Manly United 1-2 Sutherland Sharks
Manly United were defeated 2-1 by Sutherland Sharks at Cromer Park on Friday night.
Manly were first to put the pressure on with two quickfire shots on the two minute mark. Alen Aganovic hauled his shot just wide of the post, then Benjamin Koop failed to convert his overhead kick. Five minutes later, Peter Kekeris saw his pass blocked away by Matthew Jackson in a promising situation.
Home captain Kieren Paull did likewise shortly afterwards as he thwarted a fast-paced and testing sequence of Sutherland passes, by clearing the ball away on the halfway line.
The hosts eventually recorded the game’s first strike after a handball from Jackson on the edge of the box. Kekeris made no mistake from the spot, causing Nenad Vekic to manoeuvre the wrong way.
Just before the half-hour mark, Miguel Bauza was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Jackson.
With the visitors pushing for an equaliser in the 56th minute, a crafty chance was created via a faultless run and pass from Jay McGowan through to Jackson, who ultimately slipped centimetres away from the goal.
Manly looked like they were about to score a second goal with Paull having only Vekic to beat, before a last-ditch tackle from Stamatellis.
On the 82nd minute mark, Stamatellis levelled the score from the spot, smashing his penalty past Manly goalkeeper Jay Coates to level the score.
Following that Sutherland goal, Connor Rose threatened to take the lead back, only for Jake Garner to pull him down illegally and be shown the game’s second red card, four minutes from full-time.
In the 91st minute, Takahide Umebachi unleashed a shot into the bottom left corner, delivering Sutherland the victory.
Stamatellis was happy to give his analysis post-game.
“It was a massive victory given the context of our season. Manly defended well but we grinded and never gave up. Full credit to our boys, and for the rest of our season we have some big games coming up and we’ll continue to play a good brand of football.
“As for Manly’s red card, they were forced to sit back a little bit. We came out more composed in the second half and it showed, knowing we didn’t have to force things.”
Manly United 1 (Peter Kekeris 21’)
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Mitchell Stamatellis 82’, Takahide Umebachi 90+1’)
Match Stats
Friday 26 July 2024
Cromer Park, Cromer
Referee: Karl Davies
Assistant Referees: Patrick Teleki and Isaac Riggs
Fourth Official: Benjamin Hutchison
Manly United: 2.Kieren Paull, (3.Zac Sfiligoi 60’), 4.Jesse Piriz, (5.Thomas Fay 79’), 6.Saxon Hillyer, 7.Peter Kekeris, (8.Joseph Fox 79’), 9.Benjamin Koop, (11.Connor Rose 60’), 12.Miguel Bauza, 18.Presley Ortiz, 19.Alen Aganovic, 25.Rocco Pelle, 31.Jay Coates, (39.Stefano Rossello 69’), 45.Bilal Belkadi
Unused subs: 41.Anthony Carreras
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: (Miguel Bauza 28’)
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nenad Vekic, 2.Kotaro Katsuta, (3.Jordan Roberts 51’), 4.Mitchell Stamatellis, 5.Takahide Umebachi, (6.Samuel Gulisano 83’), 7.Lachlan Macdonald, 8.Mohamed Ahmed, 9.Andrew Vlahadamis, 11.Jay McGowan, 15.Matthew Moric, 22.Jacob Garner, 27.Matthew Jackson
Unused subs: 10.Mason Fernandez, 14.Chris Lindsay, 77.Levi Sciuriaga, 99.Jacob Cremen-Cowan
Yellow cards: (Jay McGowan 41’, Mohamed Ahmed 66’)
Red cards: (Jake Garner 86’)
-By Football NSW
