'Only one team in it': Wolves pull victory from fire against Sydney United

Carney's side were down 2-0 at Albert Butler Memorial Park on Sunday, June 2 against United, but fought back for a priceless 3-2 win.

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A goal for United via Carlos De Oliveria inside 30 seconds saw the Wolves get off to the worst possible start, before Alessandro Lacalandra doubled the visitors advantage midway through the first half.

Despite being down 2-0 going into the sheds, Carney kept the faith in his team, and it was rewarded shortly after the restart.

The Wolves were gifted a way back into the game immediately with a United own goal, before Wolves captain Lachlan Scott saved his team as he so often does shortly after to restore parity.

Enter Takumi Ofuka, who scored the winner 15 minutes from time to see the Wolves produce one of the results of the 2024 National Premier League NSW Men's season so far.

Despite being down 2-0, Carney said he felt his team were never out of the game.

"Obviously the first half wasn't good enough regarding sloppy goals, but I actually think we played alright," Carney said.

"General play I think we dominated a lot of patches, but we just weren't creating too much up top. And then in the second half it all clicked together. It was a great attitude from everyone. The performances have been good this year, it's just putting the ball in the back of the net [that has been the problem]."

Prior to the game, Carney had said his team desperately needed to go on a run of wins to have any chance of making finals football in 2024. With this in mind, he was thrilled his team could turn it around.

"If we want to get into the top six, we had to win today," he said.

"No one likes an unlucky story in football, but generally I think we weren't getting the rub of the green today in certain areas, but we dominated play. We were excellent in that second half, I thought there was only one team in it, and I think we deserve the three points."

The win ended a barren run of results of late for the Wolves. It was a first win since almost a month (May 5), and ended a four game losing run (league and Australia Cup). The victory also meant a double over United in 2024 after the team beat them 2-1 earlier in the season.

It couldn't have been a worse start for the Wolves, with United scoring inside 30 seconds. De Oliveira received the ball on the edge of the area and fired his effort off the post and into the net to make it 1-0.

Carney's team were their own worst enemies, conceding via an error from the back 23 minutes in. Lacalandra capitalised on a lapse in concentration between Samuel Riak and Harrrison Buesnel in possession and finished one-on-one against Vedran Janjetovic to see United go 2-0 up.

Wolves left-back Dylan Ryan went close to pulling one back. He wasn't closed down by the United defence which gave him a platform to unleash a shot from the edge of the area, which went just over the bar.

Both Chris McStay and Sebastian Hernandez could have scored for the home side in quick succession, if not for some great work from United goalkeeper Oliver Kalac.

McStay forced Kalac to save the ball in the bottom corner via a free-kick just outside the penalty area, before Hernandez broke through one-on-one, but couldn't get past the stopper.

McStay's 47^th minute corner proved too hot to handle for United, with De Oliveira heading the ball into his own net to see the Wolves right back into the contest in the second half at 2-1.

The goal proved a vital injection into the veins of the Wolves troops. It was Takumi Ofuka next to trouble Kalac, who made a brilliant save around the post.

And it wasn't long before the Wolves had their equaliser through their ever reliable captain Scott. With the score tied at 2-2, there was 25 minutes to find a winner.

United just couldn't handle the Wolves attack in the second half and after plenty of pressure, Ofuka made them pay.

Scott turned provider as he held the ball off the United defence and played Ofuka in behind, who made no mistake to win the Wolves the game, 3-2.

The Wolves will be back in action on Saturday, June 8 away from home against St George City FA. Kickoff is 7:15pm.