Manly United take on the Wolves

By Tobias Canning

Manly make the long trek to Wollongong to face Wollongong Wolves this Sunday with the match moved to WIN Stadium as a curtain raiser to the A-League match between Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory. The game kicks off at 1pm.

Manly head into this game off the back of an encouraging 1-1 draw with Mt Druitt. As for the Wolves, they will be looking to bounce back from a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Rockdale.

With Manly United having some solid momentum and the Wolves wanting to redeem themselves, this will be a great clash.

Manly will be hoping for more of the same from round 1 hero Seiya Kambayashi, who marked his competitive debut with a Man of the Match performance. The ex-Bulli defender stood up when MUFC needed him the most, as the defender banged in the injury-time winner to seal a thoroughly deserved point.

While Wollongong didn’t bother the scoreboard attendant last weekend, they scored more than two goals per match last season so Kambayashi’s defensive duties will be crucial in Manly’s pursuit of three points at WIN Stadium.

The last time the two teams met, a youthful Manly United side went down 4-2 in Wollongong. On that day it was the experienced duo of Dejan Pandurevic and Scott Balderson who found the back of the net.

The pair are leaders at the club and Coach Adam Griffiths will be looking for them to lead the line, albeit Balderson was used as a strike weapon off the bench last Friday night to great effect.

While the Wolves boasted a tremendous forward line in 2020 they also had a fairly stingy defence, having leaked just 14 goals last season.

Up front, Manly United created a number of chances last weekend with Jack Fulton and Ben Koop both having chances to find the back of the net

Manly United has the individual players and ability to test the best defences in the NPL competition and when they click into gear and find cohesion, they will be hard to beat.

Hopefully that starts this weekend against the Wolves.

You can catch a LIVE stream of the match through the Football NSW NPLTV Channel.