Team of the Week for Round 1 saw Bonnyrigg White Eagles shot stopper James Chronopoulos earn himself a spot between the sticks with a clean sheet.
Parramatta FC’s captain and club stalwart Patrick Gatt took the mantle in the centre of defence.
David Gullo helped himself to a brace on Parramatta’s return to the top flight, while Sean O’Connell debuted for his new club Sutherland Sharks and was a standout in the role of defensive midfielder.
Joel Chianese had the greatest of debut’s for the Bonnyrigg White Eagles, picking up two goals away at Manly and earning him a spot in the team. Fellow former Sydney FC youngster Mitch Mallia stole the show this week though, scoring a hat-trick for Blacktown City against Sydney United 58 FC.
Archives for March 2015
PS4 NPL NSW Men’s 1 Round 1 Review
ISN’T it good to be back?
The PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 competition kicked off and if this week’s Match of the Round is anything to go by, we are in for one thrilling season.
The APIA-Leichhardt Tigers scored a rare round one win, thrashing Rockdale City Suns 4-2 at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
ROUND 1 REVIEW
Marconi Stallions 1-2 Parramatta FC, at Marconi Stadium
Newly promoted Parramatta started their season with a 2-1 win against traditional giants Marconi Stallions on Saturday night.
The Eagles led 2-0 at the break thanks to a brace of near-identical free kicks from David Gullo.
Christopher Nunes, raring to go after injury problems last season, pulled one back, but it wasn’t enough as Parramatta claimed a valuable three points.
Sutherland Sharks 3-1 Blacktown Spartans, at Seymour Shaw Park
Sutherland kick-started their 2015 with a fairly convincing win over Blacktown Spartans in Miranda on Saturday night.
Seongjin Park was making his NPL debut for the Sharks and he opened the scoring after only 17 minutes.
It was a lead Sutherland took into the break and one which they double through Jordan Figon only six minutes after the interval.
Former Marconi man Shu Sasaki gave Spartans hope with a goal ten minutes from time, only for Figon’s second in the 88th minute to put paid to their hopes of a comeback.
Sydney Olympic 3-0 South Coast Wolves, at Belmore Sports Ground
Sydney Olympic put their Preseason Cup Final defeat to bed with a strong 3-0 win over South Coast Wolves on Sunday afternoon.
Go Shirai’s goal shortly after the half hour had Olympic one to the good.
But it needed late goals from Shirai again (87th minute) and Taiga Soeda (88th minute) to seal the victory over a Wolves outfit who never really showed up.
Manly United 0-3 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, at Cromer Park
Bonnyrigg flexed their considerable muscle, crushing Manly United 3-0 on Back to Manly Day at Cromer Park on Sunday.
Paul Dee’s men had no answer for Bonnyrigg’s pace and power. The White Eagles took the lead in the fourth minute through Aaron Peterson and it was all one-way traffic thereafter.
Joel Chianese made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute, before adding his second and Bonnyrigg’s third in the last minute of play.
Rockdale City Suns 2-4 APIA-Leichhardt Tigers, at Linden Sports Centre
This week’s Match of the Round was a six goal thriller between Rockdale City and APIA-Leichhardt on Sunday afternoon.
Billy McColl and Rod Williams had APIA purring as they raced to a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Sean Symons and a penalty to Blake Powell.
Franco Parisi’s wonderful double made it 4-0 to the visitors, after the number 10 volley home from the edge of the area, before seven minutes later embarking on a mazy run that finished with a nutmeg and shot into the bottom corner.
Rockdale sub Marko Jesic scored twice off the bench, both from set pieces, to add a degree of respectability to the scoreline.
Blacktown City 3-2 Sydney United 58 FC, at Lilys Football Centre
A superb first half hat trick to Mitchell Mallia saw Blacktown City take all three points at home to Sydney United 58 FC on Sunday afternoon.
Mallia netted in the 14th, 27th and 45th minutes to register a remarkable treble in a match that saw all five goals scored in the first half.
Theo Kofinas’ 33rd minute goal made it 2-1, and when Stjepan Paric scored only two minutes later, United looked to have made a huge comeback.
But Mallia was left to have the final say, netting his third before the break to win all three points for his side.
– By Matthew Lopez, PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 Editor
White Eagles too strong for Manly
BONNYRIGG showed why are the yardstick in the PS4 NPL NSW Men’s 1 competition after outclassing Manly United FC 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Cromer Park.
The White Eagles have assembled a great squad for their 2015 campaign and their class was evident after just 4′ minutes when they found the back of the net.
Ben Spruce hit a diagonal ball into the path of Aaron Peterson, who after taking a majestic touch on the 18 yard box, glided it past Dylan Mitchell.
