This was a very important match for the visitors as a win would move them up to 2nd place
ahead of UTS Olympic. Unfortuantely, they met an ever improving Wollongong City. The result
of 1-1 was probably a fair indication of the game overall.
The first half belonged to Wollongong, all the way. They had more corners in this half, then
in a number of previous games put together. Early on some of this pressure paid off. The ball
was crossed over from the left. Mario Jerman beat Velmir Kupresak in the air to head the ball back
towards the middle of the penalty area where Tony Perinich headed the ball towards goal. The ball
went over an outstretched John Perosh and hit the underside of the bar. Unfortunately for Perosh,
it hit him in the back and bounced into the goal.
Sydney had a brief spell of pressure around the quarter of the hour and a cross from Manis Lamond
after a through ball from Robert Enes was met cleanly by Aytec Genc to volley in from
close range. This was the only real chance for United during the half.
Towards the end of the half there were a number of chances with a great save by Robert Enes off
the line with Perosh beaten. Wollongong probably deserved to be ahead and at least were so
with regard to the number of corners. Unfortunately, they just could not convert any of these
into goals.
It took nearly half an hour in the second half before there was any real action in front of
either goal. The game wasn't quiet with 4 Yellow Cards handed out to different Sydney United
players. Genc had most of the chances, but Hughes held his line. then with only a few minutes
to go, Mark Babic handled the ball. The referee decided that this was worth a Yellow Card, and
unfortunately for Mark, this was his second for the game.
There was one last chance for Wollongong when Martin Bourke was through but decided to step
on the ball instead of push it forward and hence the opportunity was wasted. So, the game finished
in a 1-1 draw, but most of the honours went to Wollongong. United missed sweeper Tony Popovic
and may start to have troubles in their future games.