Kawano sinks Sutherland in Manly win
Manly United have beaten the Sutherland Sharks in dramatic fashion, posting a 1-0 victory at a chilly Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday night.
A late 85th winner courtesy of Taiga Kawano saw him beat every Shark in sight in what was a closely contested encounter. Whilst a first half penalty save to Levi Kaye ensued Sutherland went scoreless for the eighth straight game.
It was the visitors who started on the front foot against Sutherland as they tested their resolve early.
Their first chance came in the 5th minute when Harry Van Der Saag’s free kick landed in a promising position but wasn’t capitalised upon.
Then in the 8th minute, Manly witnessed a couple of opportunities gone begging when Harry McCarthy was pulled down in the nick of time by Jerry Skotadis amidst a rampaging run.
Seconds later Danijel Nizic denied Farah Koko with a beautiful one-handed save to keep Manly at bay.
It didn’t get any easier for Sutherland in the 21st minute when Skotadis dragged Bilal Belkadi to the ground and seemingly caught him in the face, as he received the games first yellow card.
However, things finally went the way of the Sharks in the 33rd minute when they were awarded a spot kick after Rocco Pelle’s handball in the box. Reuben Awaritefe saw his penalty thwarted by Levi Kaye. The Manly goalkeeper managed to get a hand on the ball and pushed it out of play.
Awaritefe came close only moments later, this time as his header was pounced on by Kaye.
Darcy Burgess started the second half with a bang in the 49th minute. He created something out of nothing for Manly as his lethal attempt was pushed away by Nizic who made himself massive with the save.
Tye Mcgowan responded in kind for Sutherland in the 56th minute with a similarly strong attempt from distance only to shoot it just wide of the post.
The back-and-forth stanza continued in the 65th minute when Harry McCarthy found himself bounding through Sutherland’s defence and his on-target shot was stopped by Nizic’s outstretched leg
With the game reaching its final stages Nizic again came to the rescue as he stopped Aaron O’Driscoll’s ferocious attempt from metres out, using his legs in the 74th minute.
With both sides pressing hard, it was Taiga Kawano who forged a scintillating run and strike in the 84th minute to win it for the hosts. His run evaded everybody, whilst his shot bested Nizic with ease.
Adding to the pain was a late yellow and ensuing red to Skotadis.
Goalkeeping hero Levi Kaye had this to say post-game.
“Today’s result was very important for our season and I’m glad I could stop the penalty.
“It’s funny in practice I don’t save a lot of them so today I waited until he kicked it, and I went the right way.
“For us our win today gives us something to build on headed into the latter stages of our season.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 0
Manly United 1 (Taiga Kawano 85’)
Saturday 31 May 2025
Seymour Shaw Park
Referee: Ayad Naji
Assistant Referees: Mitchell Renton and Rory McFarlane
Fourth Official: Isabella Mossin
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Danijel Nizic, 2.Lachlan Macdonald, 4.Lachlan Fields, 6.Mohamed Ahmed, 9.Reuben Awaritefe, (10.Yerasimakis Petratos 90+4’), 12.Ikko Ehode Arimoto, 15.Matthew Moric, (17.Richard Shoueiki 61’), 21.Jerry Skotadis, 22.Kotaro Katsuta, 23.Mason Fernandez, 44.Tye Mcgowan
Unused subs: 3.Jordan Roberts, 8.Nicholas Sullivan, 30.Sebastian Arranz, 87.Thomas Stobierski
Yellow cards: Jerry Skotadis 21’
Red cards: Jerry Skotadis 93’
Manly United: 1.Levi Kaye, 2.Aaron O’Driscoll, (3.Matthew O’Donoghue 71’), 4.Jesse Piriz, 6.Bilal Belkadi, 10.Harry McCarthy, (11.Lucas Meek 61’), 12.Rocco Pelle, (13.Taiga Kawano 71’), (14.Maxwell Pengelly 80’), 17.Farah Koko, 19.Alen Aganovic, 23.Darcy Burgess, 26.Harry Van Der Saag, 28.Jasper Chipman
Unused subs: 8.Stefano Rossello, 21.Anthony Carreras
Yellow cards: Jasper Chipman 24’, Rocco Pelle 33’, Bilal Belkadi 90+2’
Red cards: None
Player Ratings:
3: Danijel Nizic (SS)
2: Levi Kaye (MU)
1: Taiga Kawano (MU)
