Wolves bag important win over Hakoah

Wollongong Wolves has returned to the winners circle with a 2-0 PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition win against Hakoah Sydney City East at WIN Stadium on Sunday.

First half goals to Peter Simonoski and former Japan international Yuzo Tashiro were the difference as Wollongong claimed their third win of the season.

The result was a crash back to reality for Hakoah after a run of strong results.

Wollongong move to seventh on the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition ladder after the win, two spots out of finals contention.

It was a frenetic opening to the match with both teams exchanging blows early on.

Wollongong was unlucky not to score when a Tashiro effort was cleared off the line before Simonoski missed the follow up shot from a tight angle.

Hakoah responded with a long-range effort from Alek Lekoski which failed to test Wolves ‘keeper Justin Pasfield.

Wollongong had another effort cleared off the line when a resolute Hakoah defence denied a Nicolas Bernal header.

The visitors continued the exchange of blows with a header from Bradley Walker failing to hit the target and a long range shot from Anthony Frangie again failing to challenge Pasfield.

The breakthrough soon followed with a classy header from Tashiro guiding a Simonoski corner into the net.

Hakoah responded with an Lekoski effort from distance, but it was saved by a diving Pasfield.

However, there was no denying the hosts, with recently returned favourite Simonoski scoring a screamer from distance.

Hakoah ‘keeper Anthony Bouzanis stood no chance at stopping the curling shot.

The Wolves had several chances to put the game to bed before the interval most notably when striker Nicholas Bernal won and failed to convert a penalty.

Simonoski continued to test Bouzanis, but this time the young shot stopper was up to the challenge.

Andre De Jong started the second stanza in entertaining fashion for Hakoah when his shot forced a reaction save from Pasfield

Patrick Antelmi had an uncharacteristically quiet match until a curling effort from the former Blacktown City man went narrowly wide of the post with about 20 minutes left.

Hakoah did their best to breathe life into an otherwise tense second half when Robert Ezekial and Oliver Green both missed the target after a slick build up.

There was a final scare for Wollongong when Simonoski needed to clear a Mundell shot off the line, but the home side weren’t going to give away the clean sheet or the win.

Wolves coach Jacob Timpano was very happy with his side’s performance.

“We were dominant from the outset,” he said.

“ It could’ve been three in the first half, second half wasn’t as pretty but we’ll take the three points,” he said.

Hakoah’s player coach Gavin Rae was disappointed with his side’s efforts.

“We weren’t at the races for a lot of the game,” he said.

“We played ok in patches but not good enough to win. We’ve got an FFA Cup game on Tuesday to hopefully bounce back.”

Match Stats

Wollongong Wolves 2 (Yuzo Tashiro 16’. Peter Simonoski 25’)

Hakoah Sydney City East FC 0

Sunday 23rd April 2017

Win Stadium, Wollongong

Referee: Stephen Lucas

Assistant Referees: Danny Horstead, Patrick Teleki

Fourth Official: Toby Plasto

Wollongong Wolves: 1. Justin Pasfield, 4. Hayden Morton, 6. Darcy Madden, 7. Christopher Price, 9. Peter Simonoski, 16. Patrick Antelmi, 11. Michael Robinson (78’ 5. James Baldacchino), 18. Nicholas Bernal(75’ 14. Josh Macdonald), 20. Benjamin Tosi (25’ 8. Brendan Griffin), 23. Stephen Hayes, 30. Yuzo Tashiro

Substitutes Not Used: 12. Luke Kaires, 21. Brett Wilson

Yellow Cards: Darcy Madden, Justin Pasfield, Michael Robinson

Red Cards: N/A

Hakoah Sydney City East: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 3. Robert Ezekiel, 4. Brad Walker, 7. Alek Lekoski (65’ Cameron Draper), 10. Andre De Jong, 11. Jordan Mundell, 12. Jack Green, 14. Anthony Frangie (85’ Harry Jones), 16. Oliver Green (65’ Dean Bereveskos), 17. Gideon Sweet, 19. Gavin Rae.

Substitutes Not Used: 2. Remy Wolanski.

Yellow Cards: Anthony Frangie. Bradley Walker

Red Cards: N/A

Player Ratings:

3 – Peter Simonoski (WW)

2 -Yuzo Tashiro (WW)

1 – Anthony Bouzanis (HSE)

 -By PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Justin Smith