Kemblawarra Fury faced Wollongong United in the Illawarra Mercury Youth Grade Grand Final at Crehan Park on Sunday afternoon. Kemblawarra had finished first in the regular season with United placing in second. The contest paired the top two sides and would be a dazzling display of youth within the Illawarra Mercury competition.

Wollongong United looked very promising in the opening minutes of the game, pushing forward with real pace and purpose, using their flanks to catch out Kemblawarra from wide positions. Zac Mazevski had the first attempt of the match but he sliced the shot wide.

Wollongong would soon capitalise on a golden chance. Zac Nicholas found himself in open pasture after he timed his run to perfection. Burning the staggered Fury defensive line, Nicholas put himself in a 1 on 1 with Yanni Maurikis who had no chance. The number 17 struck the ball over the diving keeper, putting his team up 1-0 in the opening 5 minutes.

The game turned physical in a hurry, with both teams diving in whole heartily. With both teams firing up the referee dealt with the situation by handing out a plethora of yellow cards. The cautions seemed to benefit both attacking sides, allowing the forwards and wingmen to bombard their rivals defence.

Wollongong was the more threatening of the two teams, almost scoring their second of the contest. Nicholas was allowed open space from the right-hand side. Making a similar run to his first chance the United winger scuffed his shot straight into the hand of the Goalkeeper.

Fury weren’t lacking chances either, dominating the corner count in the first half but they failed to capitalise on any of the set piece situations.

Daniel Carella came the closest of the Fury men when he took on a deep curling shot which came agonising close to sneaking inside the far post. Soon after Kemblawarra should have had the equaliser. A gorgeous cross for the right wing arrowed across the face of the goals beating all the defenders and finding Jeremy Flanagan just outside the six-yard box, he mishit the ball over the bar by some distance. Even though the ball was an awkward height the chance should have been taken.

The Kemblawarra Fury began to control the tempo of the match, holding the ball and looking dangerous going forward. In the second minute of injury time the fury struck. Cody Waller made a barnstorming run down the right-hand side of the ground before delivering a cut back, straight to the feet of Flanagan. The number 6 took a touch, and smashed the ball home before running off in celebration. The referee blew the half time whistle before anyone could get back for the restart of play and the teams went into half time a goal apiece.

Half Time

Kemblawarra 1-1 Wollongong

Kemblawarra would have wanted to start the half how they finished it, but United had other ideas. They began the half strong, using their wingers to drive at the opposition. Brad Acev looked certain to score after he chipped the Fury keeper but he knocked the ball high into the sky, high enough for Jason Zufic to sprint back and get a touch on the ball before the United striker could finish the ball into an empty net. The play was a fantastic display of heart and determination by the full back who knocked the ball out for a corner.

As the match continued both teams suffered from cramps. The heat getting the better of the two youth sides which seemed to deplete the fast-paced action. Neither team could get on top in the second half and neither had any genuine attempts on target. At the end of regular time the teams finished locked in a stalemate.

End of Regular time

Kemblawarra 1-1 Wollongong

With both teams exhausted after giving their all for an hour and a half, they were forced into 20 minutes of extra time. Both teams came agonisingly close to finishing the match in regular time, the first half of extra time was one with very few chances. But there was one turning point. Andrew Suarez, who was subbed on towards the end of the second half, found himself the last man. He opted to slide in and appeared to take the defender out while attempting to play the ball. The last ditched effort saw the Fury defender sent off and give United the man advantage.

United failed to capitalise in the first half of extra time but they were started building pressure.

The second half of extra time started with Fury trying to hold onto the game and force it into a penalty shootout. But the United men had the momentum and 5 minutes into the second half Acev was taken down inside the penalty area by Maurikis, the referee blew for the second crucial moment of extra time. Dion Sterjovski stepped up for the most pressured penalty of his young career. The crowd went silent as he ran up. He converted the penalty with ease and the large fan base of Wollongong United went into a frenzy. With a man down Fury began to attack but they failed to score. The Fury number 1 made up for his error producing the two saves of the match, making two fantastic 1 on 1 saves to help keep his side in the contest.

But the match finished with Wollongong United winning the title. In a wonderful display of youth and of what the future holds for the Illawarra premier league, Wollongong United reign supreme.

Assistant coach of United Jason Higgs talked about how his team performed and how coaching without Icko Atanasoski didn’t change the game plan at all.

Listen to the Interview through the link below.

https://soundcloud.com/liam-emerton/fsc-interview-wollongong-united-assistant-coach-jason-higgs

 

 

Full Time

Kemblawarra Fury 1-2 Wollongong United

Kemblawarra Fury

Y.Maurikis, J.Zufic, A.Trevisi, D.Pender, L.Defreitas, J.Flanagan, D.Carella, K.Kirkland, C.Waller, J.Nikolovski, C.Madden.

Replacements

J.Koroskoski, A.Suarez, B.Jykes, J.Stosanovski, A.Hales, D.Zufic

Wollongong United

N.Ristevski, A.Gillespie, D.Sterjovski, J.Leighton, B.Acev, C.Cakaovska, D.Chaplin, Z.Nicholas, M.Lynch, J.Brooks, Z.Mazevski

Replacements

J.Nickl, S.Adnum, D.Sokopf, S. Ugrinovski, J.Webster, B.Groom.

 

 

Match Officials

Referee: Nicholas Ryan

Assistant referee: Jay Walpole, Dean Moreira

4^th Official: Gareth Jenkins

 

Report by Liam Emerton, on Twitter as @liamemerton

Photo by Pedro Garcia