A ruthless Manly United had a very Good Friday after thumping Parramatta FC 5-1 at Cromer Park.
Paul Dee’s men were ‘on’ from the outset and thanks to a brilliant display from goalkeeper Dylan Mitchell, thoroughly deserved their first win of the 2016 PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition.
Left winger Adam Parkhouse got the party started on the peninsula after just two minutes.
Poor defence from the away side saw the speedster tap home from six yards to earn a 1-0 lead.
Parramatta eventually woke from their slumber and fired a warning shot with six minutes on the clock.
Good feet and strength from Marco Sama saw him hold off two defenders before shooting just wide of Mitchell’s near post.
Manly then went close to adding a second with 13 minutes played.
A typical mazy run from skipper Brendan Cholakian resulted in a free kick 20 yards out, but his resulting effort flew safely over the crossbar.
Moments later Ante Tomic almost equalised for Parramatta FC, but his powerful left foot shot whistled wide of the target.
It proved telling, after Travis Cooper scored United’s second with 21 minutes played.
Shocking marking saw the ex-Newcastle Jet unmarked from a corner, and he couldn’t miss from three yards.
Before and after the half hour mark saw Luke Giverin and Cholakian go close, and you sensed it could be a cricket score, such was United’s attacking intent.
A minute after the break Dejan Pandurevic was denied Manly’s third following an offside call from the linesman, and on 49 minutes Sama hit the post for Parramatta with only Mitchell to beat.
It was the turning point of the game, with United going 3-0 up a minute later when Pandurevic finished well inside the area.
Parramatta emptied their bench to play their fringe players for the next 20 minutes, but United were in no mood to slow down, scoring their fourth on 74 minutes via Cooper.
Mitchell then showed why he was the best player on the park when he denied Daniel Rezo from the penalty spot twice.
Both saves were brilliant, and he looked destined to keep a clean sheet after the initial spot kick was retaken after he encroached.
United substitute Sipan Berti made it 5-0 when he tapped in from close range with 82 minutes played and then with the last kick of the game Parramatta’s Joshua Symons nabbed a consolation effort to make the final score 5-1.
Cholakian was a very happy man at the final whistle.
"At training this week we worked on our interchange play and getting our key players on the ball,” he said.
"It is always a good feeling to score five goals in a game, but I do feel for Dylan (Mitchell), he deserved a clean sheet tonight.
"Now is when our season starts."
Parramatta FC coach Franco Cosentino praised the clinical nature of the hosts.
"They (Manly) finished their chances and their keeper (Dylan Mitchell) had a fantastic game,” he said.
"He made some crucial saves which kept them in the game.
"At 2-0 we should have scored, then they went up the other end seconds later and made it 3-0.
"We had to take a punt and bomb players forward towards the end, but credit to them, they played to their strengths."
Match Stats
Manly United 5 (Adam Parkhouse 2′, Travis Cooper 21′, 74′, Dejan Pandurevic 50′, Sipan Berti 82′)
Parramatta FC 1 (Josh Symons 90′)
Cromer Park
Friday, March 25 2016
Referee: Kelly Jones
Assistant referees: Matt Wearne, Roy Osborne
Fourth official: Brandon Lovric
Manly United: 1.MITCHELL Dylan, 2.PAULL Kieren, 3.LOBB Jamie, 4.OUGHTRED Travis, 9.COOPER Travis, (5.WILLIAMS Rhys 75′) 10.CHOLAKIAN Brendan, 11.PARKHOUSE Adam, (16.BERTI Sipan 65′) 18.BRAGG Daniel, 19. SARIC Daniel, 22.GIVERIN Luke, (15.FERGUSON Dom 80′) 23.PANDUREVIC Dejan
Substitutes not used: 40.CARTER Will, 17.HANCOCK Aiden
Yellow cards: Berti 66′
Red cards: Nil
Parramatta FC: 1.TURNBULL Luke, 6.GULLO Daniel, 20.HAYDAR Ibrahim, 18.MALLETT Tom, (7.MARTLEY Frank 58′) 5.MIJIC Tomislav, 917.GERSBACH Joshua 68′) 8.RESO Daniel, 9.SAMA Josh (14.GRIMA Luke 68′) 4.SYMONS Joshua, 23.TAYBEI DERAZKALA Aram, 11.TOMIC Ante, 10,SAMA Marco
Substitutes not used: 3.DAVIDSON Mitchell, 33.DIACONO Jayden
Yellow cards: Mijic 24′, Tomic 85′
Red cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Dylan Mitchell (MU)
2 – Travis Cooper (MU)
1 – Kieren Paull (MU)
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