Manly United stunned by ruthless Hakoah Sydney City East
Hakoah Sydney City East’s young guns have sent a warning to the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition with a 3-0 win over last years’ Champions Manly United at Hensley Athletic Park on Sunday afternoon.
The home side dominated the match at both ends of the field with the Hakoah defence continually pushing Manly to shoot from long distance.
Despite only being on the field for the first 60 minutes, Andre De Jong was a standout for the home side, scoring Hakoah’s first goal and proving dangerous for the Manly defence before rushing to the airport to travel to Spain to represent New Zealand.
A late penalty to Manly’s Brendan Cholakian gave Hakoah a scare but the result was never in doubt as Hakoah claimed its first win of the season, resigning Manly to its second straight loss.
With hot conditions forcing a delay to the start of the match, Hakoah started the stronger of the teams from the kick off and getting into early attacking areas but Manly soon settled into the contest.
Ten minutes in, Manly had the first real chance of the game from an attacking free kick, with the shot deflecting high off the Hakoah defenders with the ensuing corner also sailing over the crossbar.
Manly continued to attack with a blistering shot from Nikola Taneski from the edge of the box pushed just wide by a reflex save from Hakoah goaltender Anthony Bouzanis.
The stifling heat saw drinks breaks throughout the match with Hakoah coming out rejuvenated by the short break, pushing for its first few opportunities.
After the second drinks break, Hakoah came away with the goods, as Andre De Jong opened the scoring after receiving a pass just behind the defence, slotting it past an outstretched dive from Manly’s goalkeeper Dylan Mitchell as the ball went across the face of the goal.
In the shadow off the break, an ugly defensive play from Manly in the box gave Hakoah a penalty with Anthony Frangie making no mistake to send the home side to the break leading 2-0.
The second half saw end-to-end play but few shots and no change to the score until late in the piece.
Hakoah’s defence played strongly, forcing Manly to shoot from long distance but also not allowing them to get into position to cross to the tall Manly forwards who were winning the header battle.
A free kick in the 72nd minute gave Manly a strong chance but the ball bounced along the goalmouth.
Manly took control late in the second half but didn’t seem to be able to get the goal.
When they were finally gifted a penalty in the 87th minute, Cholakian, who had been one of Manly’s best all afternoon, put the ball way over the goal.
To add insult to injury, Harry Jones kicked home the final nail in the coffin in the shadow of full-time to give Hakoah a comprehensive victory.
Hakoah head coach Gavin Rae said his side was developing well and his new players “give the team a freshness”.
“I was delighted, first of all with the result of course and the clean sheet but I was really happy with the overall performance and the way the boys played and how they applied themselves,” Rae said.
“Not ideal conditions to start for either team with the heat but I thought we played well.”
For Manly coach Paul Dee, the result was very disappointing.
“The conditions can’t be blamed because they were the same for both teams but I think they just out-enthused us in every area,” he said.
“They deserved to win to that is far from a good enough performance from our club.”
The defending premiers will look to move on from this result with Dee suggesting the side’s “compact defensive structure” needs to improve, with plenty of “good teams that can hurt you” in the National Premier Leagues competition.
Match Stats
Hakoah Sydney City East 3 (Andre De Jong 32′, Anthony Frangie (pen) 44’, Harry Jones (90’).
Manly United 0
Sunday 18th March, 2018
Hensley Athletic Field
Referee: Ben Abraham
Assistant Referees: Kearney Robinson and Hugh White
Fourth Official: Adrian Brett
Hakoah Sydney City East: 1. BOUZANIS Anthony (GK), 2. SHADDOCK Connor, 3. KOUTA Michael, 4. WALKER Bradley (C), 5. STAMATELLIS Mitchell, 8. GREEN Oliver, (13. EZEKIEL Robert),10. DE JONG Andre (17. JONES Harry), 14. FRANGIE Anthony (21. STEWART Duncan), 19. COX Dominic, 20. COMBES James, 60. NOJI Takayuki.
Substitutes Not Used: 6. DRAPER Cameron, 40. FIGUEIRA Michael (GK).
Yellow Cards: SHADDOCK Connor 69′, WALKER Bradley 74′.
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United: 1. MITCHELL Dylan (GK), 3. LOBB Jamie (C), 4. OUGHTRED Travis, 6. FERGUSON Dominic (21. FOX Joseph), 8. MACURA Sasa, 9. MACALLISTER Dylan, 10. CHOLAKIAN Brendan, 11. TANESKI Nikola (7. SAMA Marco), 12. EGGER Leigh, 19. FIRTH George (25. CONNA Kye, 77’), 23. ALESSI Daniel.
Substitutes Not Used: 17. STENSNESS Gianni, 20. CATLIN Shaun.
Yellow Cards: FOX Joseph 51′, CHOLAKIAN Brendan 74′.
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Andre De Jong (HSCE)
2 – Brendan Cholakian (MU)
1 – Bradley Walker (HSCE)
– By by National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Andrew McMurtry
