Sydney United 58 return to winning ways

SYDNEY United 58 returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Blacktown City at Sydney United Sports Centre on Sunday.

Former Sydney FC striker Alec Urosevski made the difference with his 48′ minute goal splitting the sides with Blacktown City lamenting several missed chances.

The match started at a relatively slow pace with both sides trying to control possession.

Blacktown City created the first opportunity in the 8′ minute when Travis Major found space down the right hand side, crossing to an oncoming Ryuji Miyazawa whose flying volley skewed wide.

Giorgio Speranza’s speculative attempt from 35 yards saw United goalkeeper Diego Barcena back pedalling in the 12’minute before tapping the ball over the cross bar and out for a corner as Blacktown held possession to good effect.

Blacktown continued to pile on the pressure five minutes later as Daniel Araujo moved infield, linking with Miyazawa but the former sliced his shot wide.

Sydney United 58 quickly moved up field and created their first real chance of the match in the 20′ minute. Ivan Pavlak crossed to find Luka Glavas in the box only for his attempt to deflect off Jacob Poscoliero and out for a corner

Miyazawa almost turned creator again in the 25′ minute, picking up the ball from a short corner before finding Zac Cairncross at the back post, whose header forced Barcena into a smart save to keep the scores level.

Ibrahim Haydar almost gifted Blacktown the lead on the half hour mark with a poor back pass intercepted by Kearyn Baccus. The Blacktown City midfielder turned Nathan Sherlock but his shot failed to trouble Barcena.

Sherlock then made his own defensive mistake as Blacktown City opened up the United defence in the 35′ minute, the move ending with Matt Lewis hitting the cross bar from close range.

On the stroke of half time Pavlak made inroads on the left hand side for United, getting between two Blacktown defenders and passing to Urosevski who could not turn quickly enough to get a shot on target.

Sydney United 58 came out from the break hungry to break the deadlock as Ante Tomic blasted a shot wide almost immediately.

Blacktown quickly responded via Major with the striker bringing the ball down from a throw in before forcing Barcena into a save at the near post.

But it was the home side who took the lead in the 48′ minute when Jacob Esposito found space on the right and crossed to Urosevski, the striker’s left foot volley finding the back of the net to break the deadlock.

Esposito attacked from right back again in the 54′ minute unleashing a ferocious shot forcing Nenad Vekic to tap the ball over the bar.

Blacktown right back Marco Travaglini tried to get his side back into the game just after the hour mark, rising well to meet a cross but unable to hit the target.

Tomic troubled Travaglini on the right in the 70′ minute, finding a way past the defender before sending a beautiful cross into the box with Vekic only parrying into the path of Glavas, before the ball was cleared by Speranza.

Esposito saved Barcena’s blushes three minutes later when the goalkeeper miss-timed his jump for the ball leaving the goal open as the defender stood tall to block an impending header.

In the 76′ minute Glavas ran at the Blacktown defence before threading a ball to Urosevski, but Vekic came off his line well thwart the opportunity.

Both sides fought hard to nab a goal in the dying stages but United held on for an important victory.

Blacktown City FC head coach Mark Crittenden said missed opportunities came back to haunt his side.

“We had enough chances to put the game to bed to be honest,” he said.

“I thought we had two definite and probably six chances in the first half and didn’t score them.

“They set up with a plan to nullify our pace and they did well.

“We said the only way they will score is from a counter and they did, we took a corner and they scored off a counter attack.

“Full credit to Rudes, he set them up well and they got the three points.”

Mark Rudan was happy with the disciplined performance by his side.

“They were very disciplined and very focused and I was really happy from that aspect,” he said.

“We’ve got to take your chances, we certainly have created plenty of chances this season and I guess the ball hasn’t gone our way.

“But it is good to finally get a result. I think we have always been competitive in every match so I am pleased for the players that we got what I thought we deserved today.”

Match Stats
Sydney United 58 1 (Alec Urosevski 48’)
Blacktown City 0
Sunday May 18, 2014
Sydney United Sports Centre
Sydney United 58: 1.Diego Barcena: 3.Jacob Espositio,  11.Luka Glavas (c) (15.Mark Cindric 78’), 20.Ibrahim Haydar, 17.Theo Kofinas, 12.Ivan Pavlak, 4.Nathan Sherlock, 6.Mitchell Stamatellis, 2.Anthony Tomelic (19.Matthew Bilic 86’), 8.AnteTomic, 7.Alec Urosevski (23.Kaz Patafta 86’)
Substitutes not used: 18.Richard Darko, 41.Jayden Diacono
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Blacktown City: 1.Nenad Vekic; 18.Daniel Araujo (11.Danny Choi 59’), 16.Kearyn Baccus, 19.Zac Cairncross, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 6.Matthew Lewis (12.Joel Hardwick 68’) , 8.Sasa Macura, 7.Travis Major (c), 5.Jacob Poscoliero, 3.Giorgio Speranza, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 15.Marco Travaglini (17.Kieren Paull 86’)
Substitutes not used: 13.Blake Tuxford, 10.Nicola Kyleski
Yellow cards: Daniel Araujo 58’
Red cards: Nil
Player ratings:
3- Jacob Esposito (SU58)
2- Diego Barcena (SU58)
1-   Kearyn Baccus (BCFC)
– By Chris Georges, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Sydney United Sports Centre