Shark and Saints battle for point at Seymour
Honours were shared at Seymour Shaw on Saturday as the Sutherland Sharks and St George FC played out an entertaining 1-1-all draw.
With a lot riding on this match, the hosts knew they needed to take points in their fight against relegation while St George were hoping to embed itself in the top six in what’s been an impressive year for the club.
The game saw its first goal after three minutes and it was the Sharks who took the lead thanks to a cool finish from its in-form attacker Maki Petratos slotting home giving Saints keeper Mackenzie Syron no chance.
Soon after the game’s opener, Sharks number one Danijel Nizic denied Justin Poon at the other end as St George FC went on the hunt for an early equaliser.
The pressure started to wear on the hosts as the Saints finally broke through with club captain Troy Danaskos notching the equaliser right on half-time. Danaskos’ accurate header from a Nicholas Kalogerou free-kick gave Nizic no chance as the visitors celebrated.
The second half saw Sunday Yona replace Nikola Skataric who was cautioned in the opening 45’minutes, at the restart and made himself busy down the right flank as St George FC made the early running and looked to capitalise on their late levelling strike to hit the lead for the first time.
Tye McGowan was sent through for the home side but another athletic stop from Syron denied the Sharks from regaining a valuable advantage in the match. Syron, not for the first time, produced a moment of brilliance to keep the scoreline locked at one-a-piece.
Sutherland were spurred into action and again produced several decent moves but in doing so, St George were exploiting their opponents forward momentum and looked to hit effectively on the break using their abundant pace on the counter.
A mad goalmouth scramble eventually saw St George FC clear their lines after several nervy moments before breaking and out earning a corner that substitute, Chan Yelchan headed over in this pulsating fixture.
Jordan Roberts saw his free-kick deflected out for yet another Sharks’ corner before Yelchan did superbly well to stand up his marker inside the area before dragging his shot woefully wide at the other end.
Such was the nature of the game, another madcap goalmouth scrum in the St George FC box was bustled clear.
Neither side wanted to settle for the draw and the intensity was raised further with both going for broke.
Wave after wave of attack and counter-attack kept the supporters on the edge of their seats in an enthralling finale.
Matthew Moric fired wide for Sutherland and Yelchan did likewise for the visitors but the game was to end in a draw in what was a typical local derby match.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks: 1 (Maki Petratos 3’)
St George FC: 1 (Troy Danaskos 45’)
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Saturday, 21st June, 2025
Referee: Matt Staples
Assistants: Alexis Turner and Matthew Harris Fourth Official: Benjamin Hutchinson
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Danijel Nizic, 2. Lachlan Macdonald, 3. Jordan Roberts, 4. Lachlan Fields, 6. Mohamed Ahmed, 10. Yerasimakis Petratos, 12. Ikko Ehode Arimoto, 15. Matthew Moric, 22. Kotaro Katsuta, 23. Mason Fernandez, 44. Tye McGowan (58. Daniel Wong 75’) (8. Nick Sullivan 90+9’)
Subs not used: 5. Jacob Tresoglavic, 26. Jacob Garner, 30. Sebastian Arranz, 32. Dane Anderson
Yellow Cards: Matthew Moric 38’
Red Cards: Nil
St George FC: 99. Mackenzie Syron, 3. Troy Danaskos, 4. Mark Rodic, 5.Nick Kalogerou, 7. Aeden O’Shea (9. Chan Yelchan 59’), 8. Evangelo Souris, 14. Justin Poon, 15. Bai Antoniou, 16. Kaidyn Wright (6. Pat O’Shea 75’), 19. Nikola Skataric (13. Sunday Yona 46’), 27. Jayden Seeto (34. Kota Toyooka 90+1’)
Subs not used: 6. Pat O’Shea, 20. Daniel Axford, 40. Hassan Kamberovic
Yellow Cards: Nikola Skotaric 34’, Nick Kalogerou 90+1’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Troy Danaskos (SGFC)
2 – Maki Petratos (SS)
1 – Matthew Moric (SS)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
