Round 5 Review – NPL NSW Men’s 20’s
A big win for APIA Leichhardt Tigers, a 10-goal thriller at Lambert Park and a top of the table clash at Seymour Shaw were the highlights in round five of the NPL NSW Men’s 20’s competition.
Match of the Round
Blacktown City 2-1 Manly United, Saturday 5.00pm at Lily’s Football Centre
Blacktown City marched to its third consecutive win after defeating Manly United 2-1 at Lily’s Football Centre on Saturday afternoon.
John Carnevale’s side opened the scoring through Lachlan Rose midway through the second half who then supplied Jack Stewart with a killer second two minutes from half time to give the home side an unassailable lead.
Manly ensured it would be a nervy second half at times for the hosts when Maximillian Rogers netted a fantastic long range effort after the restart but were unable to find an equalizing goal despite a late flurry of chances.
Blacktown City leapfrog Sydney FC into third place with the victory and are four points away from competition leaders Sutherland Sharks.
It was another confidence building performance from City who were totally dominant with the ball in the first half and had a raft of opportunities through Dakota Askew and Adolph Koudakpo early on.
Rose broke the deadlock twenty six minutes into the half after surging onto Lachlan Campbell’s ball before stroking a composed finish past Manly goalkeeper Shaun Catlin for his second goal in as many matches.
The Blacktown frontman was instrumental in doubling the lead and punishing Manly United on the counter attack shortly before the half time interval when he drew a retreating Manly defender and Catlin away from goal and squared to an unmarked Jack Stewart who buried the finish home.
Although Manly were outplayed for the opening half the visitors found more intensity in the second and gave themselves real hope two minutes into the half when Rogers hammered in a rasping shot from distance that clipped the underside of the crossbar.
That provoked a good spell from Blacktown who came close to restoring their two goal barrier when Campbell’s instinctive volley bounced off the crossbar while Rose, a thorn in the side of the Cromer Park outfit all afternoon, clipped the ball over the bar from close range after capitalizing on some indecision from the Manly defence.
There were several heart in mouth moments for the home side who finished the match in complacent fashion but staggered over the line to claim their third win on the bounce.
Blacktown City travel to Belmore Sports Ground to take on Sydney Olympic next Sunday.
Manly United host Rockdale City Suns at Cromer Park on Saturday evening.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 2 (Rose 28’, Stewart 43’)
Manly United 1 (Rogers 47’)
Saturday 7th of April 2018,
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills
Blacktown City: 43. Dakota Askew, 28. John Azar, 26. Lachlan Campbell, 39. Adolph Koudakpo (41. Cooper Coskerie 67’), 1. Dylan Niski, 35. George Panayi, 29. Mark Rodic, 31. Lachlan Rose, 24. Jack Stewart (32. William Salinas 88’), 30. Malcom Ward, 42. Daniel Bragg
Substitutes not used: 38. Lewis Fraser, 36. Anthony Gallo, 25. Benjamin Parkinson
Yellow cards: N/A
Red cards: N/A
Manly United: 37. Ashton Finn, 31. Oscar Casteigt, 20. Shaun Catlin, 28. Ryan Chambers, 24. William Martin (29. Alex Demarco 53’), 36. Lachlan Mcgrath, 38. Maximillian Rogers (19. Mark Mcmanus 68’), 34. Ben Varvaressos, 35. Rhys Vorillas, 32. Tallon Zahra, 42. Mattias Zervas
Substitutes not used: 30. Samuel Benton, 15. Rhys Williams, 43. Vaughan Hudy
Yellow cards: 29. Alex Demarco 55’
Red cards: N/A
Saturday
Sutherland Sharks 2-1 Sydney United 58, 4.30pm at Seymour Shaw
Sutherland Sharks prevailed in its top of the table encounter with Sydney United 58 after defeating the Reds 2-1 at Seymour Shaw in Saturday’s early kick off.
Deren O’Brien and Thomas Papa were the scorers for the reigning champions who enjoyed a dominant performance against the second-placed visitors who netted through an Anthony Vrlic free kick.
The Sharks are now the only unbeaten side in the competition and have a three point buffer over Sydney United 58 ahead of next weekend’s clash with Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
United 58 will look to recover from their first loss of the season at home to Wollongong Wolves next Saturday.
Rockdale City Suns 0-5 APIA Leichhardt Tigers, 5.00pm at Ilinden Sports Centre
APIA Leichhardt Tigers won its first match of the 2018 season in style thanks to a 5-0 thrashing of Rockdale City Suns at Ilinden Sports Centre.
Aedon Kyra marked his first Tigers appearance of the year with a brace while there were goals for Paul Galimi, Lachlan Roberts and Nicholas Azzone as a vastly experienced APIA side put Rockdale to the sword.
Franco Consentino’s side move into tenth position having played three less matches than the rest of the competition and will be eyeing off a crunch semi-final rematch with Sydney FC at Lambert Park next round.
Rockdale City Suns have now lost three of their last five fixtures and face Manly United next Saturday at Cromer Park.
Marconi Stallions 1-0 Sydney Olympic, 5.00pm at Marconi Stadium
Marconi Stallions climbed into the top five with a 1-0 victory over Sydney Olympic at Marconi Stadium on Saturday evening.
James Andrew was once again the match winner for the Stallions with the former Blacktown attacker netting his second goal in as many matched to hand Marconi a valuable three points.
The Stallions have now won two in a row and take on Hakoah Sydney City East at home next Saturday afternoon.
Sydney Olympic came into the encounter on the back of their opening win of the season but despite some positive flashes were unable to avoid their third defeat of the campaign.
It’s the third time the Blues have failed to score in a match this year – they’ll take on an in-form Blacktown City side next Sunday lunchtime.
Sydney FC 5-5 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, 5.45pm at Lambert Park
Sydney FC and Bonnyrigg White Eagles played out a 10-goal thriller at Lambert Park on Saturday afternoon with the two teams drawing 5-5.
First teamers Dean Bereveskos and Asmir Kadric secured doubles each for the visiting White Eagles side while Milan Parenta claimed his second goal of the season as Bonnyrigg snapped a two-match losing streak.
Hamish Lamberton netted another brace for the Sky Blues to bring his tally for the season to six while Harry Van der Saag, Jordan Swibel and Marco Tilio were all among the goals for Sydney.
Sydney will be concerned by their continued lapses in defence ahead of their clash with APIA Leichhardt Tigers next round – no other team has conceded more than the fourth-placed Sky Blues.
Bonnyrigg should be buoyed after collecting a positive result against one of the competition’s heavyweights with Hamish Brown’s side set to welcome early pacesetters Sutherland Sharks to Bonnyrigg Sports Club next weekend.
Sunday
Hakoah Sydney City East 3-2 Wollongong Wolves, 1.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Hakoah Sydney City East got their season up and running thanks to a 3-2 win over Wollongong Wolves at Hensley Athletic Field in Sunday afternoon’s final match of the round.
Goals from Fikret Berisha, Brad Paikin and Jordan Makridopolous were the difference for Hakoah who lift themselves off bottom spot on the ladder as a result.
Wollongong’s Tory Musumeci claimed a brace on the day to bring his season tally to four but it wasn’t enough for the visiting Wolves to avoid a third straight defeat.
The Wolves will look to avoid a fourth against Sydney United 58 on Saturday afternoon, while Hakoah take on Marconi Stallions at Marconi Stadium.
-By Jacob Windon
