Wollongong United made a successful start to its defence of the Fraternity Cup, coming from behind to beat Kemblawarra Fury at Macedonia Park on Thursday night.

Fabian Iacovelli’s first half strike gave the Fury the upper hand at the break, but goals from Daisuke Yuzawa and Matt Floro saw United home. Ricky Zucco came close late on for the Fury, but the pressure is now on last season’s Illawarra Mercury Premier League ladder winners if they want to progress to the next stage of this competition.

The game began at a cracking pace, with players on both sides clearly keen to make an early impression in front of what will be home fans for both these teams as they ground share for the 2017 season.

The Fury started with Matthew McNab partnering new signing Liam Unicomb up front, and it was McNab who forced the first diving save out of Sam Nastic in the United goal with less than two minutes gone. Unicomb was quick to create chances himself too, outpacing his marker down the right before firing a bullet of a shot about a metre over the bar.

At the other end, Floro and new face Shayne Ardle were creating danger in front of goal, though the final touch was always missing early on. United almost took the lead on 20 minutes, when Floro threaded the ball through to Mikel Awad whose shot across the face of goal grazed the upright before flying out for a goal kick.

The Fury responded immediately and took the lead moments later. McNab fired a free-kick straight into the wall from 25m out, but Iacovelli was on hand to pick up the loose ball and curl his right foot shot into the back of the net beyond Nastic’s reach.

United almost drew level before the break when Yuzawa teed up Floro on the edge of the area, but his shot flew just over the bar, leaving United trailing at half time.

The second half saw a return to Fury action for centre forward Ricky Zucco after his season with Wollongong Wolves last term. The Fury favourite didn’t see much of the ball early on, though, as United began to dominate possession, though he came to life in the latter stages of the contest and very nearly saved the day for his side.

Seven minutes into the second stanza United drew level. Once again it was Ardle who created the chance with a pinpoint pass through to Yuzawa who was just ten yards out. The Fury defence seemed to stand still as Yuzawa prepared to shoot, so he could pick his spot, and gave Mitchell Blowes in the Fury goal no chance.

In another seven minutes, United had taken the lead. This time, it was a set-piece that created the opportunity. Angelo Hajittofi whipped a free-kick across to Floro at the far post, who drilled the ball home from a tight angle.

Having taken the lead, it was then up to United to defend it. First Moto Kinjo made a vital tackle to stop McNab in his tracks when the Fury striker was about to pull the trigger. Then it was substitute Joel Craig who got back to clear the loose ball when all that was needed was a tap-in if a Fury player had got there first.

Unicomb, back on the pitch in the rotating substitute system in place for the early rounds of the competition, forced a fingertip save from Blowes from the edge of the area.

And then for the last eight minutes of the game, Zucco came alive and almost pinched an equaliser. First he found his range, firing across the face of the goal just a metre in front of the onrushing Cameron Morgan. Then he went for goal from the edge of the area, and most of the crowd thought the ball was heading for the top corner, though somehow it cleared the angle of the woodwork. A final chance came his way with two minutes remaining when the Fury won a free kick just outside the box. Zucco went for goal of course, but couldn’t get enough power behind the shot and it took one bounce before landing harmlessly in Nastic’s hands.

So United held on for victory and will feel confident now of moving onto the next stage of the competition, having got over what looked on paper to be their hardest task in the early rounds of the cup. They take on Port Kembla next Thursday, while the Fury need to beat Cringila Lions in Round 2 on Friday 24 February to keep their interest in the Fraternity Cup alive for 2017.

 

Wollongong United – 2 (Yuzawa 42’, Floro 49’)

Kemblawarra Fury – 1 (Iacovelli 24’)

Assists: Fury: McNab; United: Ardle, Hajittofi

Macedonia Park, Thursday 16 February 2017

Referee: Greg Reid
Assistant referees: Aden Crawley, Gareth Jenkins

Wollongong United: Sam Nastic, Ben Brooks, Brendan Reilly, Billy Tsovolos, Mikel Awad, Matt Floro, Shayne Ardle, Angelo Hajittofi, Marty Brennan, Karouna Michael, Daisuke Yuzawa (subs used in rotation through the match: Moto Kinjo Nick Ristevski, Joel Craig, Jackson Brooks, Shivan Swamy)

Kemblawarra Fury: Mitchell Blowes, Lachlan O’Connor, Kyle Senior, Shane Murray, Brenton Rhodes, David Hartas, Fabian Iacovelli, Alvin Ceccoli, Liam Unicomb, Matthew McNab, Sam Munro (subs used in rotation through the match: Cameron Morgan, Ricky Zucco, Andrew Gomez)

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo by Pedro Garcia (Libarary Archive)