The match commenced in fierce fashion as Graeme Forbes was yellow carded for a challenge on Greg Kondek.
Then just after the 10? minute mark, Paul Cotte also fouled Kondek as he pounced on a ball in the attacking third for Penrith, about the second time Penrith had been there in the match.
Matthew Nash had already seen off some early trouble from a Daniel Willoughby free-kick but in the 17? minute he was unable to get to one of Willoughby?s corners, and at the far post, Forbes fiercely headed the ball home to give the visitors the lead. It marked the beginning of long periods of dominance by Bonnyrigg, but time after time they failed to capitalise with a shot on target.
Bonnyrigg was especially effective down the right flank but overplayed the ball too much rather than putting the ball in on target. Penrith on the other hand were handing over possession far too easily and, despite being at home, played as if they were on a perfect surface rather than the one presented to them at Cook Park.
In the closing minutes of the opening half – the half?s other main highlights were condensed – with Ante Juric cutting off a dangerous run from Willoughby, a chip shot from Andre Gumprecht just going over the cross bar, and Nikola Zonijc pouncing on a loose ball only for his shot to just curl over the target as well.
7? minutes into the second-half and Tayfun Devrimol, playing in an unusual position for him further up the park, but being very effective at it, was fouled on the edge of the area. Matthew Nash punched the dangerous Willioughby free-kick away magnificently. Willoughby was not finished though, as again he beat off his marker and laid a ball across the face of goal. Jay Lucas was only a metre away from tapping it in for the second goal of the match.
Penrith-Nepean broke quickly through Nic McInerney who played the ball through to Greg Kondek but the Bonnyrigg players scrambled back well and diffused the attack. Then, on the hour, McInerney was himself played in through a great ball from Paul Crisp but his shot was off target; squandering a huge chance for the home-side. 4? minutes later it was Kondek playing the ball to Ben Gough but the defence got to him before he could fire off a shot.
After the hour momentum turned the way of Bonnyrigg again but despite long periods of possession, and great balls into the attacking third, they failed to put Matthew Nash under any real pressure until the 75? minute. At that time new Serbian substitute Vukasin Ristic played the ball across goal towards an advancing Milorad Simonovic, but the ball went wide of his run when anything a little better would have seen Simonovic set up for a great chance.
A minute later, Jay Lucas had a curling shot well saved by a diving Nash in the Penrith goal. Lucas seemed to miss having another player up front with him as leading goal scorer Almir Dizdaric was on the bench for the match.
In the 81? minute a corner from McInerney was headed goalwards by Ante Juric at the near post. It beat the keeper and was heading across the line when a Bonnyrigg defender was able to dig it clear of the target. It looked like a goal but the save off the line was incredible, and thus the match?s best chance for Penrith came to nothing.
Juric went down in the area moments later, though the appeals of a penalty were waved away by the referee.
In the last action of the match Juric had the ball but he fired it wide of the target as the game was brought to a finish by the referee.
White Eagles? boss Brian Brown was extremely relieved to have picked up the points:
?This was always going to be a hard slog for us tonight and so it turned out to be.
?We had spells where we dominated possession but the system we played tonight did not help the front third, and Jay Lucas needed more support at times. However we are building momentum and things are going right for us at present.?
Ian Gillan was disappointed with the result but looked to take some positives from the game:
?I thought we deserved to get something out of tonight. We are one of the most competitive teams in the league as we showed out there again and we are only going to get more competitive as our players (Gardiner, Baveas, Buyukkopru, Lazarou, Mitchell, Long) return from injury.
?Every team that play us will find it more and more difficult here. We are a tight knit group, who work hard as a unit and move forward as a unit, the type of culture any club would love to have.?
Match Stats
Penrith Nepean United 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1 (Graeme Forbes 17?)