United youngster Lachie McLean had the chance to square proceedings after 18′ minutes but his header at the near post looped over the crossbar.
It proved costly when Joel Chianese rocketed an effort into the top corner with 22′ minutes played.
The former Sydney FC striker was played into space by Robbie Younis and after giving himself room, Chianese laced a ball that never looked like missing.
Younis should have made it three with half an hour gone, but was brilliantly denied by Mitchell from six yards.
United registered another shot on target through attacking ace Brendan Cholakian leading into the break, but it was a tame effort which James Chronopoulos gobbled up.
The second half was largely a tame affair, with Bonnyrigg taking no chances in defence and Manly often losing the ball in transition.
Chianese stabbed home his second of the afternoon at the death when he was fouled in the box.
To his credit he was quickly on his feet, with referee Adam Susz playing an excellent advantage.
With the ball seemingly glued to his boots, he twisted and turned before slotting past Mitchell.
White Eagles coach Brian "Bomber" Brown was very happy with what his troops dished up in their season opener.
"We should have put the game to bed in the first half, but I always felt we were in control,” he said.
"The boys at the back were great and our lads up front scored goals – you can’t ask for much more than that.
"I think we can get better in a number of areas, which is what you want at this time of year."
United captain Graeme Forbes conceded their opponents were just too clinical.
"We copped three soft goals, simple as that,” he said.
"It was sloppy and you can’t give quality teams like Bonnyrigg absolute gifts.
"We are looking long term – the way I see it, we have 21 games to go.
"Our focus is already on the APIA game next weekend – we are going to come up against some red hot teams this season, we just need to play smarter and take our chances."
Pre game in the clubhouse, celebrations were in full swing as United hosted a Back to Manly Day.
A number of former players and identities dropped in to swap stories from yesteryear in what is now a popular annual event.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3 (Aaron Peterson 4′, Joel Chianese 22′, 90′)
Sunday March 15, 2015
Cromer Park
Referee: Adam Susz
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee, Joon Park
Fourth Official: Matthew Reidy
Manly United: 1.Dylan MITCHELL, 2.Kieren PAULL, (16.Ivan ROCA 82′) 3.Jamie LOBB, 4.Graeme FORBES, 5.Rhys WILLIAMS, 8.Brad MCDONALD, 9.Bastien BEUCHAT, (18.Daniel BRAGG 69′) 10.Brendan CHOLAKIAN, 11.Adam PARKHOUSE, 19.Daniel SARIC, 29.Lachlan MCLEAN (17.Tommy MORRISSEY 62′)
Substitutes not used: 20.Tonu Liiband,15.Travis Oughtred
Yellow Cards: Forbes 64′, Bragg 80′
Red cards: None
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.James CHRONOPOULOS, 4.Reece CAIRA, (12.Dylan FOX 5.Chris TADROSSE, 7.Tynan DIAZ, 10.Joel CHIANESE, 15.Ray MILLER, 11.Ben SPRUCE, 9.Robbie YOUNIS, (18.Yuta KOKADO 71′) 6.Nikola ZONJIC, 13.Adam JENNER, (2.Alex MANSUETO 88′) 19.Aaron PETERSON
Substitutes not used: 8.Alex CANAK, 21.Liam GOBBO
Yellow cards: Tadrosse 28′, Miller 53′
Red cards: None
Player Ratings
3 – Joel Chianese (BWE)
2 – Chris Tadrosse (BWE)
1 – Robbie Younis (BWE)
PS4 NPL NSW Men’s 1 Grade 20s Round 1 Review
THE PS4 National Premier League’s NSW Grade 20s competition kicked off in earnest over the weekend.
The Match of the Round saw the APIA-Leichhardt Tigers edge a 1-0 win over Rockdale City Suns at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
Rockdale City Suns 0-1 APIA-Leichhardt Tigers, at Ilinden Sports Centre
APIA Leichhardt Tigers edged a 1-0 win against Rockdale City Suns in a tight opening round match of the PS4 National Premier League NSW Men’s 1 Grade 20s at the Ilinden Sports Centre.
Neither side could find a breakthrough in a first half dominated by half-chances and cynical fouls, but APIA’s Zac Ribeiro broke the deadlock with a simple finish in the 71st minute to give his side a deserved lead.
The opening minutes were cagey, as could be expected in the first game of the season, with APIA defender Stephan Adattini earning himself a yellow card in the third minute. Both sides were content to give away largely insignificant fouls high up the field, though this eventually gave way to a more open game as APIA began to dominate possession.
Rockdale City’s early shots were from long range, while APIA sought to put together more intricate moves to find a way to goal; Scott Lachlan and Ribeiro combining well up front to win free-kicks in dangerous positions for the visitors. With 12 minutes gone, Ribeiro went close with an effort from the left side.
