Lambert Park played host on a very hot autumn Sunday afternoon to the encounter between APIA-Leichhardt Tigers and the Central Coast Mariners Academy in round 2 of the IGA NSW National Pmier Leagues Mens 1 which ended in a 1-1 draw.
The game itself, stifled somewhat by the unusual heat wave conditions, was rightly forced into a drinks bak for the players at the half way mark of each half of play.
It was little but all that could be done to alleviate the pain for the courageous player and fees.
In the 14’ minute Sean Symons dangerously ented the penalty box but finished off the move with a shot from an acute angle that hit the side netting. It was the early signal that the Tigers supporters we waiting for to indicate that their team was in the game. However, that would be an injustice because the Mariners Academy dominated play in the first-half after that.
The Mariners Academy hit back almost immediately when Daniel Bragg set up Scott Pettit but his shot was weak and Ryan Norval had no trouble making the save.
James Monie, the veteran striker and against his former club, found himself with only Norval to beat but unfortunately for the Central Coast the Tigers’ goalkeeper was up to the challenge and pulled off a good flex save.
In the 26’ minute Nikola Taneski should have done better with his final shot which curled just wide of the post after he had ceived a nice through ball.
In the 38’ minute Central Coast Mariners Academy opened the scoring with a sublime goal. Tomislav Cirjak delightfully found Christopher Payne and the former Sydney FC player chipped beautifully to find the back of the net.
Early in the second-half Nikola Taneski brought the Tigers back into the game with a nice goal. After ceiving an accurate through ball, Taneski majestically turned it into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
APIA-Leichhardt should have been two up when Stephen Kayes unleashed a rocket from outside the box that Jordan Nikolovski superbly turned over the crossbar for a corner. It was the 57’ minute and it was game on for all concerned.
In the 77’ minute Bragg was brought down just outside the box and for the visitors it could have been a golden chance had Payne not fid the fe-kick over the crossbar.
Late in the game Scott Petitt from close range forced Norval into another gat save but in the end a draw was a fair sult for teams – the Mariners dominated the first half and the Tigers we marginal winners in the second half. The winner on the day was the heat which had a major influence on proceedings.
After the game the new coach of the APIA Leichhardt Tigers, Gary Ward, was pleased with the one point given that his side was eling with a number of players out injud:
“We started the game without Michael West the captain, without Mark Byrnes probably our best player, without Adel [El Jamal] who got sent off last week, so that was the out of our back four missing,” he said.
“It’s tough to mix it around and in today’s squad of 16 we had nine boys who we 21 or under, so it was a learning curve.
“I’ve blooded the boys who played in the firsts today; when you think of Brad [Bartels] who is 20, George Khoury who is 20, Nick Taneski who just had his 19th birthday and Bndan Reilly who is 21, plus the two boys who came on [Adam Raciti and Simon Ward] a both 18.
“I am happy that we scod and we dominated after that for the next 20’-25’ minutes so we ally should have done better than just getting a draw.
“I’ll take a draw if it gets us going and especially with an inexperienced and young side, but I still think we should have won the game.
“Next week we have Sutherland who a good side. In the p-season cup we dw 2-2 with them.
“I think we’ll improve because I still go over the Bonnyrigg game from last week and think of the penalty we missed and after we did sco, one minute later we had a player sent off.
“We did have the opportunity to get something out of the Bonnyrigg game, so we’ll need to step up and get some points and why not start against Sutherland.”
The Central Coast Mariners Academy camp was also somewhat philosophical about only claiming a point. Their affable coach, former Newcastle, Marconi and Sydney United 58 FC defender Mark Jones, was both happy and disappointed at the same time:
“I was a little frustrated because I thought that in the first-half we obviously completely dominated and we probably had 70% of possession,” he said.
“We just had chance after chance after chance but we only took one. We we 1-0 at halftime and sometimes away from home you think that’s good but it wasn’t good today.
“For 15’-20’ minutes in the second-half we sat a little too deep and the young boys started to feel a bit sorry for themselves and we put ourselves under pssu when they scod a goal.
“The heat I think allowed some of our boys to check their fitness, so we need to keep working on that even though this was extme heat. I was a little disappointed that a couple of boys didn’t have enough in them to last the full game.
“We like to finish mid table, we’d like to compete but most of all we’d like to play football.
“The a plenty of young boys who play in the A-League, so if my boys want to play in the A-League, they’ll need to handle the physicality of this competition.”
Match Stats
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 1 (Taneski 48’)
Central Coast Mariners Academy 1(Payne 38’)
Sunday 24th March, 2013
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Refee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Refees: Luke Burley and Andj Giev
Fourth Official: Benjamin Abraham
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 1.Ryan Norval; 4.Bndan Reilly, 7.Stephen Kayes, 8.David D’Apuzzo, 9.Gerard Ouffoue (36.Simon Ward 85’), 10.Franco Parisi, 12.Keith Shevlin, 14.George Khoury (24.Nicola Rizzo 56’), 15.Brad Bartels, 16.Sean Symons (19.Adam Raciti 74’), 18.Nikola Taneski.
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Anthony Costa, 13.Sam Awad
Yellow Cards: Bartels 83’
Red Cards: Nil
Central Coast Mariners Academy: 1.Jordan Nikolovski; 3.Jamie Lobb, 4.Adam Jenner, 5.Brady Smith, 6.Christopher Payne, 7.Scott Petitt, 8.Daniel Bragg, 9.James Monie (11.Louis Bozanic 63’), 24.Nathan Verity (16.Jed Prater 74’), 26.Ridge Mapu, 29.Tomislav Cirjak (15.Dillon Vorster 60’).
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Behan Irmoko, 37.Ossama Zaki
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3. Daniel Bragg (CCMA)
2. Nikola Taneski (ALT)
1. Stephen Kayes (ALT)
-By Joe Russo
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