Round 3 Review – NPL NSW Men’s 20’s
Blacktown City and Manly United each got off the mark, Sydney FC delivered an emphatic response and Sydney United 58 maintained their 100% record in round three of the NPL NSW Men’s 20’s competition.
Match of the Round
Blacktown City 3-0 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, Saturday 5.00pm at Lily’s Football Centre
Blacktown City secured its first win of the season with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Bonnyrigg White Eagles at Lily’s Football Centre on Saturday afternoon.
John Carnevale’s side had lost on the opening two match days to Wollongong Wolves and Sydney United 58 but were in fine touch upon their return to Lily’s and ran away with the three points thanks to goals to John Azar, George Panayi and Lewis Fraser.
The result is Blacktown’s first Men’s 20’s win over Bonnyrigg since 2015 with the visitors establishing an impressive recent run of results over the competition heavyweights.
That run of dominance for the White Eagles ended with a whimper and after the match was briefly halted due to lightning the home side opened the scoring through Azar who kept his composure and fired home at the near post after being sent through on goal by Panayi.
Panayi doubled the lead on the stroke of half time for Blacktown after clipping a cross toward the back post that looped over Bonnyrigg goalkeeper Max Rowston to give the hosts a formidable two goal buffer.
It was a moment of misfortune for the White Eagles goalkeeper who was comfortably the visitors’ finest performer and having kept his side in the contest at half time Rowston continued to thwart City in the second stanza.
The pick of the bunch arrived shortly after the interval when Rowston tipped Lachlan Rose’s close range effort over the crossbar following a corner while the Bonnyrigg keeper denied the Blacktown forward shortly after with a great reaction save at the near post.
Jack Stewart was also denied his first goal in Blacktown colours throughout the half with Rowston parrying away several of the attacker’s trademark efforts from distance.
The Bonnyrigg gloveman could do nothing about Blacktown’s third with Lewis Fraser finishing a great passing move on the edge of the box in the last kick of the encounter.
Carnevale’s side travel to Lambert Park this Friday to take on last season’s grand finalists APIA Leichhardt Tigers as Franco Consentino’s team look to finally get their campaign underway.
Bonnyrigg will be demanding a much stronger showing at home when Rockdale City Suns arrive on Saturday evening.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 3 (Azar 10’, Panayi 38’, Fraser 90’)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Saturday 24th March 2018,
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills
Blacktown City: 43. Dakota Askew, 28. John Azar, 26. Lachlan Campbell, 36. Anthony Gallo, 39. Adoplph Koudakpo 1. Dylan Niski, 35. George Panayi, 29. Mark Rodic, 31. Lachlan Rose, 24. Jack Stewart, 30. Malcom Ward
Substitutes not used: 41. Cooper Coskerie, 34. Jarrod Dodds, 25. Benjamin Parkinson, 32. William Salinas, 38. Lewis Fraser
Yellow cards: Panayi 35’
Red cards: N/A
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 23. Amar Adiolovic, 24. Michael Borg, 26. Jordan Cracknell, 27. Damian Cupac, 30. Daniel Krkovski, 31. Dean Krkovski, 4. Nikola Krljar, 35. Milan Parenta, 40. Max Rowston, 13. James Mckenzie, 2. Aaron Avery
Substitutes not used: 25. Taylor Cambaz, 73. Connor Evans, 33. Francesco Terranova 23, 28. Peter Kim, 68. Ngor Deng
Yellow cards: N/A
Red cards: N/A
Saturday
Sydney FC 4-1 Wollongong Wolves, 3.45pm at Lambert Park
Sydney FC offered a reminder of its quality after beating Wollongong Wolves 4-1 at Lambert Park on Saturday afternoon.
A brace from Jordan Swibel and goals from Finn Ballard Mcbride and Harry Van Der Saag consigned the travelling Wolves to their first defeat of the season despite Jordan Nikolovski’s third goal in as many matches.
The Sky Blues were hammered 6-1 by Sutherland Sharks last round but abolished any concerns regarding the impact of that defeat with a well-oiled performance at home.
After back to back wins over Blacktown City and Rockdale City Suns the defeat comes as a reality check for the Wolves, but James Ford’s side get another chance to highlight their championship credentials next Saturday against Sutherland Sharks.
Sydney FC meanwhile travel to Edensor Park to take on competition frontrunners Sydney United 58.
Hakoah Sydney City East 3-6 Sutherland Sharks, 5.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Sutherland Sharks made it back to back wins thanks to a 6-3 win over 10-man Hakoah Sydney City East at Hensley Athletic Field on Saturday afternoon.
The defending champions hit six for the second week running after two goals apiece from James Temelkovski, Deren Obrien and Hristijan Tanovski saw Nick Dimovski’s side overpower the spirited hosts.
Finley Hayhurst was among the goals for Hakoah again thanks to a brace while Joshua Orchard also etched his name on the scoresheet for Hakoah who gave away three penalties on the day and were reduced to ten players when goalkeeper Michael Figueira was sent off early in the second half.
Despite remaining winless so far this campaign Hakoah will take plenty of promise into next week’s clash with Sydney Olympic who are also looking for their first win of the campaign.
Sutherland look to have hit their stride and will continue their title defence at home to Wollongong Wolves on Saturday.
Sunday
Sydney Olympic 0-3 Manly United, 12.40pm at Belmore Sports Ground
Manly United secured its first victory of the season courtesy of a fine 3-0 away win over Sydney Olympic at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.
A brace from Gianni Stensness and Marley Peterson’s effort proved to be more than enough for the visitors to come away from Belmore with three points after an excellent performance.
The loss leaves Sydney Olympic bottom of the table after three rounds with the Blues having played one match less than the teams around them.
Olympic will take on Hakoah Sydney City East at Belmore next Saturday hoping to get off the mark for 2018.
Manly United travel to Marconi on Saturday looking to earn consecutive victories to build momentum in the season’s early stages.
Rockdale City Suns 0-4 Sydney United 58, 3.00pm at Ilinden Sports Centre
Sydney United 58 continued its perfect start to the 2018 campaign after beating Rockdale City Suns 4-0 at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Kyle Cimenti’s double and goals from Anthony Pedavoli and Cristian Gonzalez ensured the visitors maintain their early lead of the competition after easily accounting for the Suns.
United 58 welcome Sydney FC to Sydney United Sports Centre next Saturday, while Rockdale are aiming for their first win of the season when they travel to Bonnyrigg.
Postponed: Marconi Stallions v APIA Leichhardt Tigers, 5.00pm at Marconi Stadium
-By Jacob Windon
