With his side reduced to 10 men, the Wollongong Wolves goalkeeper suddenly found himself at the coalface.

For 30 minutes, Sutherland peppered the Wolves goal, sending shot after shot Durose's way.

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Despite the onslaught, the goalkeeper was up to the task.

Durose maintained a clean sheet to help his side secure a stunning 1-0 victory on the road over their northern rivals.

It's a win the goalkeeper will savour for a long time.

"It's unbelievable," Durose said. "Being a man down, everyone showed so much heart and fought well.

"We've been in this position before, I had no doubt everyone would put the work in defensively and in attack, which showed because we scored pretty much straight after he got sent off."

The first half was a fairly dour affair, neither side generating many clean attacking opportunities.

There were a number of flash points, however, three Sutherland players receiving yellow cards and Leroy Jennings his first, one minute into stoppage time.

The striker's second came in the 61^st minute, after a brain fade saw him lash out and kick the ball in anger.

In many ways, Durose's task became even tougher when Wollongong's Josh Macdonald scored just two minutes later.

Down a man and with a one-goal advantage, the Wolves adopted a defensive mindset to protect their lead.

Again, Durose felt the brunt of this shift, the goalkeeper forced to withstand wave after wave of Sutherland attack.

But Durose had help. Wollongong's defence was organised and well-structured. Veteran Nick Littler was superb, snuffing out a number of dangerous plays.

"We were structurally pretty sound," Durose said. "Nothing really got in behind us. I felt comfortable pretty much the whole game.

"Nick was unreal. His coverage, his talk, his experience on the ball. He settles everything down, he's someone you want in front of you."

Despite the win, the Wolves remain eighth on the ladder at the midway point of the season.

They have, however, started to close the gap on their rivals in the top five.

Finally, after weeks of inconsistent play, they seem to be finding their groove.

Coach Luke Wilkshire loves to talk about how small moments can define a season.

Durose has a feeling Saturday's 10-man win could be that moment.

"Everyone's feeling that belief now," he said. "Everything's starting to come together, it's looking good.

"Everyone's buzzing at training. Getting three points and winning helps that, so it's been a good couple of weeks.

"We really needed that win starting the second half of the season, hopefully it puts us in good stead."

The Wolves have little time to recover, the side to play Waverley Old Boys in a fifth-round Australia Cup fixture on Wednesday night.

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