Sydney FC 3 (Wood 63’, 93’, Main 88’) – Wollongong Wolves 4 (Bingham 4’, 21’, James 8’, Okada 57’) at Ilinden Sports Centre
Wollongong Wolves have held off a fast-finishing Sydney FC to triumph 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
The Wolves took a four-goal lead but they were forced to fight for their competition points as determined Sydney FC fell narrowly short of pulling off a wild second-half comeback.
The win moves the Wolves onto equal points with competition leaders Rockdale ahead of the final round of the season setting up an incredible sprint to the premiership on the last day of the season.
Wollongong raced out of the gates and took a 1-0 lead after only four minutes with Josh Bingham tapping home after some brilliant lead-up work from Takeru Okada.
It was 2-0 only moments later with Thomas James towering above his defender to head into the top right corner of the net.
Sydney FC’s young defence were struggling and it only got worse with Bingham claiming his second to make it 3-0 in the 21st minute.
The start couldn’t have been any better for the visitors and they were unlucky not to score again before the half-time break.
It took Wollongong 10 minutes after the restart to find a fourth goal and wasn’t it special.
Okada dribbling past two defenders and finishing with the outside of his weak foot after setting up the move with a skilful scorpion kick flick-on.
The result was seemingly decided, but Sydney FC had other ideas and hit back through prolific striker Patrick Wood in the 63rd minute to make it 4-1.
Sydney threw everything forward and snagged their second goal to make it 4-2 courtesy of Thomas Main with two minutes left on the clock.
When Wood found his second in added time to make it 4-3 it made for a nervy finish for the visitors.
However, time was against the home side with their valiant efforts not enough to secure a draw with Wollongong clinging on for victory.
