Round 7 Review – NPL NSW Men’s 20’s

Sutherland Sharks continues to lead the way as we near one third of the way through the NPL NSW Men’s 20’s season.
Match of the Round
Blacktown City 4-2 Marconi Stallions, Saturday 5pm at Lily’s Football Centre
Blacktown City clinched its fifth win in a row in an entertaining 4-2 victory over Marconi Stallions on Saturday evening at Lily’s Football Centre.
City entered the contest looking to keep pace with competition frontrunners Sutherland Sharks and were cruising early in the opening half thanks to Jarrod Dodds’ ninth-minute header and Lachlan Rose’s close range finish.
Jack Stewart’s pile driver on the hour mark put Blacktown ahead further and invited a late rally from the visitors who struck a lovely reply from Michael Jeffrey but Adolph Koudakpo powered home a fourth with ten minutes remaining to underline a convincing win.
Anthony Vastag pulled another consolation goal back late on for Marconi but the damage was done for the Stallions who would rue their early collapse on route to a second consecutive defeat.
John Carnevale’s side remain four points behind Sutherland at the conclusion of round seven with the two early pacesetters set to meet in a month’s time at Seymour Shaw.
Despite the season’s infancy Blacktown appear one of the few candidates equipped to topple the runaway reigning champions and City were once again good value for their win at Lily’s.
Dodds gave the home side the best start possible after planting a header past Marconi goalkeeper Mario Aleksic from John Azar’s corner.
Azar has a steadily expanding list of assists so far this season and laid another one on a platter for Rose to claim in his fourth goal in as many weeks from underneath the crossbar ten minutes later.
Two fine saves from Aleksic denied Stewart and Koudakpo at the beginning of the second half as Blacktown flexed their authority and grabbed a third in style when Stewart rifled a trademark serving effort from outside the box.
Although undone defensively Marconi impressed with some of their midfield play and were rewarded with two excellently constructed consolation goals on the night – the first arriving when second half substitutes Vastag and Jeffries combined for the latter to tuck away a fizzed ball across the area at the back post.
Koudakpo capped another strong display from the right flank with third goal of the season with ten minutes remaining, flashing an effort into the corner after a long burst down the right hand side.
Marconi had the final say of the encounter when Vastag, who had caused trouble down Blacktown’s left when arriving, fired into an empty net after another slick Stallions foray saw Dalibor Malesevic pull one across from the byline.
The Stallions host Rockdale City Suns at home next Saturday afternoon hoping to avoid a third defeat on the bounce.
Blacktown host a resurgent Hakoah Sydney City East side at Lily’s at the same time.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 4 (Dodds 9’, Rose 19’, Stewart 59’, Koudakpo 79’)
Marconi Stallions (Jeffries 69’, Vastag 86’)
Saturday 21st of April 2018
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills
Blacktown City: 28. John Azar, 26. Lachlan Campbell, 34. Jarrod Dodds, 38. Lewis Fraser, 36. Anthony Gallo, 39. Adolph Koudakpo, 1. Dylan Niski, 31. Lachlan Rose, 32. William Salinas, 24. Jack Stewart, 30. Malcom Ward
Substitutes not used: 29. Suleyman Bangura, 35. George Panayi, 25. Benjamin Parkinson, 42. Alen Aganovic, 43. Matthew Caisley
Yellow cards Lachlan Campbell 32’
Red cards: N/A
Marconi Stallions: 33. Mario Aleksic 19. Eros Bergamin, 51. Alex Fadel, 32. Emileo Fadel, 40. Dalibor Malesevic, 30. Christian Nascimben, 36. Nicholas Railz, 53. Lachlan Sepping, 28. Brandon Stojcevski, 37. Nikita Parkes, 16. Martin Lo
Substitutes not used: 34. Martin Fernandez, 35. Michael Jeffrey, 27. Anthony Vastag, 26. Adrian Viggiani
Yellow cards: Emileo Fadel 32’
Red cards: N/A
Saturday
Sutherland Sharks 4-1 APIA Leichhardt Tigers, 4.30pm at Seymour Shaw
Sutherland Sharks underlined their status as early premiership frontrunners with a dominant 4-1 victory over APIA Leichhardt Tigers at Seymour Shaw on Saturday afternoon.
