Second-half blitz sees Wolves bury Rangers

A comprehensive second-half performance at Albert Butler Park saw Wollongong Wolves claim their first victory of the season in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition with a 3-0 win over the Mt Druitt Town Rangers who suffered its first loss of the 2021 campaign. 

Five minutes in, the Wolves showed signs of what was to come when a freekick was awarded to the home side on the right-hand side of the park.

Leroy Jennings delivered the ball into the box with it eventually dropping at the feet of Lachlan Scott after Mount Druitt custodian Carlos Saliadarre failed to claim the ball.

Scott, on the turn, failed to find the target putting his effort wide.

It was an end-to-end game with both sides creating numerous chances in the first half.

In the 16th minute, the Rangers nearly opened the scoring when Mitchell Smith received the ball inside the box and laid it back to Blake Thompson centrally who blasted over from close range.

Smith was involved again midway through the half as he dragged a shot wide from inside box following a Marc Warren freekick.

With seven minutes remaining in the first period, Warren forced an impressive reaction save from Hayden Durose in the Wolves’ goal sending a stinging left-footed effort towards goal.

Despite opportunities for both sides, at halftime the scores were level.

It didn’t take long after the restart for the scoring to be opened as two minutes in, Lachlan Scott picked up the ball on the left-hand side showing great awareness to pick out the run of Hamish Lamberton through the middle.

Lamberton displayed excellent composure to slide the ball under the on-rushing Saliadarre.

Just before the hour mark, following a blocked Lamberton shot, Wollongong doubled their advantage as Darcy Madden passed the ball into the far corner after picking up the ball inside the right-hand channel of the box.

The hosts added one more goal in the 71st minute when Taylor McDonald put in a pin-point accurate cross from the right-hand side to find Scott centrally inside the box who made no mistake from close range sending a first-time finish into the net.

The Wolves saw out the game to claim their first set of three points this season.

Wollongong coach Luke Wilkshire was impressed with the side’s overall performance pointing out the significance of getting their first win of the 2021 campaign.

“We needed to get that first win for confidence, it’s good,” he said.

“There’s quality within the squad and we know how we can play.

“Overall, we definitely deserved that win.”

Mount Druitt Town Rangers’ coach Stewart Montgomery felt that it was a game of two halves ruing the side’s missed opportunities in the first half.

“Bit of a cliché with a game of two halves,” he reflected.

“We were good for the first half… we should have maybe had two or three goals easily, but we didn’t convert.

“We spoke about their threats in behind and ultimately we didn’t deal with the one-on-ones in the back third, and it was individual moments where we lost the battle.”

Match Stats

Wollongong Wolves 3 (Hamish Lamberton 47’, Darcey Madden 59’, Lachlan Scott 76’)

Mount Druitt Town Rangers 0 

Sunday, 14 March 2021

Albert Butler Park, Primbee

Referee: K. Patterson

Assistant Referees: C. Wright and M. Staples

Fourth Official: H. Al-Nakeeb

Wollongong Wolves: 23.Hayden Durose, 2.Taylor McDonald, 3.Darcy Madden, 4.Nicola Djordjevic, 7.Marcus Beattie, 8.Brendan Griffin, 11.Leroy Jennings (17.Jake Lavalle 76’), 16.Fletcher McFarlane, 18.Hamish Lamberton (10.Van Elia 67’), 19.Bilal Belkadi, 24.Lachlan Scott (13.Stefan Dimoski 76’)

Substitutes Not Used: 1.Aidan Mundford (GK), 12.Harrison Taranto, 5.Ethan Kambisios

Yellow Cards: Taylor McDonald 21’, Fletcher McFarlane 44’

Red Cards: Nil

Mount Druitt Town Rangers: 1.Carlos Saliadarre, 2.Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 3.Travis Oughtred, 4.Mitchell Smith (5.George Tuson-Firth 64’), 6.Blake Thompson, 8.Jason Perez (10.Takumu Tsujimura 64’), 9.John Roberts, 14.Fumoto Kamada, 17.Cooper Coskerie (27.Andre Cavallaro 67’), 21.Tarek Elrich, 33.Marc Warren (18.Jared Macerola 67’)

Substitutes not used: 12.Brendan Allen,19.Riley Ellem,

Yellow Cards: Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika 39’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 –  Lachlan Scott (WW)

2 – Taylor McDonald (WW)

1 – Hamish Lamberton (WW)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Timothy Gibson