Long odds for finals berth

A double from Rockdale’s Alex Canak at Ilinden Sports Centre all but ended the Wolves’ chances of making the top-five in 2017. With fourth-placed Manly United (39 points) and fifth-placed Sydney Olympic (37 points) both winning their matches, Wollongong (34 points) now need results elsewhere to fall heavily in their favour on the final day of the season. 

Both Manly and Olympic hold far superior goal difference to the Wolves, which means it’s more than likely they will miss finals for a second consecutive season. 

“We are all pretty disappointed,” Wolves coach Jacob Timpano said. 

“We had a good run in the second half of the season but we just came up short on Sunday.

“There is no doubt we missed [Nick Montgomery] and losing [Brendan Griffin] just before kick-off to illness didn’t help either, but all in all it was disappointing. Numbers probably caught up with us in the end, with some youth graders backing up off the bench, but to their credit they battled hard.” 

Timpano’s men were on the back foot early when Canak headed in off a corner in the 18^th minute. He had his second, again from a corner, in the 57^th minute. Wollongong’s chances of making a comeback were dealt a further blow after James O’Rourke was red carded for an ugly challenge.

However, they did manage to pull a goal back through a superb half volley from Patrick Antelmi with two minutes remaining.