The home side looked to inject some urgency into their general play after spending long periods out of possession, and began breaking well with Caleb Russell and Max Sherry, though APIA soon settled back onto the ball.
Lachlan was ever-present; slipping through Raffaele Moniaci for a one-on-one which was saved well by Blake Horton in the Rockdale goal, and keeping up constant pressure on the opposition defensive line. Minutes before halftime, he won a corner from which Adrian Vlastelica grazed the crossbar, before breaking through to score a goal which was called back for offside.
APIA picked up where they left off after the halftime break, and had the ball in the back of the net again in the 52nd minute when Ribeiro followed up a shot from Moniaci after it had glanced off the inside of the post. Again, however, the goal was ruled out for offside, and Ribeiro earned himself a yellow card for protesting the decision.
Rockdale City had a greater number of clear cut opportunities in the second half, none more so than in the 62nd minute: played in behind the APIA defenders, Caleb Russell could only manage a tame shot after the ball got stuck between his feet.
Both midfields began to stretch as the game wore on, and APIA eventually made their physical superiority tell. Lachlan was played through on the left side and slid a square ball across the face of Horton’s goal which was met by Ribeiro inside the six yard box. It was a deserved lead; APIA having arguably had the better chances all afternoon.
Rockdale pushed hard in the closing minutes, but never truly threatened APIA’s lead. Sherry fired a swerving shot at the visitors goal, but the keeper saved well, having had relatively little to do for most of the game. A late free kick, taken by Rockdale’s Vincent Giannini, was sent high and wide, and APIA finished 1-0 winners.
APIA coach Danial Cummins was understandably pleased with his team’s performance after the game. “We’ve got a bit of work to do and we’ve still got a young team, but I’m really proud of how they went out in the second half. We’ve got a few big weeks ahead of us, and a few injuries to deal with, but this is the best possible start.
“We came away from here last season having lost pretty heavily and we knew it’d be tough today, but the boys have trained well up to now and I’m proud of their efforts.”
“It was a tight game,” said Rockdale coach John Calleja. “We were disappointed to not get anything from the first half because I thought we dominated early on.
“We didn’t really play well in the second half, and you have to give credit to Leichhardt for taking the sting out of our attack. In the end, they probably deserve the result.”
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns 0
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 1 (Ribeiro 71’)
Sunday March 15, 2015,
Rockdale Ilinden Sport Centre
Rockdale City Suns : Horton, Dubocanin, Giannini, Kagaras, Petrillo, Russell, Savor I., Savor P., Sherry, Tipevski, Woo
Substitutes: Bodon, Grbevski, Jacques, McGinn, Visnic
Yellow Cards: Nil
APIA Leichardt Tigers: Moore, Adattini Alassmi, Cook, Cox, McCarron, Moniaci, Perez, Ribeiro, Lachlan, Vlastelica
Substitutes not used: Koliomihos, Rydzewski, Walker, Zvezdakovski, Rinaldi
Yellow Cards: Adattini 2’, Ribeiro 52’
-By Max Grieve, PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Grade 20s Reporter, at Ilinden Sports Centre
ROUND 1 REVIEW
Saturday
Marconi Stallions 2-2 Parramatta FC at Marconi Stadium
Four goals were shared evenly between Marconi and Parramatta in the opening game of the Grade 20s season, with Noah Chianese and Ryan Peterson scoring for the home side.
Sutherland Sharks 9-1 Blacktown Spartans at Seymour Shaw Park
The Sharks crushed the Spartans by an 8 goal margin on Saturday afternoon, with Charles Lockolingoy scoring 4 of his side’s nine goals. Sharks player Jayden McLeod was awarded a late red card.
Sunday
Sydney Olympic 3-1 South Coast Wolves at Belmore Sports Ground
Sydney Olympic began 2015 with a routine 3-1 win over South Coast Wolves, with Jason Madonis scoring a brace and Jason Green contributing a third.
Manly United 1-0 Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC at Cromer Park
Christopher Arditti scored the only goal of the game as Manly United recorded a 1-0 home win over Bonnyrigg White Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
Blacktown City 2-5 Sydney United 58 at Lily’s Football Centre
Sydney United 58 came away from Blacktown City with a resounding 5-2 win, with goals from Blacktown’s Juan Zapata and Jonathan Grozdanovski cancelled out by efforts from players including Lachlan Roberts and Alex Vlismas.
– By Max Grieve, PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Grade 20s Reporter
Ten man Olympic steamroll Wolves
TEN man Sydney Olympic ground out an impressive 3-0 victory over the South Coast Wolves to start the PS4 National Premier League NSW Men’s 1 competition on a high at Belmore Sports Ground.
