Honours even between Blacktown City and APIA
Blacktown City FC and APIA Leichhardt FC shared the points after a scoreless draw in their Round 1 clash at Lily Holmes Stadium on Saturday night
While both teams put on threatening attacking displays during the 90-minute battle, it was the defence of both teams that showed that they are teams to be reckoned with in the 2021 New South Wales National Premier Leagues Men’s season.
Blacktown City debuted one of their favouritie sons, a returning Travis Major and he went straight to work, creating two goal-scoring opportunities in the opening minutes of the match.
Youngster Carlos De Olivieria combined with Sean Rooney and Major in the 20th minute, after out-maneuvering APIA Leichhardt defender Themba Muata-Marlow, however, shot-stopper Ivan Necevski calmly denied the home side.
After hitting the sheds goalless for the half-time break, Blacktown came out with plenty of energy in the opening stages of the second half, mounting pressure on the visitors.
The visitors settled into the momentum of the game and created some impressive opportunities, however their attempts to get on the scoreboard fizzled through the strong Blacktown defence.
APIA held strong in the late stages of the match to deny Blacktown a late winner through plays from substitutes Harry Callahan who caused havoc when he came on and Suleyman Bangura.
While a draw wasn’t the ideal result for either team, Blacktown coach Mark Crittenden praised his teams’ efforts in the opening round of the competition.
“We knew APIA would be a tough one first up,” Crittenden explained.
“We had enough chances to get something out of it.
“Probably not the result we wanted but I guess you walk away, move on and look to Northbridge next week.
“In the front third we’ll be okay. It’s still a work in progress but at the end of the day we played an extremely tough APIA side that have been around for a long time…it’s disappointing but we’ll move on.”
It was a similar message from John Calleja who stated a point was a good result against one of the competition’s best.
“It’s a tough game always to come to Blacktown away,” Calleja explained.
“We were coming here for a win but we’re pretty happy with a point away from home.
“I think it was important that we didn’t lose today. We’ve been building and getting better as our preseason form went on, hopefully now we can focus a little more on that.
“We’re strong defensively, we need to continue improving on that, and hopefully we can get a few more combinations in that last third and maybe create a few more chances and get people in better goal-scoring positions.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 0
APIA-Leichhardt 0
Saturday 27th February 2021
Lily Holmes Stadium
Referee: M. Weiner
Assistant Referees: S. Brennan and M. Ibrahim
Fourth Official: L. Cole
Blacktown City FC: 1. Tristan Prendergast, 3. Daniel Collins, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 5. Grant Lynch, 7. Travis Major, 8. Jak O’Brien, 9. Sean Rooney (18. Suleyman Bangura), 19. Adam Berry, 22. Carlos De Oliveria (11. Rhett Desilva), 24. Jackson Bandiera, 29. Nicholas O’Brien
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Dylan Niski, 26. Tyre Burnie, 36. Jacob Maniti
Yellow Cards: 24. Jackson Bandiera 4’, 8. Jak O’Brien
Red Cards: Nil
APIA-Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 4. Joshua Symons, 7. Tynan Diaz, 9. Blake Powell, 10. Franco Parisi (6. Harry Callahan), 12. Hassan Jalloh (8. Corey Bizco), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 18. Adrian Ucchino, 20. Sam Mcilhatton, 21. Michael Kouta, 26. Sean Symons
Substitutes Not Used: 2. William Mutch, 3. Paul Galimi, 5. Nicholas Azzone, 22. Luke Turnbull
Yellow Cards: 9. Blake Powell 18’, 4. Joshua Symons 60’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Grant Lynch (Blacktown)
2 – Joshua Symons (APIA)
1 – Tristan Prendergast (Blacktown)
-By Football NSW Reporter Madeline Riley (@madelineriley23)
