Coniston remain firmly entrenched in the Premier League's top five after drubbing Cringila 8-0 at JJ Kelly Park on Saturday afternoon.
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Rob Jonovski's men dominated the derby, with three first-half goals setting up the win before the floodgates opened in the final 45 minutes. Steven Ugrinovski completed a hat-trick, while Adam Voloder scored a brace. Anthony Krsteski, Ekoue D'Almedia and Dylan Perlowski also found the back of the net.
It was Coniston's sixth win of the season, and keeps them in contention alongside top IPL sides Olympic, Wollongong United and the White Eagles.
"I'm happy with how we fired up after last week's performance against Bulli (Coniston won 2-0). People are expecting us to win these games and we played a team that's fighting at the bottom for points, and they're a very dangerous side sometimes. But our boys turned up again this week and we showed that we deserve to be pushing for something this year," coach Jonovski told the Mercury.
"The boys are super fit, we had a big pre-season, and our intensity was there - across the park. And that's two clean sheets in a row, 2-0 last week and 8-0 today. That's important for us. And I thought our midfielder Lukas Stergiou was outstanding today, he was instrumental in our win.
"And we've got a lot of energy up top with Adam Voloder, who we signed a couple of weeks ago from Sydney, was fantastic, and Anthony Krsteski, (Michael) Mendes and Steven Ugrinovski coming into the team last week. There's a lot of energy there, I'm happy."
Cringila coach Michael Grbevski said it was a tough day at the office for his side, who came into the game full of confidence after beating Bellambi 1-0 in a mid-week catch-up game.
"It wasn't the result we wanted but it comes down to poor scheduling. Our boys had to back up after a massive game on Wednesday night which made it difficult for us," he said
"We had a couple of boys out today. But you make your own luck, and we didn't do that. They (Coniston) were a lot sharper and a lot better in everything they did. It wasn't the result we wanted, but we'll pick ourselves up and we've got a really important game on Friday night against South Coast United."
Coniston were aggressive from the first whistle and didn't have to wait long for the reward, with Voloder curling the ball into the back of the net. Krsteski nearly doubled Coniston's advantage just minutes later, however, his shot shaved over the cross bar.
Cringila looked to settle play and control possession, however they put pressure on themselves through several errant passes. On the back an error, a great through-ball found Krestski in space, but he couldn't connect with the ball.
The Lions continued to struggle to get out of their back half, but a good run by Kohei Suzaki saw them surge into Coniston's box. However, Cringila couldn't capitalise on the chance. At the other end, a great pass by Voloder to Krsteski saw him one-on-one with Nikola Ristevski, but the Cringila gloveman made an athletic save.
But the pressure continued to pile on Cringila. A nice team movement saw the ball land at Ugrinovski's feet, and he drilled home Coniston's second goal around the 25-minute mark.
With around five minutes left in the half, a Lions error at the back opened the door for Voloder and Krsteski to do a one-two, with Krstevki finding the back of the net. Despite that setback, Cringila pushed forward with Stephen Grbevski lining up for goal, only to be denied by a low save from gloveman David Zufic.
Coniston led 3-0 at half time.
The demolition continued after the break. From a free kick, a lovely ball into the box from Stergiou found D'Almedia's head and he made no mistake, giving Coniston a 4-0 lead.
From there, the pressure continued to pile on the visitors, with Perlowski taking a long-range shot which rolled through Ristevski's legs and into the back of the net. At the other end, the Lions got into a dangerous position through a Stefano Di Marino cross, but Nick High's header missed the target.
Soon after, Stergiou put in a low shot which was parried away by Ristevski to Ugrinovski, with the Cringila gloveman making a good save to deny him.
However, soon Coniston had their sixth. From a cross, the ball hit the gloves of Ristevski towards Voloder, who hammered home his second goal. Minutes later, the home side had another, with the ball deflecting off a defender towards Ugrinovski, who scored the goal from the deck.
Ugrinovski then completed the 8-0 rout when he capped off a nice team movement to secure his hat-trick in the dying stages.
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
