ELIMINATION FINAL
Blacktown City vs Rockdale City Suns, Saturday 11am at John Crehan Park
Fourth placed Blacktown City take on fifth place Rockdale City Suns in the Elimination Final on Saturday morning.
John Crehan Park will be the venue for the match in which Blacktown City are favourites, having returned to form by beating a poor Bonnyrigg White Eagles outfit 4-2 last weekend.
Mark Strachan?s side was unstoppable early in the season and looked odds on to run away with the Premiership, but they found their match in Sutherland Sharks, who ended up winning the Premiership by five points.
Blacktown City ended up in fourth position and only an upset victory by Sydney United 58 over APIA Leichhardt Tigers in the final few rounds ensured that they headed into the final round safely in the top five.
Their loss of form in the middle of the season was quite alarming, but they have shown flashes of their brilliant best since and if they can harness the ability and talent that made them so formidable earlier in the season, they will certainly be confident of surviving this match.
Rockdale City Suns had a steady regular season, maintaining a presence in and around the top five throughout the entire 22 rounds of football.
Under the guidance of their coach Justin Bucciarelli, they have forged a reputation as being very difficult to beat. They headed into last weekend?s match against Parramatta Eagles needing a point to hold on to fifth ahead of the fast finishing Eagles.
Their hopes appeared dashed when Wandi Jajaw put Parramatta 2-1 up with three minutes remaining, but a second goal of the match from half-time substitute James Villazon straight from the resulting kick off grabbed Rockdale City a 2-2 draw and ensured that they remained in fifth place.
Blacktown City will rely on their midfielder talisman and captain Harry Brown to dictate the tempo of the match, allowing their attackers to flourish. In Luke Turnbull, they have the outstanding goalkeeper in the competition.
Rockdale City?s strength lies in their resilience and defensive strength, where their captain Lachlan O?Connor has been outstanding. Alan Kovacevic has been in good form also, and scored for the first grade side against Parramatta Eagles last weekend.
For one side, they will progress to the second week of the semi finals where they will face the loser of the Qualifiying Final between Manly United and Blacktown Spartans. For the other, their season will be over and their dreams dashed.
QUALIFYING FINAL
Manly United vs Blacktown Spartans, Sunday 1.30pm at Belmore Sports Ground
Second placed finishers Manly United take on third placed finishers Blacktown Spartans at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon, for the chance to play Sutherland Sharks in a Grand Final qualifier in the second week of the finals.
Manly United had a terrific middle part of the season, in which they soared up the table after a slow start.
They took advantage of the loss of form of Sutherland Sharks and Blacktown City to reel in the deficit they had to the top of the table and they finished five points adrift of Sutherland at the end of the season.
They cruised to a 3-1 win over Sydney Olympic last weekend and will play at the same ground again this weekend.
Blacktown Spartans finished two points adrift of Manly United in what was a hugely successful debut season in the NSW Premier League. In Hoysar Cakal they had the Golden Boot winner for 2012, his 15 goals setting him clear of a number of players on 12 goals, including Manly United?s Michael McGinley.
Mark Zecchin?s well drilled side are more than capable of taking the game to United and they warmed up for the finals series with a solid 2-0 win against APIA Leichhardt Tigers at Lambert Park.
It will be difficult to separate the two sides but by virtue of their sustained excellence throughout the regular season, they will be granted another opportunity should they not be victorious in this match.
-By Matthew Connellan
Archives for September 2012
NSW Premier League Round 22 Highlights ONLINE now
As part of Football NSW?s revamped coverage on the NSW Premier League, all six matches will be highlighted and shown every Wednesday/Thursday giving you a look at all the goals, thrills and spills of NSW?s top tier football competition.
The 2012 regular season drew to a close on Sunday afternoon as five teams remain heading into the finals series next weekend.
Premiers Bonnyrigg White Eagles were second best at Blacktown City though still managed to secure a win, securing 53-points this season with fifty goals scored in the process.
Marconi Stallions added a final blow to Sydney United?s season with a 1-0 win in the local derby, securing third-spot in the process.
Sydney Olympic has sealed second spot with a draw against Manly United FC, meanwhile Rockdale City Suns sent captain, and club legend, Peter Apolevski out with a win in the side?s come-from-behind 2-1 defeat of Parramatta FC ? the loss for the Eagles condemning Lee Sterrey?s men to bottom-spot on the ladder.
At Lambert Park, APIA-Leichhardt completed five wins on the trot defeating Blacktown Spartans – the day a significant one for the Tigers, and the League, as it was the last Premier League match to be played on the natural grass. Lambert Park will have a new synthetic playing surface for season 2013.
To view the highlights click here
2012 NSW Premier League Tipping Competition Winners
Congratulations to Louie Apostolovski who took out the competition and won the major prize of a $300 gift voucher to be spent at Football NSW?s Soccer Wearhouse.
Adam Scimone, Peter Rowney and Omer Aslan all picked up runners up prizes for finishing equal on points and picked up $100 gift vouchers each to be spent also at Football NSW?s Soccer Wearhouse.
All winners will receive vouchers from the FNSW Soccer Wearhouse and need to collect their prizes by the 1st of December 2012.
2012 heralded a very successful tipping competition with hundreds of users signing up to the tipping competition, a big thank you to all who were involved, the competition will return bigger and better in 2013.
Special Feature: Mark Rudan hungry to remain a first grade coach
Rudan was thrown into the role only a few weeks into the season after the departure of Wally Savor.
