Nizic Shines But We Fall Short at Seymour

It was a heartbreaking night at Seymour Shaw as we fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Manly United, with a late goal the difference in what was otherwise an even and hard-fought contest.

Manly opened strongly and applied pressure early, but Danijel Nizic was immense between the sticks, producing a stunning one-handed save in the 8th minute to deny a clear goal. He was called upon multiple times throughout the match and stood tall, keeping us in the contest with a string of vital interventions.

We had our chance to take the lead just after the half-hour mark when a handball in the box gave us a penalty. Reuben Awaritefe stepped up, but Manly keeper Levi Kaye guessed correctly and parried the shot. Awaritefe came close again moments later with a header, only for Kaye to collect.

In the second half, the match continued in end-to-end fashion. Nizic was again called into action with a fantastic save off Darcy Burgess, while Tye McGowan nearly put us ahead with a long-range strike that flew just wide. Nizic continued to keep us in the match, denying McCarthy and O’Driscoll in quick succession with some sharp reflexes.

Unfortunately, despite our resilience, the breakthrough came for Manly in the 84th minute. A quick counter saw Taiga Kawano race forward and finish clinically, leaving us little time to respond. A late red card to Jerry Skotadis compounded the pain on what was a difficult night for the boys.

The team knows results haven’t been going our way, and this one hurt—especially given Nizic’s outstanding performance. We’ll be working hard this week to regroup ahead of our return to Seymour Shaw this weekend to face Western Sydney Wanderers.

We appreciate the continued support and believe the tide will turn. Up the Sharks!