Saliadarre shuts out goal shy United 58
A man of the match performance from club captain Carlos Saliadarre has helped Mt Druitt Town Rangers claim a hard fought 0-0 draw against Sydney United 58 at Popondetta Park on Saturday night.
The veteran goalkeeper was in inspired form making numerous saves to keep a fired up United off the scoresheet.
Both teams had their chances but neither could possessed the clinical finishing required in a match which fell victim to the wet and windy conditions it was played in.
It was the third straight week United 58 was held scoreless having scored a solitary goal in four NPL NSW Men’s matches while Mt Druitt is sure to take solace in the way they responded after last week’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of league leaders Wollongong.
It was a muted start to the match with neither The Rangers or United 58 truly taking and early grip on the contest.
Poor discipline in the middle of the park was proving costly with half chances being quickly snuffed out by alert defences.
It wasn’t until the 25th minute that the game had its first real chance when Mt Druitt keeper Saliadarre got down low to deny an effort from Peter Simonoski.
The home side’s shot stopper was tested again only moments later but Glenn Trifiro was unable to capitalise on a brilliant cross from Matt Sim.
Mt Druitt had their best chance of the opening stanza 37 minutes in when a Fabricio Fernandez corner forced a diving save from Thomas Manos before a follow up effort from Alameddine was cleared off the goal line.
Simonoski would hit the side netting in the dying stages of the half as both sides went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.
United 58 had a fast start to the second stanza with Patrick Antelmi forcing two great saves from Saliadarre only five minutes after the restart.
The game was victim to the wet and windy conditions with neither side able to dominate proceedings.
Simonoski missed a brilliant chance in the 60th minute when his point blank header was again saved by Saliadarre.
It wasn’t until the dying stages of the match that the game picked up the pace.
Tired defenders meant there was plenty of space to operate in and United 58 tried to take advantage with Sebastian Gallegos and Josh McDonald creating a few half chances for the visitors.
However, the match failed to offer the exhilarating closing stages it had threatened as it fizzled out as the rain poured in.
United coach Miro Vlastelica rued another week when his strikers were unable to fire.
“We are doing the right things except for where it matters most,” he said.
“If you don’t score goals then you’re not going to win matches it is as simple as that.
“It has been very frustrating for everyone but we need to work hard during the week to find an answer.
“We have the Waratah Cup final next week so hopefully the boys have learnt from these struggles ahead of such an important game.”
United 58 will hope that they can end their current poor spell in the league winning this season’s first piece of silverware on offer when they take on rivals the Marconi Stallions at Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday 14th of July for the TAFE NSW Waratah Cup.
Match Stats
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 0
Sydney United 58: 0
Saturday, 6 July 2019
Popondetta Park, Emerton
Referee: A Higgins
Assistant Referees: L Greenshields J Park
Fourth official: C Hughes
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 24. Carlos Saliadarre, 4. Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 5. Jake Mamone, 10. Fabricio Fernandez, 11. Toufic Alameddine (15. Cooper Coskerie 76’), 12. Nicholas Trimble, 13. Lord Darkoh, 16. Joshua Gould, 18. Jacob Esposito, 19. John Roberts, 20 Mirjan Pavlovic
Substitutes not used: 9. Alex Boyadjian, , 17. Jordan Gomez, 21. Alvin Singh
Yellow cards: Pavlovic 91’
Red Cards:
Sydney United 58: 21. Thomas Manos, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 7. Peter Simonoski, 8. Matthew Sim, 9. Patrick Antelmi (19. Josh McDonald 62’), 10. Sebastian Gallegos, 14. Tomislav Uskok, 17. Matthew Bilic, 18. Glenn Trifiro, 22. Yianni Fragogiannis
Substitutes not used: Petar Markovic, 12. Liam Rose, 15. Tariq Maia, 16. Daniel Sadaka, 19. Josh McDonald
Yellow cards:
Red cards:
Player Ratings have now been hidden due to the second half of the season commencing.