A late season slump only halted Rudan?s Rockdale side who claimed the scalp of NSW Premier League Premiers Bonnyrigg White Eagles through a purple patch of form.
After having his first taste of coaching Rudan told Football NSW he was eager to continue.
“I thoroughly enjoyed myself,?? Rudan said.
“Rockdale is a fantastic club with fantastic people attached to it as well. In that respect I couldn?t have asked for more.
“I guess I am fortunate enough to do it as a full time role and anything I do I put everything into it.
“I think there are a lot of positives (to come out of this season), there?s also a couple of things that transpired that you learn from.
“But those things can only make you a better person and a better coach.
“All in all it was a fantastic experience.??
“There were a lot of positives to come out of (the season) including giving a lot of youngsters the opportunity to play week in week out.??
Rudan?s future has been the centre of speculation in the NSW Premier League of late with rumours persisting he will re-join former club Sydney United as a coach from next season.
The former defender admitted he had heard from Sydney United but no decision had been made yet.
“I?ll be making a decision sooner rather than later. Whether they come back to me it is totally up to them.”
-By Chris Georges
APIA Leichhardt end season with a bang
The game itself between APIA-Leichhardt and Blacktown Spartans may not have meant much in terms of the finals series but for both teams pride was at stake.
The Tigers too were out to continue their winning run given that under coach Billy McColl they had won four games from four attempts. And they didn?t disappoint, sending McColl out with the perfect record of five wins from all five games that he was in charge.
After the game an elated McColl spoke about the difficult game against the Spartans and with pride and passion about APIA Leichhardt in general.
?It was a battle out there today,? he said. ?We wanted to win because it was the last game at home at Lambert Park and we wanted to send Danial Cummins off [retirement] on a high note.
?I am always happy to come back to the club but I feel a bit like an Italian boomerang.
?This club will go from strength to strength next year and once we get our new surface and we appoint our new coach, you will see the kids develop. They will finish in the top half of the competition and be one of the best teams over the next ten years.?
The first real opportunity of a rather dull first-half fell to Jacob Ott who in the 20? minute blasted a dangerous shot just over the crossbar from outside the box.
APIA-Leichhardt did indeed finish the first-half with a late flurry of opportunities. Michael West in the 41? minute found that he couldn?t penetrate the wall-like orange and black defence with his shot from fairly close range.
In the 44? minute the best opportunity of the half fell to the Tigers; Brad Bartels sent in a delightful cross from the right into the middle for Ethan Galbraith, but the tall marksman couldn?t find the target thanks to the handy work of Carlos Saliadarre between the posts.
In the second-half, on 62? minutes Bartels was brought down in the penalty-area by Djordje Degenek, who actually injured himself in the process, and referee Michael Weiner had no hesitation in awarding the spot kick. Up stepped the retiring Danial Cummins but his rather weak attempt was saved, but not held, by Saliadarre and Mun Soo Gil, charging into the box, managed to force the ball home for the Tigers.
In the 72? minute APIA-Leichhardt almost doubled their lead when Bartels, with a powerful shot, sent the ball just wide of Saliadarre?s net.
Chris Bedzo replied for the visitors shortly afterwards with a powerful drive from outside the box but his attempt ended up just wide. It was the best the Spartans could offer in the second-half.
APIA-Leichhardt?s second goal came in the 82? minute when a cross from the right was met by Mark Byrnes and the former captain of the Australian under-17 team had no hesitation in heading home.
From this point onwards the Spartans were shut out of the game and APIA had secured another courageous victory.
After the game Spartans player Luke Boyd expressed his frustration about the ground but with the new surface due over the summer, then that is well and truly a moot point. However, he also expressed satisfaction about the season as whole given that the Blacktown Spartans had just finished their first season in the NSW Premier League after securing promotion from the NSW Super League.
?You can?t do much on a ground a like this,? he said. ?We did run out there and tried to win but coming here you almost need a completely different team to compete on a field like this.
?A lot of young guys in our squad hadn?t played in this league before so we did alright this year, but maybe we could have done a little better in those close games where we only lost by a goal.
?It?s a good first season anyway and Ben (DeHaan) will build this team up for next year because he?s a good coach and we should do well.?
Match Stats
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 2 (Mun Soo Gil 63?, Mark Byrnes 82?)
Blacktown Spartans 0
Sunday 2nd September, 2012
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees: Sebastian Brennan and Wayne Crabb
Fourth Official: Sam Grasso
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Anthony Costa; 2.Mark Byrnes, 4.Mun Soo Gil, 5.Michael West, 6.Danial Cummins (13.Paul Galimi 89?), 7.Stephen Kayes, 9.Ethan Galbraith (14.Nick Taneski 89?), 12.Brian Griffin-Colls, 15.Bradley Bartels (11.Adam Raciti 87?), 18.Brendan Reilly, 20.Gyu Re Lee.
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Stefan Giglio, 17.Sam Salameh,
Yellow Cards: Galbraith 86?
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown Spartans: 1.Carlos Saliadarre; 2.Michael Khoury, 5.Luke Boyd, 8.Djordje Degenek (15.Louis Bozanic 71?), 9.Chris Bedzo, 10.Chris Gomez, 14.Jonathan Castano-Acero, 22.Andre Carle (11.Steven Veleski 79?), 23.Chris Bush, 27.Jacob Ott (7.Chris Gaitatzis 59?), 36.Tomislav Herceg.
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Peter Hubbard, 40.Daniel Sadaka
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joe Russo