Sutherland ended Wollongong’s unbeaten start to the season in emphatic fashion, thrashing the Wolves 3-0 at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday night.
The Sharks took the lead through a Nick Olsen thunderbolt after 16 minutes before Adrian Vranic gave Sutherland a two-goal advantage at half-time when he bundled home a Jacob Tratt knock down.
Vranic scored his second less than 10 minutes into the second half, following up from another Tratt effort to all but seal the result. Vranic could have sealed his hat-trick with 20 minutes remaining only to poke his effort wide of the post.
Sutherland coach Grant Lee was delighted with his side’s performance that leaves the Sharks third after four rounds having gone unbeaten since their opening round defeat to local rivals Rockdale City.
“I felt it was a really good performance tonight against a very good side,” Lee said.
“We hesitated a lot of the time in the opening games and didn’t have the confidence in what we are doing. Perhaps we showed a lot more fluidity in our play tonight.
“The good thing for me is we pushed it and played through the full 90 minutes and worked very hard to create good opportunities which, tonight, we’ve taken so I’m very pleased with the result and the performance and I hope this is the platform from which we build on.”
Sutherland will look to continue their good run when they host Sydney United 58 at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday night.
Kick-off is at 6.30pm.
