Cringila held off a resilient Woonona outfit to make it three wins from five as they finished 3-1 winners in their Round 5 clash of the Illawarra Mercury Premier League. A brace to midfielder Mitchell Di Pietro helped the home side to the win which now sees them edge into the top half of the table.

Both teams were looking to improve from poor performances in round four and it was Woonona that started the game firing with plenty of chances within the opening 10 minutes. Andre Gioiosa would find himself in the midst of Woonona’s attack as space opened up twice on the edge of the box only for him to hit it straight at Lions keeper, Alex Boullosa on both occasions.

The game’s first real chance came two minutes later, as Woonona would look to counter attack through winger Valentino Merxhushi. who drove forward up the right hand side and played a nicely waited ball through to Gioiosa, cutting in and finding an unmarked Brendan Pattman on the edge of the box. It was only for Cringila’s scrambling defence that they were able to block the shot and clear it to safety.

It wasn’t until the 18^th minute where Cringila would lodge their first attack through an accurate lobbed pass by defensive midfielder, Todd Sparks. The long ball had Woonona goalkeeper, Brandon Groom rushing out of his box to clear, but it was Cringila’s Nuno Pires who would get there first, only to have his shot blocked cleverly by Sharks defender, Christopher Gibson. A frustrated reaction by the forward and a head-in-hands reaction from the crowd showed the importance of that missed opportunity.

But there was no need to worry for Cringila as they broke the deadlock shortly after through Mitchell Di Pietro. A surging attack by Josiah Sherwen saw him push up into the Sharks defensive line, slipping a delicate ball through to Di Pietro to chip the goalkeeper, hit the left hand post and roll into the goal. A calm and well-placed finish to open the scoring on the day.

A few minutes later, Cringila would see themselves celebrating again as they doubled their lead. The ball found Stefan Dimoski on the right wing, beating his opposing number for pace and skill before delivering a cross to an unmarked Mitchell Hall at the back post. A first-time header saw the ball fly straight past Groom and into the back of the net.

Woonona would create a few more chances going into half-time and their pressure would soon be rewarded as they pulled one back through Brendan Pattman. A driven low cross put in from the right hand side found the foot of Gioiosa to force a nice reflex save by Boullosa. It was on the follow up that the Lions would fail to clear their lines as the ball fell nicely to Pattman who volleyed it home from 10 yards out. The teams went into the sheds at the break with Cringila leading 2-1.

Trying to improve on their finish to the first half, the Lions would come out stronger and eager to improve the lead. Their dominance was shown through respectable chances by Hall and Dimoski within the first five minutes. Hall’s effort sailed just wide from a tight angle and Dimoski saw his shot glide just over the bar with a shot just outside the box.

After defending an attacking onslaught early in the second half, Woonona would launch their own attack looking to grab an equaliser. It was Pattman again, leading their attack with a run up the left hand side before cutting in and passing to Gioiosa, taking a touch and hitting it from 20 yards. Gioiosa would see another opportunity missed as he saw his shot rise over the crossbar.

But it was the Lions who put the game beyond doubt in the 68^th minute. A precise Dimoski free kick from 30 yards out fell kindly to Pires at the back post. A first time pass across the face of goal found a well-positioned Di Pietro to tap it into an open net for his second and Cringila’s third.

The game wasn’t over yet as Woonona pushed forward to score that elusive goal to get them back into the match. This goal almost came from Pattman who linked up nicely with Gioiosa in an interchange play difficult to defend. The ball ended up at the feet of Gioiosa who again saw his shot sail just over the bar.

The home team kept pushing for a fourth within the last 10 minutes with continuous attacks up both wings. Hall’s switch of play to substitute Ibrahim Sesay on the right ring saw him get past Woonona’s Patrick Elhindi with a dangerous step over to put it onto his preferred right foot. A right foot that would produce a slow, curled shot looking for the top right only to be saved remarkably by Groom to send it out for a corner.

As the game went into stoppage time, tired legs were evident and sloppy challenges came out. Woonona’s day wouldn’t get better either as defender, Khalid Alali saw red after receiving his second caution of the match.

The game finished 3-1 as Cringila held on to any last ditch efforts from Woonona. A dominant attacking performance has helped the Lions to all three points.

The win sees Cringila bounce back after a disappointing loss to Tarrawanna last week. They continue their average start to the campaign and push into the top half of the table, setting up a chance of a finals burst later in the season. Next week they’ll face a high-flying Wollongong Olympic coming off an impressive 4-0 win over Wollongong United.

The result for Woonona sees them with five losses to start the season. A few things may need to be changed around if they are looking to put any pressure on other teams. Next week they host Port Kembla looking to turn their season around.

 

Saturday 24^th April at Crehan Park

Cringila Lions- 3 (DI PIETRO 24’ 68’, HALL 29’)

Woonona Sharks FC- 1 (PATTMAN 43’)

 

Cringila Lions- Alex BOULLOSA, Tyren MACLOU, James RALSTON, Anthony ROMEO, Josiah SHERWEN, Mitchell DI PIETRO, Todd SPARKS, Nuno PIRES, Stefan DIMOSKI, Mitchell HALL, Jordan SIEB

Substitutes- Alexandar PRENTOSKI (87’ PIRES), Steven HRISTOVSKI, Micth ARCOSA (69’ DI PIETRO), Ibrahim SESAY (82’ DIMOSKI), Kyle BOOTH

 

Woonona Sharks FC- Brandon GROOM, Patrick ELHINDI, Rocco DOMINE, Christopher GIBSON, Khalid ALALI, Jarryd MORTIMER, Brendan PATTMAN, Dejan DJUKIC, Thomas MINDZAS, Andre GIOIOSA, Valentino MERXHUSHI

Substitutes- Adriano BARCLAY (74’ MORTIMER), Joel THOMAS (56’ MINDZAS), Daniel DJUKIC (74’ DJUKIC), Jacob MADDEN

 

Referee- Blake HERBERT

Assistant Referees- Lottie CABASSI-POWER and Brodie MURRELL

 

Report by Nathan Turner, on Twitter @nathanturner23_

Photo by Noel Wynn