The Wollongong Wolves’ unbeaten season came to a shuddering halt after a 3-0 loss to rivals Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw on Saturday night.
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Sutherland's Adrian Vranic had a brace while Nick Olsen scored a goal of the season contender to extinguish the Wolves' challenge.
Wollongong had been unbeaten through their first three rounds, but couldn’t muster a similar performance against their nearest rivals.
"The scoreline wasn't a reflection of the game but we weren't as good as we have been," Wolves coach Jacob Timpano said.
"We conceded a cracking goal and then a sloppy one before half time which took the game away from us a little bit. We did start the game on the front foot, but when it got to 3-0 down it was always going to be difficult for us to come back from.
"We definitely missed Nick Montgomery's influence in the heart of the midfield. Fortunately we have a quick turnaround with the FFA Cup during the week."
Montgomery missed Saturday’s clash as he continues to deal with a knee injury. His absence was noticeable, but Wollongong did start the match in better shape than Sutherland.
However, they found themselves behind when Olsen fired in a stunning half volley from outside the box which left Justin Pasfield with no chance.
The job got harder for the Wolves four minutes before half time when Vranic scrambled the ball home from a set piece.
Chasing the game, Timpano brought on Peter Simonoski for Steve Hayes at half time. It couldn’t stop Sutherland’s momentum. The hosts scored their third goal just eight minutes into the second half after a surging run from Jacob Tratt.
The former A-League defender’s shot rebounded off the post, but Vranic was on hand to finish.It proved to be the final nail in the coffin.
Wollongong fell short in all three grades across a disappointing evening. Timpano felt playing on an artificial pitch impacted the way all three grades played.
"We need to deal with playing on the synthetic pitches a little better," he said.
"That's been noticeable across all grades.
“We will have to look at how we approach games and how we can deal with them better in the future.
“We are obviously going to play on them a lot in this competition so need to make sure we improve on it.”
Wollongong play Kellyville Kolts on Wednesday night in the FFA Cup.