APIA and Sutherland battle out a tight contest
Both sides were very conscious not to give or concede much to each other given that only 10 days earlier in the final of the Waratah Cup Sutherland Sharks had dished out a lesson to the Tigers.
APIA, clearly motivated by that loss, were determined to not let it happen again and Sutherland were certainly not going to come to a rather barren looking Lambert Park and expect a picnic.
APIA-Leichhardt had only just finished playing out a scoreless draw three days earlier at the same venue against Parramatta FC and tonight?s encounter was almost a carbon copy with perhaps even fewer chances.
After the game, APIA Leichhardt?s experienced coach John Turner was pleased that his team had now gone three games undefeated.
However, he was also realistic in his appraisal to recognise that in 180? minutes of football, even though his side hadn?t conceded a goal, they hadn?t scored one either.
?I thought that we were the better side on the night,? Turner said. ?We had far more possession and at least we tried to play some football. They played a lot more direct with long balls.
?We should have got something more out of our corners. There wasn?t a lot of goal action ? I?ll say that to you ? but across the park, I think we were better than Sutherland.
?Ten days ago they beat us 4-1 but we also knew that we still had a sniff of the semi-finals. If we can play with the commitment that we showed tonight, then I think we?ll be there somewhere around the mark.
?There were some opportunities for us to have a shot at goal tonight and against Parramatta FC, but some of our players still want to walk it in; we are working on that. However, we are creating chances and I would be more concerned if we were not creating.
?It?s very important to also recognise that we haven?t conceded goals either with two clean sheets in a row. It?s our third competition game unbeaten and not many teams in the NSW Premier League can say that. I think these positive results will take us a long way.?
After some lovely lead up play in the 19? minute APIA-Leichhardt had the first real chance of the game. Michael West whipped in a beautiful cross which Franco Parisi met with a powerful header that finished just wide of the net.
Sutherland Sharks replied a short time afterwards when an accurate pass from midfield workhorse Nick Stavroulakis, who never stopped working on the night, wonderfully set up Nikolas Tsattalios. However, when Tsattalios was faced with only the goalkeeper Anthony Costa to beat, he tried to chip the ball into the net but unfortunately for the Sharks it finished just over the crossbar.
The first-half, while not offering a lot of goalmouth chances, was a really close contest between two sides that were not prepared to give an inch.
The second-half was perhaps even tighter. The small field of Lambert Park often lends itself to a battle of attrition.
Early in the second-half, a free-kick from APIA Leichhardt was partially cleared by the Sutherland defence before it reached Mun Soo Gil who shot just wide with his attempt.
In the 59? minute a long ball from Paul Cotte made its way towards Tsattalios who fired over the crossbar. It was half a chance but, in games like these, chances need to be converted.
In the 77? minute Ethan Galbraith, from close range, fired a rocket into Hayden Morton. Luckily for the visitors the defender was well placed to deny the tall New Zealander and deviate the ball away for a corner.
Robbie Stanton, the coach of Sutherland Sharks and himself a former APIA Leichhardt player, was somewhat philosophical about the whole encounter.
?I was happy with my players because they put the right effort in,? he said. ?We had to change the way we play because we couldn?t play our normal game.
?It was a scrappy game but that?s what you have to do sometimes. We had to change because of the pitch – slipperiness and dimensions ? but we set ourselves a goal at the start of the year to always play football, but we found it difficult to play here.
?There were a few half chances. We knew it was going to be a different game to the Waratah Cup final. On a good pitch you would see that we are a very good football team and a very good passing team.
?This game was one of those things that sometimes happen in football,? he concluded.
Match Stats
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 0
Sutherland Sharks 0
Wednesday 18th July, 2012
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Lance Greenshields and James Tesoriere
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Anthony Costa; 3.Adel El Jamal, 4.Mun Soo Gil (12.Andrew Bevin 64?), 5.Michael West, 7.Stephen Kayes, 8.Adam D?Apuzzo, 9.Ethan Galbraith, 10.Franco Parisi, 14.Adam Casey, 16.Michael Hawrysiuk, 18.Brendan Reilly.
Substitutes Not Used: 22.David Bradasevic, 15.Bradley Bartels, 17.Sam Salameh, 20.Gyu Re Lee
Yellow Cards: Galbraith 71?
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 4.Yianni Fragogianis, 5.Paul Cotte, 6.Matt Gordon, 8.Chris Price, 12.Hayden Morton, 13.Nikolas Tsattalios, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 17.Pat Savor (11.Todd Halloran 80?), 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Tyson Rhodes, 9.Hussein Salameh, 25.Ben Cornish, 22.Simon Jaeger
Yellow Cards: Nikas 48?, Tsattalios 75?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joe Russo