Sharks return in grand style

Top flight football returned to Ocean Park, Woonona after an abscence of 10 years and the home side did not dissappoint its legion of loyal supporters as the Sharkies fought back from an early set back to record an excellent 2-1 victory over Cringila Lions.

There was a goal-a-thon at Ray Robinson Field with Picton Rangers recording an impressive 5-3 victory over Fernhill as the Premier League opened in style.

However, it was Woonona who stole the limelight on match day one, played in warm, sunny conditions, after recovering from an early onslaught from the Lions to earn a hard earned three points.

Dominic McGill had opened the scoring for the vistors in the 15th minute as Cringila dominated the game for long periods of the first half. McGill was having a field day in the middle of the park as Cringila held their one goal lead to the oranges.

Cringila should have been out of sight at this stage and probably would have been but for the heroics of Adam Herron in the Woonona goal.

'Turbo' pulled off four fantastic saves in the opening period to frustrate Cringila and keep the Sharks in the game.

This great work by the ‘keeper was the catalyst for Woonona to go on and win the game as the home side showed tremendous fighting spirit to stay in the game.

Wayde Peterson got the home side on the board five minutes into the second half and with an even share of possession began to leave their own mark on the game. They eventually took the spoils with Cameron O'Neill, on as a second half substitute, scoring the winner with 20 minutes to go. Herron made another two top drawer saves in the second half and was a stand out for man of the match honours.

In the eight goal thriller at Ray Robinson Field, five goals came in the last 20 minutes with the two sides throwing everything into an open attacking game. Both sides love to play football with a free flowing style and those patrons that were there on the day were treated to a fine game with not a lot of quality defending.

Fernhill led 2-1 at the break after Hugo Coronel had opened the scoring for the visitors from the penalty spot on 15 minutes. Andrew Paine and Josh Terelink scored for the home side.

The goal carnage really started with 20 minutes left when last year's leading IPL scorer, Andrew Borg scored a 30 metre bomb to equalise for Picton. Five minutes later the Rangers had their noses in front but not before Fernhill keeper, Simon Yaegar had saved another Coronel penalty as he tipped the ball over the bar. However, from the resulting corner, Coronel made ammends by firing home through a sea of legs.

It was now a goal every five minutes when firstly Matt Tesoreiro scored and then Borg scored his second from the charity mark (amazingly, Picton's third penalty of the game) to make the points safe for the Rangers at 5-2. Dylan Maloney scored a third for Fernhill in the dying stages to make the final score 5-3. It should be noted that the Division One game between the two clubs finished 6-3 to Fernhill. A real goal fest on the day.

Dapto scored a goal in each half as they beat Wollongong United 2-0 in a game that never reached any great heights. Jason Mathews scored the first and Christian Zelvis got the second with both goals coming from good strikes from outside the penalty area.

In the remaining game on opening day, Bulli and South Coast United played out a 1-1 draw at Balls Paddock with both goals coming in the first twenty minutes.

David Buchanan scored for the home side with a good header to give the hosts the lead but that was short lived as the game was back on level terms two minutes later when Nathan Minutillo scored. Both sides huffed and puffed for the remainder of the game with neither side doing enough to take the three points.