Sydney United 58 slay the wolves in a fiery game to take home three points

7th March 2022, By Adrian Talevski

First round of the 2022 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition saw Sydney United 58 enter into a heated game and claim a 1-0 victory over nine-man Wollongong Wolves at Sydney United Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.

It was a slow start to the game for Sydney United 58, with the Wolves taking an early control in the game.  Sydney United 58 struggled to find any rhythm early in the game, with misplaced passes and the constant pressure in the middle of the park from the Wolves.

The Wolves were nearly rewarded with a goal in the 11th minute with a ball over the top to Kuot Maliot who couldn’t get a shot away in time after touching it around the keeper Daniel Nizic, and Sydney United 58’s defence getting back in time to clear it for a corner. 

After 15 minutes United picked it up and created the next best chance in the 21st minute after nice quick passes through the middle then out wide to Jordan Roberts who delivered a low cross to Kyle Cimenti, and had his shot blocked in the six yard box. 

Chris Payne came close to opening the score in the 34th minute with a header from a brilliant cross by Roberts but Wolves keeper Hayden Durose was too sharp with his reactions and was able to deny United taking the lead.

Payne came close again to scoring in the 43rd minute after getting behind the Wolves defence into the box to fire a shot on target but Durose was too strong again, keeping the game level 0-0.

As the half ends 0-0, Sydney United 58 looks the most dangerous with Chris Payne having two great chances denied by Hayden Durose and Jordan Roberts looking the most dangerous player on the field for United after creating two of United’s best chances of the half.  

As the second half starts, Wollongong Wolves came out strong within the first minute producing a nice cross back stick but it came to nothing. 

That fiery start will shortly come to an end in the 48th minute when Wolves Banri Banaizumi receives a red card after stopping Kyle Cimenti through on goal just on the edge of the box. 

Finally 9 minutes later the game saw its opening and only goal scored by Sydney United 58’s captain Adrian Vlastelica, after the ball fell to him in the box and striking it hard into the bottom corner.  

After going down to ten-man, United looked dominant and were controlling the game with ease.

The game soon took a fiery turn in the 81st minute when Senna Stevenson received a second yellow for a reckless elbow to the face of Roberts and leaving the Wolves with nine-man for the rest of the game. 

United continued with their dominance when 4 minutes later Glen Trifiro played a silky through ball down the middle of the park for Payne, one-on-one with the keeper who unfortunately missed yet another chance to score. 

The game finished 1-0 to Sydney United 58 over The Wollongong Wolves. United were the stronger team throughout the game but were disappointing in the final third where they should have scored more goals. 

Disappointing start of the season for Wolves but still have the whole season ahead of them to improve. 

Promising signs for United for this season as United are pushing for silverware.

MATCH STATISTICS 

SYDNEY UNITED 58 1 (Adrian Vlastelica 47’)

WOLLONGONG WOLVES 0

@ SYDNEY UNITED SPORTS CENTRE 

SUNDAY, 6TH MARCH, 2022

3:00PM KICKOFF

Sydney United 58 

Coach: Joe Haywood

1. Danijel Nizic, 2. Cristian Gonzalez, 3. Jordan Roberts, 4. Adrian Vlastelica (C), 5. Anthony Tomelic, 6. Christopher Payne, 7. Taisei Kaneko, 8. Kyle Cimenti, 9. Patrick Antelmi, 10. Devante Clut, 11. Yianni Perkatis, 13. Jordan Ivancic, 14. Andrea Agamemnonos, 15. Tariq Maia, 16. Jacob Poscoliero, 17, Matthew Bilic, 18. Glen Trifiro, 19. Mihael Marcic, 22. Yianni Fragogiannis 

Yellow Cards: Yianni Fragogiannis 8’, Yianni Perkatis 54’

Red Cards: Nil

Wollongong Wolves 

Coach: Luke Wilkshire

1. Hayden Durose, 2. Daniel Goni, 3. Darcy Madden, 4. Nikola Djordjevic, 5. Banri Banaizumi, 6. Senna Stevenson, 8. Brendan Griffin, 9. Peter Simonoski, 10. Takumu Tsujimura, 11. Josh Macdonald, 12. Harrison Taranto, 13. Tomas Butkovic, 14. Nicholas Durate, 15. Nick Littler, 16. Guy Knight, 17. James Stojcevski, 18. Evan Ball, 19. Jake Lavalle, 20. Kuot Maliot, 21. Jacob Madden, 22. Leroy Jennings, 24. Lachlan Scott, 25. Nav Darjani

Yellow Cards: Senna Stevenson 30’, 81’

Red Cards: Banri Banaizumi 48’,  Senna Stevenson 81’

Referee: Michael Weiner 

Assistant referees: Matthew Staple and Amirhossein Hosnani 

Fourth Official: Logan Rhys Jones