Round 9 Review – NPL NSW Men’s 20’s
Sydney Olympic inflicted the shock of the NPL NSW Men’s 20’s season so far after halting Sutherland Sharks eight match winning streak with a 2-1 victory at Seymour Shaw on Saturday, while there was also an upset win for Manly United in Wollongong.
Match of the Round
Sydney United 58 0-2 APIA Leichhardt Tigers, Saturday 5.30pm at Sydney United Sports Centre
APIA Leichhardt Tigers piled on the misery for Sydney United 58 and leapfrogged the Reds on the competition table after a 2-0 victory at Sydney United Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.
The home side entered the contest on the back of four consecutive losses and despite creating a host of opportunities slumped to a fifth straight defeat at the hands of a clinical Tigers outfit.
Samuel Paslis opened the scoring for Franco Consentino’s side inside four minutes while the sucker punch arrived midway through the second half when Mustafa Kamara sealed the three points for the visitors.
Kamara’s first goal of the campaign arrived after a long spell of domination from United 58 whose profligacy was compounded by the dismissal of Anthony Vrlic late on for a scuffle off the ball.
Sydney United are now seventh after a thankless run of matches although there is a glimmer of hope for the Edensor Park outfit given what was an otherwise encouraging display at home.
The Reds fielded one of their strongest line ups all season with John Hall, Tomoki Menda, Sam Perre and Mohammad Rahimi all featuring in the starting eleven and although APIA took the lead early on when Paslis rifled the ball past Hall after charging into the box, it was all one way traffic for the home side.
Both Rahimi and Perre were particularly culpable of sparing APIA in the opening half with the attacking pair constructing some glorious passing sequences and combination play in the final third but unable to execute any of chances they created.
The most gilt edged of these opportunities fell to Rahimi who on one occasion midway through the half managed to round APIA goalkeeper Corey Finch before losing his footing and allowing Tigers defenders to recover, before later plucking a deep cross into the box out of the sky with a sensational touch but lifting the ball wide on the cusp of half time.
Somehow APIA emerged from the opening forty five minutes unscathed and set about their recovery in the second stanza before dealing a hammer blow to their opponents in the sixty eighth minute.
Kamara had proved a handful down the right flank for the visitors in the rare moments of transition for the Tigers and doubled the lead in some style after exchanging a neat one two with Aedon Kyra before clipping the ball over John Hall.
That goal knocked the stuffing out of Miro Vlastelica’s side and their chances of mounting a revival were all but extinguished when Vrlic was sent off with ten minutes remaining.
After beginning the season in such commanding fashion the Reds urgently need to snap their run od defeats when they travel to lowly Manly United next Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, APIA Leichhart will hope their triumph in Edensor Park can ignite some consistency for last season’s Grand Finalists – the Tigers are yet to string back to back wins together this year but travel to Marconi Stallions midweek looking to build some momentum for the rest of the campaign.
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 0
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 2 (Paslis 4’, Kamara 68’)
Saturday 5th of May 2018
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Sydney United 58: 1. John Hall, 37. Modassir Hussain, 36. Minkyeom Kim, 15. Tomoki Menda, 35. Cole Mutton, 13. Sam Perre, 7. Mohammad Rahimi, 24. Anthony Trimboli, 33. Luke Vlastelica, 32. Anthony Vrlic
Substitutes not used: 6. Todd Bennison, 39. Karlo Borovic, 11. Joshua Derossi, 40. Daniel Lopez, 3. Christian Zebec
Yellow cards: Trimboli 80’
Red cards: Vrlic 78’
APIA Leichhardt Tigers: 5. Stephan Adattini, 38. Daniel Alessi, 32. Jack ARmson, 26. Nicholas Azzone, 28. Gino Cerasoli, 33. Corey Finch, 40. Mustafa Kamara (36. Bill Litsas 81’), 14. Aedon Kyra, 24. Samuel Paslis, 21. Tariq Maia, 37. Dominion Nasrabadi (27. Leandro Guzman 60’)
Substitutes not used: 13. Benjamin McCarron, 1. Adam Gilmore, 8. Luca Kmet
Saturday
Sydney FC 4-0 Marconi Stallions, 1.00pm at Lambert Park
Sydney FC tightened their grip on third position with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Marconi Stallions at Lambert Park on Saturday afternoon.
