Wollongong Wolves pick up wins both on and off the field

Samuel Riak had the easiest of finishes for his first goal in Wolves colours to open the scoring before Lachlan Scott continued his rich vein of form with a header to make it 2-0 against United.

The game was put on its head however in the second half when substitute and former A-League player Matt Sim came onto the pitch to score and make it 2-1.

Jake Trew was brought down in the box late on however and Chris McStay made no mistake to finish the game off for 3-1.

With the 'National Second Tier' decision by Football Australia just around the corner, it could be about to get even more exciting to be involved with the club.

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It was a positive week off the field for the Wolves with Carney re-signing to the club for next season.

It has been a complete overhaul of the squad seen in 2022, with the club backing Carney's youthful policy which was on show against Manly on Sunday.

Despite no finals football to play for it was still a crucial result for the Wolves with Manly on the same amount of points as them before the match.

After a slow start to the season for United - including a 3-0 loss to Wollongong - Patrick Zwaanswijk's team had gone the previous four unbeaten with the highlight being a 4-0 smashing of runaway leaders APIA.

The win leapfrogs Carney's men away from the bottom half of the league and closer to the competition heavyweights with 38 points from 27 games.

The result against Manly was a bounce back from their last start loss away from home against Sydney United.

Wolves left back Walter Scott said post-game that the team were extremely happy to get the win off the back of their coach re-signing.

"It's sort of settled all the boys," he said.

"A few of the guys have been in talks to move forward and it's been really settling for the lads. It's been wicked [playing under Carney]. Former Socceroos left-back, it's a dream for me. Teaching me things I never knew and it's been awesome for my development."

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Scott added the win against United was crucial following their last game against Sydney United.

"It was a good win. It's been a really good week at training. We were pretty disappointed with the way we played last week so it was really good to make things right."

It was a quick start to the match on Sunday with chances falling at both ends. Nav Darjani hit the post early whilst Takumi Ofuka had a free-kick saved.

Whilst for Manly they could have just as easily scored the opener if not for some fantastic reflex saves from Tomas Butkovic via respective shots from Connor Rose and former Wolves player Bilal Belkadi.

It was Samuel Riak however with his first goal for the club in the 23^rd minute to give the Wolves the lead with a tap-in via a shot from Ofuka which was originally saved but only into the path of the number eight.

Captain Scott then doubled the team's advantage just before the break.

Jake Trew thought he scored the team's third in the second half but was ruled offside after scenes of celebrations were cut short.

Shortly after the visitors got back into the game when Sim came onto the pitch and made an immediate impact by scoring with his head.

However Sim's goal was short-lived after Trew was brought down in the box and McStay made no mistake from the spot.

It could have been more late on if not for a missed penalty from Lachlan Scott but in the end it mattered little.

The Wolves have three more matches to go to round out the season, starting next week - again in Wollongong - against Sydney Olympic.

The match follow the Australia Cup game at the same venue between A-League powerhouses Sydney FC and current champions the Mariners.

Following Olympic, the side will round out the season with consecutive away games against Blacktown and Mt Druitt.

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