It was an all Japanese affair on the scoresheet for Olympic with attacker Go Shirai and stand in skipper Taiga Soeda finding the back of the net in a lacklustre opening round fixture.
The home side’s win was all the more special after enigmatic winger William Angel was sent from the field in the first half leaving Olympic with 10 men for majority of the match.
Sydney Olympic opened the Wolves up on the right hand side early with quick first time passes in the middle of the park before finding an advancing Brayden Sorge on the right whose early cross failed to find a teammate.
South Coast returned the favour a minute later with a free kick from the right curling wide of the mark.
Dimitri Hatzimouratis found the ball with space in front of him in the 8th minute, attacking a retreating Wolves defence but could only shoot the ball past the left hand upright.
Opposing striker Peter Simonoski almost capitalised on a defensive mistake, winning the ball before beating Leigh Egger into the box only for a retreating defender to clear the ball out for the corner in the 14th minute.
The Wolves saw a golden chance go begging a minute as left back Darcy Madden headed the ball over the bar from point blank range.
Sorge threw more caution to the Wolves on the right hand side in the 20th minute with a fantastic low cross to the near post aimed at Hatzimouratis well gathered by Thomas Hamilton.
The lacklustre opening to the match took a wild twist in the 27th minute when Olympic’s William Angel was shown a straight red card after kicking the legs of a Wolves player from behind.
Despite being one man down the home side took the lead five minutes later with Go Shirai getting on the end of a ball over the top of the defence, touching the ball past Hamilton and shooting the ball into the open net.
With the numerical advantage South Coast made their intentions clear as they came out of the blocks firing in the second half.
Madden made a great run down the left hand side in the 49th minute cutting back to a free Bradley Welch whose shot went sailing over the bar.
Minutes later the Wolves went even closer as Christopher Price’s corner was met by Simonoski who just missed the target at the near post.
Olympic were not resting on their laurels and continued to attack at every opportunity.
David Stojic was next to have a strike for the away side getting on the end of a failed clearance with a great strike forcing Paul Henderson into a diving save on 59 minutes.
Wolves coach Nahuel Arrarte sensed his side needed some fresh legs in attack and made a double substitution two minutes later with George COdrea and Jordan Murray replacing Bradley Welch and Jordan Lavalle.
Olympic’s failed to clear the ball in the 74th minute giving the Wolves a chance to equalise only for Murray to scuff his shot straight into the hands of a waiting Henderson.
The failed opportunities came back to haunt the Wolves in the dying minutes when Olympic scored two to put the game to bed.
First Go Shirai threw his hat into the ring with an early contender for goal of the season, his fantastic strike from 25 yards curling into the top right hand corner before Taiga Soeda tapped the ball in from a counter a minute later.
Following the match Sydney Olympic head coach Grant Lee was pleased with his side’s win despite a scrappy start.
“I think the conditions today with the wind ripping down the middle of the park was pretty strong maybe played a little bit of a part,” he said.
“It was a silly send-off but then it kicked us into gear a bit and we were never realy tested after that.
“With 10 men for 60 to 65 minutes of the game we never really felt tested, I thought we did very well with our shape and effort and it was a nice result.”
In the away dressing room South Coast head coach Nahuel Arrarte was furious with his side’s application.
“We are very disappointed but full credit to Sydney Olympic to go down to 10 men and win but it is unacceptable on our behalf,” he said.
“We sort of fell apart and at the end we were sort of chasing the game so that can happen.
“But it is not acceptable from our perspective and I can’t explain that.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 3 (Shirai 32’, 87’, Soeda 88’)
South Coast Wolves 0
Sunday March 15, 2015
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Daniel Stack and Patrick Teleki
Fourth Official: Matthew McOrist
Sydney Olympic: Henderson, Angel, Balderson (H. Gaitatzis 66’), Egger, Fondyke, Hatzimouratis (Keir 80’), Shirai, Soeda ©, Sorge, Hooper, Tsattalios (Spyrakis 54’)
Substitutions not used: Dimitrakis, Spyrakis, M. Gaitatzis
Yellow Cards: Tsattalios 40’, Egger 84’
Red Cards: Angel 27’
South Coast Wolves: Hamilton, Alsaad, Baldacchino, Griffin (Matthews 80’), Lavalle (Murray 61’), Mackenzie, Madden, Price ©, Simonoski, Stojic, Welch (Codrea 61’)
Substitutions not used: Manos, Fielding
Yellow Cards: Madden 27’, Baldacchino 35’
Player ratings
3- Go Shirai (SO)
2- Taiga Soeda (SO)
1 – Leigh Egger (SO)
– by Chris Georges, PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 Reporter, at Belmore Sports Ground