Competition leading scorer Hamish Lamberton netted his 11th of the campaign for the Sky Blues while there were strikes for Finn Ballard-Mcbride, Jordan Swibel and Evan Tsakos as Sydney extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.
The win sets up an enticing second-versus-third encounter with Blacktown City in Seven Hills next Saturday with both sides entering the contest in excellent form.
Marconi have now lost four matches in a row and slip into bottom place on the competition ladder with Sydney Olympic and Manly United registering shock wins. Despite a number of positive signs for the Stallions through their start to the year it could be set to get worse for the league newcomers with the side set to welcome APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Sutherland Sharks to Marconi Stadium in the next week.
Sutherland Sharks 1-2 Sydney Olympic, 4.30pm at Seymour Shaw
Sydney Olympic dealt competition leaders Sutherland Sharks their first defeat of the campaign in a monumental upset 2-1 victory at Seymour Shaw on Saturday afternoon.
The reigning premiers entered the match on the back eight wins in a row and have been in scintillating form but turned in a complacent performance against the Blues and were punished by goals from Taewoo Jung and Dylan Wozniczka.
Harry Sutherland netted the consolation for Nick Dimovski’s side who after appearing unstoppable in the opening nine rounds are ahead of second placed Blacktown City by just one point.
Sydney Olympic entered the contest in last place and without a win in four matches but put in their strongest performance of the season to get off the foot of the table and reinvigorate what has been a difficult season so far.
The Blues will be full of confidence for their home fixture against Wollongong Wolves next weekend, while Sutherland will look to take out their frustration on struggling Marconi.
Sunday
Hakoah Sydney City East 1-0 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, 1.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Finley Hayhurst netted his fifth goal of the season to ensure Hakoah Sydney City East edged Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1-0 at Hensley Athletic Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Hakoah attacker struck the only goal of the game as Paul Hubbard’s side consolidated a position in the top five, moving into fifth place at the expense of Sydney United 58.
It’s now three clean sheets in their last four appearances for Hakoah who after a patchy start to the campaign have nailed their finals ambitions to the mast with a string of convincing displays.
The narrow loss for Bonnyrigg will be frustrating for the White Eagles after Hamish Brown’s side offered several encouraging signs in the past fortnight – they remain in eighth position on the ladder and take on APIA Leichhardt Tigers at Bonnyrigg Sports Club on Saturday.
Hakoah will face Rockdale City Suns at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Wollongong Wolves 0-1 Manly United, 1.00pm at WIN Stadium
Jamie Glover’s goal sealed a huge three points for Manly United who won their first match in their last five with a 1-0 victory over Wollongong Wolves at WIN Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Glover opened his account for the campaign to lift United off the bottom of the table and on to eight points ahead of Manly’s home fixture with Sydney United 58 next weekend.
The result comes as a shock for high-flying Wollongong who had kept two clean sheets in their last two fixtures and were scoring freely through Tory Musumeci but a superb defensive performance Manly dealt the Wolves their fourth defeat of the campaign.
Wollongong travel to Belmore Sports Ground to take on a resurgent Sydney Olympic next Sunday with their position in the top five on the line.
Rockdale City Suns 0-5 Blacktown City, 3.00pm at Ilinden Sports Centre
A Lachlan Rose hat trick guided Blacktown City to a 5-0 thrashing of Rockdale City Suns in the final match of round nine at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
The Blacktown City striker grabbed his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the campaign alongside efforts from Jack Stewart and Adolph Koudakpo to complete a resounding display from John Carnevale’s side.
City’s hammering of the Suns is their seventh win in a row and the side are now one point away from leaders Sutherland with a huge match against third-placed Sydney FC to come next Saturday.
After going unbeaten in three matches prior to the match Rockdale will look to respond when they host Hakoah Sydney City East at Ilinden Sports Centre next Sunday.
-By Jacob Windon