Saturday, 13th June, 2009
Cook Park St Mary?s
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Assistant Referees: Scott Edeling and Paul Faithfull
Fourth Official: Miles Allen-Scott
Crowd: 500
Penrith-Nepean United: 1.Matthew Nash; 2.Mark Bariamis, 3.David Comito (42,Alex Mansuetto 77?), 4.Evangelos Petratos, 8.Paul Crisp, 10.Ben Gough, 12.Nic McInerney, 14.Greg Kondek, 17.Ante Juric, 19.Michael Dowling (11.Dmitrious Petratos 55?), 23.Devrim Huseyin (37.Trent Barton 66?)
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Nik Jelic, 32.Matthew Liddall
Yellow Cards: Ben Gough 35?, Ante Juric 78?, Paul Crisp 85?
Red Cards: Nil
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Nenad Vekic; 2.Paul Cotte, 3.Graeme Forbes, 5.Mark D?Alessandro, 7.Nikola Zonijc (19.Vukasin Ristic 65?), 8.Daniel Willoughby (10.Dejan Zjukovic 70?), 9.Jay Lucas (13.Ryan Baldacchino 85?), 12.Andre Gumprecht, 17.Milorad Simonovic, 18.Tayfun Devrimol, 20.Milan Zoric
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Ali Akbal, 11.Almir Dizdaric
Yellow Cards: Graeme Forbes 4?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Stuart Jones
Andre Gumprecht ready for Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Former Socceroos keeper Mark Bosnich will be an interesting figure in the Blues goal while for the White Eagles, former Central Coast Mariners midfield general Andre Gumprecht will make his debut for the club.
Gumprecht was part of the Bankstown City Lions side during last season?s TeleChoice Premier League and was headhunted by a number of clubs for this season however Brian Brown won the race in recruiting the ace midfielder.
Bonnyrigg remain in the top five hunt with win over Wollongong
The Grade 20 goalkeeper was superb between the sticks, saving his side on numerous occasions to hold out a gallant Wollongong outfit.
A wet and cold night in south-west Sydney greeted the Bonnyrigg and Wollongong players on to the field, making it difficult for the players to find their rhythm in the early stages.
It was Wollongong who was presented with the first opportunity of the night when David Able latched on to a free-kick, but Vekic was waiting between the posts to clean up his effort.
It took the White Eagles a while to settle into the match, but when they did, they did so with a bang.
Nikola Zonjic was allowed too much space and as a result, belted home what arguably was the goal of the season.
The number 7 drilled his shot from 30-metres out, thumping the ball against the crossbar and into the back of the net, stunning the Bonnyrigg faithful who braved the miserable conditions.
Wollongong weren?t about to sit back and let their opposition dictate terms, as Kieran Deane and Steve Hayes linked up to create a half chance up front.
But at the other end, the White Eagles were creating chances of their own, this time it was Milorad Simonovic trying his luck from outside the box without any success.
Simonovic then coughed up possession on the halfway line, allowing Deane a clear run on goal, but Graeme Forbes put his body on the line to save the day for the home-side.
Steve Hayes had a chance to level the score on the stroke of half-time, but his efforts trickled straight into the arms of the reliable Vekic in goals.
Bonnyrigg almost doubled their lead just after half-time, but Milan Zoric?s header from a corner smashed into the crossbar, this time failing to find the back of the net.
It was almost a case of d?j? vu in the second period, when Wollongong?s Steve Hayes tried to replicate the efforts of Zonjic earlier in the match.
Hayes? shot from 30-metres out ricocheted off the crossbar, but unfortunately for Wollongong it bounced away from danger.
The visitors then went on an attacking onslaught, but Bonnyrigg shot-stopper and 19-year-old Vekic was in sublime form, saving his side on four occasions in the space of 2? minutes in what proved to be the most decisive period of the game.
The Bonnyrigg defence had come under intense scrutiny in the first-half of the season, but in the wet conditions on Saturday night it looked to be holding strong, despite the efforts of Ilija Preznoski to penetrate goal.
But against the run of play, Bonnyrigg regained the ascendancy to take full control.
