: Reece Edwards
Wollongong Wolves FC: 20. Vedran Janjetovic, 2. Harrison Buesnel, 3. Darcy Madden (27. Damon Gray 87’), 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 6. Samuel Riak, 7. Takumi Ofuka, 9. Jake Trew (25. Alex Masciovecchio 59’), 10. Yagoub Mustafa, 11. Sebastian Hernandez, 24. Lachlan Scott, 88. Christopher McStay
Substitutes Not Used: 8. Andre Takami, 13. Oliver Yates, 15. Dax Kelly, 29. Ben Giason
Yellow Cards: Sebastian Hernandez 90+3’
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit FC: 1. Christopher Marques, 3. Kyle Shaw, 4. Jarred McKinley, 5. Frankie Ljucovic, 7. Richard Darko, 8. Grant Cornwell, 10. Michael Konestabo (20. Jared Lum 83’), 13. Simon Nicholas, 15. Takeru Sugita (19. Jesse Michel 75’), 16. Ante Bakmaz (18. Zachary Cianci 36’), 17. Jacob Chidiac (35. Lincoln Gilmour 83’)
Substitutes Not Used: 21. Jayden Tran, 31. Joel Wade
Yellow Cards: Michael Konestabo 56’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Rating:
3 – Darcy Madden (WW)
2 – Christopher Marques (NWS)
1 – Simon Nicholas (NWS)
Report by Tim Gibson
