Bulli's dream of another League Championship has all but ended after they could only manage a two-two draw against lowly Cringila Lions at Balls Paddock on Saturday.

If Bulli thought they were in for an easy afternoon and it was just a matter of turning up to collect another three points, they were in for a rude shock as the Lions belied there position on the table with a lively display full of spirit and intensity, especially in the opening 45 minutes, which produced two goals and a deserved half time lead.

The home side were never able to settle into any sort of rhythm with their expansive attacking game due to passes going astray with gay abandon coupled with Cringila's well organised defensive structure when the opposition were in possesion of the ball. This resulted in limited goal scoring opportunities for Bulli during the first half which saw Alexander Boullosa in the Cringila goal, pull off a fingertip save from a cross from Julian Minutillo which deflected goalwards off the back of one of the Keeper's defenders on 19 minutes and an effort from Bulli's Matthew Naylor being scrambled off the goal line in the 27th minute being the only chances of note.

Whilst Cringila didn't muster too many chances of their own, they did manage to go to the sheds at half time two goals to the good.
On the half hour mark, Cringila's best player on the day, Esala Ali, gained possession of the ball some 40 metres from goal and with not a lot on, Ali took it upon himself to have a go for goal and unleashed an absolute bomb which flew ino the back of the net giving Bulli Keeper, Yuya Kuwata no chance.

Five minutes from the break, the visitor's lead was doubled when they were gifted a goal by some slack play form Minutillo. Bulli had been awarded a free kick some ten metres from their own bi-line and just inside their own penalty area. Minutillo had tracked back from his normal advanced position, to help out his side defensively and for some strange reason he took it upon himself to take a quick kick and knock his pass square across his own goal towards Kuwata. Crini striker, Daniel Vasilevksi, lurking nearby, seized upon the opportunity to intercept the ball and despite a vain attempt from Kuwata, Vasilevski was able to send the ball into the empty net.

With a lot of work for Bulli to do to keep the dream alive, the Home Side came out after after the break with re-newed vigour as they took the game to Cringila and they penned the visitors back in their own half of the field for the bulk of the second period.

Defending a two goal lead is not always easy but whether it was by choice or not, the Lions intensity was no-where near the same as the first half as they sat back and allowed Bulli to string a few more passes together as they made attacking raid after raid on the Lions den.

Cringila were living dangerously for much of the time and were able to survive two attempts on goal by Dylan Lewis. The first on 56 minutes resulted in Lewis finding himself one on one with Boullosa and when the striker pulled the trigger, the Keeper produced a first class save from point blank range and five minutes later Lewis blazed over the bar from 12 metres on the angle after he had been put through by an incisive pass from Aaron Baker.

However, 60 seconds later Bulli got themselves back in the game when a good passing movement with Naylor and Lewis involved finished with the latter squaring the ball across the face of goal to an unmarked Ben McDonald who had an easy tap in from close range.

The Lions defenders were now having trouble turning back the tide and the defence buckled again as Bulli deservedly got back on level terms on 74 minutes. A deep free kick from wide out on the left side was knocked into the heart of the penalty area with the pass finding McDonald who was able to head home again from close range for his second of the match.

Bulli continued to push men forward and really should have taken the lead with ten minutes left on the clock. Left Full Back, Scott Best made an overlapping down the left side and his pin point cross found Ryan Emerton about five yards from goal in centre field but the diminutive mid-fielder was unable to keep his header down as the ball flew over the cross bar.

With that escape, to their credit, Cringila came out of their shell, and started to push men forward too as they looked for a winner in the remaining time but the full time whistle came with a winning goal alluding both sides.

The point gained by Cringila today moves them six points clear of Shell Cove (who have a game in hand) at the bottom of the table and although the Lions have an vastly inferior goal average they should be safe from relegation (mathematics aside).

From Bulli's point of view, they need Kemblawarra Fury to drop points in both of their remaining games against Wollongong United (Sunday) and Port Kembla (28/8) to have any chance of the title provided of course they can overcome Woonona next weekend.

 

Match Stats

 

Bulli 2 (Ben McDonald 62' 74')

Cringila Lions: 2 (Esala Ali 30', Daniel Vasilevski 40')

 

Balls Paddock, Woonona

Referee: Andrew Naylor 

Assistant Referees: Gareth Jenkins & Arlena Mackenzie

 

Bulli: Yuya Kuwata, Matthew Naylor, Kenji Takahashi, Corey Horner, Scott Best, Aaron Baker, Sam Davies, Ryan Emerton, Ben McDonald, Dylan Lewis, Julian Minutillo (Jared Fish 78').

Subs not Used: Lewis Clements, Kyle Jackson, Marcus Beattie, Joao Oliveira

Yellow Card: Kenji Takahashi 65', Sam Davies 76'.

 

Cringila Lions: Alexander Boullosa, Todd Sparks, Jarryd King, Daniel Wagus, James Eldred, Alexander Brbevski, Esala Ali, Joel Taddeo (Christian Cevenini 74'), Hironari Kobayashi (Jacob Martin 88'), Joel Craig, Daniel Vasilevski.

Subs not Used: Jonathon Liddle, Keiran Gorgievski.

Yellow Cards: Jarryd King 45', Todd Sparks 88', Daniel Vasilevski 90'.

 

Report by David Naylor

Photo courtesy of Pedro Garcia (library archive)