The FSC All Stars and Wollongong Wolves entertained a lively crowd at Crehan Park in the mid-week Wednesday night exhibition fixture, with the Wolves 2 -1 winners with an 80th minute match-stealer.

Players from all 12 Illawarra Premier League clubs (2015) were represented in the All Stars squad, with all players enthusiastic to represent their home clubs with pride.

The match was an opportunity to showcase the best of Illawarra football, and the standard did not disappoint.

All Stars and Wollongong United coach Oliver Vrtkovski was impressed with the talent on show.

“I thought the game was entertaining, both teams had chances,”Vrtkovski said.

“Our boys were just trying to play some entertaining football and to try and entertain the crowd, and I think we did do that tonight.”

In the 7th minute, Port Kembla and All Stars’ Zac Mazevski created the first real chance in the match, beating Wolves defender Justin Ivanovic to duel one on one with the goalkeeper, but sprayed the shot across the face of the goals.

Both teams traded blows early, with Wollongong Wolves dominating the territory battle with the All Stars struggling to connect passing options early.

In the 21st minute, Wolves attacker Robbie Delbanco took control of the ball after an intercept deep in the All Star half, and dribbled all the way into the penalty area before superbly dispatching the ball wide of outstretched All Stars goalkeeper Bradley Jardine for the game’s opening goal.

It took next to no time for the All Stars to equalize.

No more than 30 seconds following the kick-off, the All Stars powered a cross into the box, with an unfortunate deflection off the hand of Wolves defender Steven Hristovski deflecting the ball straight into his own goal leaving goalkeeper Daniel Arcaba stranded.

With the scores deadlocked at 1 - 1, the All Stars set up camp in Wolves territory late in the first half.

The Wolves so-nearly grasped the lead minutes before halftime with a counter-attack led by David Stojic, which was negated through a charging Woonona and All Stars goalkeeper, Bradley Jardine.

The second half began with a little lull in intensity, with goal scoring opportunities occurring few and far between.

It took up to the 80th minute for the deadlock to be breached, with Wollongong Wolves’Lee Kizi unleashing a looping cross from the right wing with Olympic and All Stars goalkeeper Hayden Durose unable to hold onto the ball, allowing a lurking Stefan Dimoski to finish off the goal with class.

In the 87th minute, former Bellambi and All Star Keiran Morris nearly equalised the fixture with a right foot bullet from outside the box which swerved inches above the crossbar.

Best players on the field were David Stojic, Robbie Delbanco and Sam Rose for the Wollongong Wolves, and Port Kembla’s Zac Mazevski and Wollongong United’s Ben Brooks for the All Stars.

 

Wollongong Wolves - 2 (Delbanco 21’, Dimoski 80’)

FSC All Stars - 1 (OG - Hristovski 22’)

 

Wednesday 2 March, 2016

Crehan Park

 

Referee: Bobby Mazevski

Assistant Referees: Aden Crawley & Mat Theobald

 

Wollongong Wolves: Arcaba, Lazarevski, Zucco, Orchard, Kambisios, Hristovski, Lombo, Ivanovic, Rose, Wilson, Stojic (Kizi, Brodnik, Foster, Delbanco, Acport, Dimoski)

 

FSC All Stars: Jardine, Brooks, Brooks, Naylor, Stojic, Davies, Patterson, McRae, Mazevski, Knight, Skara (Durose, Lee, Keating, Morris, Maclaren)

 

Report by Daniel McGookin

Photo by Pedro Garcia