Sydney United 58 FC put in its best display of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s season so far to record a 4-0 victory against a disappointing Sutherland Sharks side.
The home side dominated the early stages of the contest as Yutaro Shin combined with former Manly United man Christopher Payne to force Nathan Denham in the Sutherland goal into action.
It took Sutherland until the tenth minute to register its first shot of the game.
Tomohiro Kajiyama stung the palms of former Wolves custodian Thomas Manos with a fierce shot.
Most of the action happened around the Sharks penalty box as Payne and Panni Nikas tried to break the deadlock.
Payne was unlucky not to give Sydney United 58 the lead after he was played into space with only Denham to beat.
He rounded the keeper but a desperate lunge from a Sharks defender saved the day.
Despite their domination, United 58 took 40 minutes to finally get on the scoresheet.
A robust challenge from Steven Hayes gave Nikas the perfect angle to fire his free-kick effort past Denham and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Sutherland Sharks came out hard in the second half and looked to draw level with two gilt-edge chances foiled by Manos.
Two goals to Chris Payne in three minutes gave the upper hand to United 58.
Payne and Shin combined as the Japanese winger cut-back and allowed the former to make it 2-0 after 53 minutes with a rasping shot.
A penalty two minutes later was comprehensively dispatched by Payne to make it 3-0 after Shin was taken down in the box.
The game drifted as Sydney United 58 FC continued to press the Sharks defence.
The midfield was also marshaled comfortably as Nick Stavroulakis gave it his all breaking up a number of the Sharks play along with his partner in crime Peter Triantis.
Nikola Taneski rounded off the display for the home side after neat work in the box.
The former Rockdale man clipped the ball past Denham and it spilled across the line to make it 4-0.
It was a professional performance from United which pleased their coach Mark Rudan.
"I was extremely impressed with our opening 45 minutes. It was probably the best I have witnessed in my four years here at Sydney United 58 FC," he said.
"We were totally in control, it was good but we can always improve. It is good to keep a clean sheet and score goals but can always improve.”
Sharks coach Carlos Villazon admitted his side were thoroughly outplayed.
"Sydney United were better than us over the 90 minutes especially after the first goal. We lost our structure much like last week," he said.
“My team was in shock after the first goal but players react in different ways and we lost the game.”
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC: 4 (Nikas ’40, Payne ’53, ’56 and Taneski ’84)
Sutherland Sharks FC: 0
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Nick Backu and Kearney Robinson
Fourth Official: Andreas Lynch
Sydney United 58 FC: 21. MANOS Thomas 2. VLISMAS Kristopher, 6. PAYNE Christopher, 7. SHIN Yutaro, 8. TRIANTIS Peter, 11. TANESKI Nikola, 14. STAVROULAKIS Nick, 17. KOFINAS Theo, 19. BILIC Matthew, 22. FRAGOGIANNIS Yianni, 23. NIKAS Panni.
Substitutes: 1 DEPTA Andrew, 10. MILESKI Robbie, 12. VRILIC Ante, 18. DONATIELLO Marcus
Yellow cards: Payne 45’, Nikas 80’
Red cards: nil
Sutherland Sharks FC: 1. DENHAM, Nathan, 3. MURAYAMA, Takuya, 5. LITTLER, Nicholas, 6. GORDON, Matthew, 9. FIGON, Jordan, 10. DA SILVA, Joshua, 12. STERGIOU, Lukas 15. MOUSTAKAS, Perry, 17. ANDREW, James, 23. HAYES, Steven and 35. KAJIYAMA, Tomohiro
Substitutes:4. KAYES Stephen, 7. PRESS Jack, 11. JOVOVIC Alex, 19. FITZPATRICK Callum, 21. LOE Nikolas
Yellow Cards: Kayes 38’, Moustakas 40’, Gordon 80′
Red cards: nil
Player Ratings
3 – Nick Stavroulakis (SU)
2 – Yianni Fragogiannis (SU)
1 – Tom Manos (SU)
-By Justin Davies, at Sydney United Sports Centre
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