The reigning champions are yet to lose this season and grabbed what was their sixth win on the trot yesterday thanks to goals from Ryoga Suyama, Deren O’Brien, Thomas Papa and Noah Chia.
Nick Dimovski’s side remain four points ahead of second-placed Blacktown City after the victory and will take some stopping on their charge to back to back titles.
Last year’s Grand Final opponents APIA Leichhardt were unable to weather that storm – the Tigers netted their lone goal through Luca Kmet but couldn’t prevent their third defeat of the season.
Franco Consentino’s side still have ground to make up on the competition from their position in eighth on the ladder and host bottom-placed Sydney Olympic at Lambert Park on Wednesday before taking on Wollongong Wolves next weekend.
Sutherland continue their premiership assault with a local derby fixture against Manly at Cromer Park on Saturday.
Hakoah Sydney City East 1-0 Sydney United 58, 5.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Hakoah Sydney City East surged into fifth position on the ladder after defeating Sydney United 58 1-0 at Hensley Athletic Field.
Jordan Makridopolous’ was the match winner for Paul Hubbard’s side who held off the Reds for third consecutive victory.
After spending the opening four weeks of the campaign on the bottom of the ladder three wins in a row and back to back clean sheets has Hakoah flying – they’ll face a great litmus test next weekend against in-form Blacktown City at Lily’s Football Centre.
The defeat for Sydney United is their third straight loss – with losses prior to Sutherland Sharks and Wollongong Wolves puncturing what has otherwise been an impressive start to the season from the Reds.
Antony Vrlic’s men will be hungry for their chance to respond in next Sunday afternoon’s crunch match with Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
Sydney FC 1-0 Manly United, 5.45pm at Lambert Park
Hamish Lamberton’s ninth goal of the season ensured Sydney FC defeated Manly United 1-0 in their clash at Lambert Park on Saturday.
The Sydney forward struck again to clinch a vital three points for the Sky Blues and improve his golden boot lead as Sydney tightened their grip on third position.
The Sky Blues hierarchy will be particularly pleased about securing their first clean sheet of the campaign after several high profile lapses during the campaign’s opening.
With a match against Sydney Olympic to come next Sunday, Sydney will their eyes on maintaining pace with competition frontrunners Sutherland Sharks and Blacktown City in the coming weeks.
Manly on the other hand must find some consistency after slumping to their fourth defeat in five matches – United have their biggest match of the season so far next Saturday against Sutherland.
Sunday
Sydney Olympic 1-1 Rockdale City Suns, 12.40pm at Belmore Sports Ground
Sydney Olympic remain on the bottom of the ladder after a 1-1 draw with Rockdale City Suns at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues scored through Louie Zacharopoulos but Nathan Separovic’s reply for Rockdale ensured the two struggling sides settled for a point.
Olympic face a midweek test against APIA Leichhardt Tigers before welcoming Sydney FC to Belmore next Sunday.
Rockdale – one point ahead of bottom-placed Olympic on five points – take on Marconi Stallions next Saturday at Marconi Stadium.
Wollongong Wolves 0-0 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, 1.00pm at WIN Stadium
Wollongong Wolves and Bonnyrigg White Eagles shared the first 0-0 stalemate of the season after neither side could make the difference on the South Coast.
The visitors, who were reduced to 10 men early in the match, missed a penalty in the second half and are still without a win since the opening day.
Bonnyrigg will look to break the drought against rivals Sydney United 58 at home next Sunday.
Wollongong scrape back into fifth position as a result of the draw with an away fixture to APIA Leichhardt Tigers to come on the weekend.
-By Jacob Windon