Manly United’s late comeback earned the Northern Beaches side a 2-1 victory over St George City in a frantic Saturday night clash at Penshurst Park.
St George opened the scoring in the first half through Fumoto Kamada. However, a goal on halftime to Farah Koko, then a well-worked winner to Darcy Burgess in the 82nd minute, ensured the visitors headed home with all three points.
Irishman Aaron O’Driscoll fired the first warning shot as his powerful header was tipped over the bar by Jack Kenny inside the opening two minutes.
Following that, St George City adjusted better to their surroundings and twice in the 19th minute, witnessed Marc McNulty be denied a chance through Harry Van Der Saag’s dislodgement of the ball, and Caio De Godoy’s long-range effort going inches wide of the far post.
In the 26th minute, the visitors had two fantastic chances as Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika’s strong tackle denied Lucas Meek. Shortly following that exchange, Koko found himself with ample space as his curling effort went wide of the far post.
Fumoto Kamada proceeded to fire home from outside the box six minutes later to open the scoring. His attempt flew over everybody to rifle into the back of the net, leaving Levi Kaye stranded.
In the second minute of added time, Manly forged a hard-fought equaliser as Koko slotted the rebound home, after Kenny initially got a hand to Matthew O’Donoghue’s shot.
When the 58th minute hit, O’Driscoll came close for the visitors, as he was left unmarked following the corner but headed the ball straight into Kenny’s arms.
Harry Van Der Saag also did well in the 69th minute as his brilliantly attempted free kick from outside the box forced a desperate and diving save from Kenny.
As the 75th minute rolled around, Ben Koop forced a palmed save out of Kenny, as the keeper strongly denied Manly’s lively substitute.
A topsy turvy finish to a tense affair peaked in the 82nd minute, as Kamada’s shot from distance crashed off the post. Only moments later, Koop’s cross set up Burgess for what proved to be the winning goal.
Burgess expressed his delight with Manly picking up three key points away from home.
“Last week the boys had a good result, and we built off that.
“We had to have confidence after going down 1-0 that we could still take the game out and we worked our way back into it.
“A win at this stage is massive because it can take you towards the top, and a loss to the bottom, because the comp is so tight – and for us travelling here it was a tough assignment because the fans are vocal, and the field is small. It’s big that we could come here and collect all three points.”
St George City FA 1 (Fumoto Kamada 32’)
Manly United 2 (Farah Koko 45+2’, Darcy Burgess 82’)
Match Stats
Saturday 15 March 2025
Penshurst Park
Referee: Logan Jones
Assistant Referees: Thomas Gellatly and Allesandro Llana
Fourth Official: Jackson Tippett
St George City FA: 1.Jack Kenny, 3.Caio De Godoy, 4.Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, (7.Nathan Roberts 84’), 8.Dominic Cox, 9.Marc McNulty, (10.Paolo Mitry 38’), 11.Fumoto Kamada, 15.Nathan Grimaldi, (17.Noah Ovens 75’), (18.Goncalo Agrelos 84’), 19.Jesse Photi, 23.Dakota Askew, 25.Brodie Clarkson, 33.Louis Khoury
Unused subs: 2.Matthew Wahby, 21.Kaisem Mahdi
Yellow cards: Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika 87’, Nathan Grimaldi 90+2’
Red cards: None
Manly United: 1.Levi Kaye, 2.Aaron O’Driscoll, 3.Matthew O’Donoghue, 4.Jesse Piriz, 6.Bilal Belkadi, (7.Peter Kekeris 64’), (9.Benjamin Koop 64’), 10.Harry McCarthy, 11.Lucas Meek, (13.Taiga Kawano 64’), (16.Ryan Devine 74’), 17.Farah Koko, 19.Alen Aganovic, 23.Darcy Burgess, 26.Harry Van Der Saag, (28.Jasper Chipman 74’)
Unused subs: 21.Anthony Carreras
Yellow cards: Farah Koko 37’, Jasper Chipman 74’
Red cards: None
Player Ratings:
3: Aaron O’Driscoll (MU)
2: Ben Koop (MU)
1: Darcy Burgess (MU)
– By Football NSW
