BAUZA BOMB RESCUES POINT FOR MANLY UNITED

Manly United and St George FC played out a thrilling 1-1 draw at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Saturday. The headlines fell to the visitors, courtesy of super-substitute Miguel Bauza for his scintillating late equaliser. 

Pat O’Shea, volleyed home the opener for St George but the home side couldn’t see it through, conceding a 90th minute equaliser to the fast finishing Northern Beaches outfit via the lethal boot of Bauza.

Zac Sfiligoi had the first opening in the match from a 30-yard free-kick in the 3rd minute that sailed well wide of the mark.

It was always going to be a tight tussle between the sides and chances were likely to be at a premium, but Danaskos came close to opening the scoring when seeing his header rebound back off the post in the 12th minute.

William Faulder headed over at the other end, again from a corner after a swift counter attack, a ploy United were adopting for this match by sitting a little deeper and inviting St George on to hopefully expose the space in behind.

One plus point for the visitors was they possessed plenty of pace in the side and utilised it to their advantage. In response, the Saints were controlling the midfield and again came close with another header, Connor Quilligan this time, who saw his effort cleared off the line 25 minutes in.

Manly remained defiant at the back, with St George dominating the first-half possession but not able to make it count as the game remained scoreless going into the half-time break.

The Saints made one change for the start of the second period and the battle for midfield continued, with neither able to grasp the game and net the all-important first goal.

Di Blasio saved comfortably from Connor Rose after 52 minutes, and moments later Rose took a Peter Kekeris pass, rounded Danaskos and powered to the edge of the box before firing into the side netting.

United were starting to find the space and timing they searched for in the first 45 minutes.

The Kekeris/Rose combination worked again, forcing Di Blasio into a reaction save down to his right on the line just three minutes later as the visitors got onto the front foot. The latter then found his way into the book shortly after for an awkward tackle.

Saxon Hillyer blocked a Quilligan effort in reply, but it was O’Shea who found the net almost immediately, opening the scoring with a volley on the hour, leaving Manly little option but to push out in search of a leveller.

Rose was replaced just after the hour by Ben Koop and Miguel Bauza replaced William Faulder, as Coach Patrick Zwaanswijk changed the point of attack. Manly were still in the game with everything to play for and go for it they did, creating several half chances.

The changes kept coming from the visitors when Joseph Fox replaced Hillyer. For St George, Aeden O’Shea replaced Grozos, and both moves sparked the game into life with increased intensity.

Great work down the right flank and a pull back for Evan Souris nearly gave the home side the second goal, but he was unlucky to see his shot rebound off the inside of the upright and away to safety. Kieren Paull put a shot into the side netting for Manly as both teams pressed hard.

Manly were not to be denied though and a late, late thundering strike via substitute Bauza restored parity, as United showed their battling qualities right to the end in a never-say-die second-half display.

It was edgy stuff but with no further addition to the scoreboard the points were shared, with Zwaanswijk stating at the whistle:

“Both teams came here to win this game.

“I think it was a very good game to watch, as a neutral, and a 1-all draw was probably the right result, although I thought we had the best chances to win the match at the end.

”The first-half didn’t really create any big opportunities, but after the break we had two or three really good chances, not counting the goal which was down to individual quality, and their goal came out of nothing really.

“It was a good game of football with fair challenges, but in a game like this with two sides trying to win, the fine margins are important and in the first-half we had really good counters but we didn’t execute them well unfortunately.

“It’s more to do with the communication between the backs and forwards, but the plan was not to sit too deep and to draw them out so we could get in behind, and it’s there where we let ourselves down a bit in the first-half.

“We made a couple of changes in bringing on a couple of first team players who are coming back to fitness and pressed higher, made more of our forward runs but our young players out wide did really well too. The side always works hard and believes in themselves and we got the late equaliser which I feel we deserved,” he ended.

For Saints Coach Jane Talcevski, it was a case of what might have been.

“Potentially we may have switched off a little at the end and you can’t give time and space to these types of players.

St George FC 1 (Pat O’Shea 60’)

Manly United FC 1 (Miguel Bauza 90’)