Tayfun Devrimol did his best to get the ball past Alex Augusto, but the Wollongong goalkeeper grasped the ball on the line to narrowly hold out the White Eagles on that occasion.
Two minutes later Paul Cotte took a free-kick from halfway for the White Eagles, but a defensive error from Alfredo Esteves saw his header sail over the ?keeper for an own goal in the 71?.
Devrimol had a chance to stretch the margin to three in the 90? minute, but he spent far too long with the ball and was eventually hacked down by the Wollongong defenders.
Domenic Cutri wanted to join in on the action, but his shot went across the face of goal, denying the White Eagles of a hat-trick to end the match at 2-0.
Bonnyrigg coach Brian Brown was delighted to see his side string two wins together for the first time of the season:
?We have a little bit of momentum going forward and now we have some new guys coming in so hopefully we can keep the momentum going,? he said.
?When we were up 1-0 Wollongong gained the ascendancy so we changed our formation and put another guy up front.?
Brown was amazed at some of the individual brilliance on show:
?The first goal was special, it was a fantastic strike.
?And the young goal keeper made four fantastic saves to keep us in the game.?
Wollongong Community FC?s Steve Hayes was impressive in a losing side and was pleased with his sides? efforts:
?The first-half was a bit of tussle and we got on top of them at the start of the second-half but I don?t know how we didn?t score,? Hayes said.
?Their ?keeper had a magic game there is no doubt about that.
?If you compare our last performance to this one you will see a large improvement,? he said.
?Everyone is on the same page because we don?t want to be on the bottom of the table so we will be hoping to change that,? Hayes concluded.
Match Stats
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Nikola Zonjic 16?, Own goal 71? (Alfredo Esteves))
Wollongong Community FC 0
Saturday 30th May, 2009
Bonnyrigg Sports Club, Bonnyrigg
Referee: S. Perticarini
Assistant Referees: S. Ho and G. Askham
Fourth Official: M. Mitchell
Crowd: 400 Approx.
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Nenad Vekic; 2.Paul Cotte 3.Graeme Forbers, 5.Mark D?Alessandro, 7.Nikola Zonjic, 8.Daniel Willoughby (9.Damian Jankovic 67?), 11.Almir Dizdaric, 14.Domenic Cutri, 17.Milorad Simonovic, 18.Tayfun Devrimol, 20. Milan Zoric
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Ali Akbal, 6.Ilkay Gurbuz, 4.David Petrovic, 19. Aleks Tomic.
Yellow Cards: Nikola Zonjic 81?, Mark D?Alessandro 88?
Red Cards: Nil.
Wollongong Community FC: 1.Alex Augusto; 2.Kieran Deane (11.James Monie 65?), 4.Alfredo Esteves, 5.David Able, 6.Ilija Prenzoski, 8.Samet Kaynak (15.James Lawrence 72?), 9.Steve Hayes, 10.Balla Conde, 13.Ben Bronneberg, 16.James Vaughan, 19. Lachlan Cahill
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Brendan Kearns, 17.Chris Nathaniel, 20.Matt Brandalise
Yellow Cards: Balla Conde 68?, James Monie 70?
Red Cards: Nil.
-By Michael Chammas
TeleChoice Premier League Team of the Week and Andreas Golden Boot tally back for 2009
The TeleChoice Premier League ?Team of the Week? is selected each week by the Football NSW Media and Communications team based entirely on journalist player ratings.
Journalist?s player ratings can be viewed in each match report but will only appear for the first 11 rounds of the 2009 TeleChoice Premier League.
Click here for a direct link to the TeleChoice Premier League landing page.
TeleChoice Team of the Week and Andreas Golden Boot added to site
Football NSW?s expert journalists will every Monday update the Team of the Week which is sure to interest any TeleChoice Premier League fan.
Stay tuned for more new features coming soon.
Click here for a direct link to the TeleChoice Premier League Home Page.