Wollongong United grabbed two late goals to snatch a draw and deny Wollongong Olympic victory in this opening tie of the 2016 Illawarra Premier League season. The home side seemed to be cruising at 2-0 with fifteen minutes to play, following goals from Yusuke Ueda and Brendan Fordham, but the reigning IPL Champions saved their best to the end, pulling back the deficit thanks to strikes from Johnny Martinoski and Ben Brooks.

Olympic started brightly, as they looked to repeat a famous 4-0 win over their Wollongong rivals in 2015. New boys Ja Kon Yu and Ueda teamed up to create Olympic’s first chance twelve minutes in. Ueda picked up a long ball inside the area and saw his shot saved at point blank by Sam Nastic in the United goal.

With flowing football at both ends, it was only the woodwork that kept the score at 0-0.

First Moto Kinjo for United set up Jinya An, but his left foot shot curled onto the post before flying clear. Then a minute later at the other end, Ueda sent a right foot shoot careering against the upright.

Ueda was clearly the main target man for Olympic up front, with Wandi Jajaw dropping back and having a quiet first half. In defence, Olympic’s Kon Yu and Duczynski looked composed, especially with United front man Chris Smith seemingly a yard or so off the pace.

As the first half drew to a close, though, Smith did almost catch Hayden Durose in the Olympic goal off his line, but saw his shot blocked by a defender. And on the stroke of half time, An made space for himself on the edge of the area, but fired his left foot shot well over.

0-0 was a fair scoreline as the sides went in at half time.

Shortly after the break, United were forced to reshuffle their back four as Angelo Hajittofi went off injured. And Olympic made the most of the opportunity.

A series of attacking moves saw Brendan Reilly making some crucial tackles to keep Olympic out. But he could do little but watch as Isaac Lee’s corner found the head of Jake Duczynski, and the ball looped towards Ueda who had a simple tap-in at the near post.

United responded with energy up front themselves. Karouna Michael found Smith who took the ball to the byline before pulling it back across goal, with Matt Floro trying a scissor kick which would surely have equalised if he had just made contact.

But it was Olympic that began to look the more likely to score again. When Reilly slipped up for once, Ueda picked up the ball and charged goalwards, only for Daisuke Yuzawa this time to get back and put in the crunching tackle before the Olympic striker could shoot.

And Jajaw too was beginning to get in on the action. He started a move on the hour mark that saw Fordham and Ueda again link up well before Jajaw picked up the return ball, but the Olympic striker’s shot trickled tamely wide of the upright.

When United’s Reilly pulled up after making a challenge, it forced another change in the United defence. And again Olympic made the most of United’s temporary loss of composure.

With fifteen minutes left, Jajaw chipped from the edge of the area to Sam Gordon who pulled the ball back for a grateful Fordham, who made no mistake at the near post. A minute later Olympic had the chance to make it 3-0, when an on-fire Fordham set up Jajaw, but the Olympic forward waited too long to shoot, allowing United to get bodies in the way.

It was to prove a costly miss. With a minute of normal time remaining, Floro threaded a beautiful ball through to Martinoski, with time and space in front of goal to pick his spot for 2-1.

As the game entered time added on, United sensed their chance. A free kick from Martinoski produced a flying save from Durose, but in the goalmouth melée that followed, Brooks was on hand to fire home the equaliser.

And a minute later, United almost snatched an unlikely winner. There was another free kick in virtually the same spot, but Floro curled the ball just over the bar, leaving the result at honours even 2-2.

Wollongong Olympic – 2 (Ueda 52’, Fordham 76’)

Wollongong United – 2 (Martinoski 89’, Brooks 90’ + 2)

Friday 25 March 2016

PCYC, Wollongong

Referee: Peter Ilcevski

Assistant Referees: Gareth Jenkins, Keelum Harrison

Wollongong Olympic: Durose, Lloyd, Kon Yu, Keating, Rodriguez (Hazebroek-Southgate 87’), Gordon, Ueda (Sutcliffe 78’), Lee (Smith 56’), Duczynski, Fordham, Jajaw (sub not used: Gacesa, Gamble, Mavrikis)

Wollongong United: Nastic, An, Hajittofi (Floro 49’), Kinjo, Martinoski, Michael, Reilly (Brooks 69’), Smith (Sekutkoski 66’), Tsovolos, Welch, Yuzawa (subs not used: Hooke, Ristevski)

 

Report by Simon Duffin
Photo courtesy of Narelle Tugral