Local derbies are always hotly contested but nothing prepared the fans for the grandstand 4-2 victory for Blacktown City over Mt Druitt Town Rangers at Blacktown City Sports Centre on Sunday evening.
An early goal from Mitch Mallia opened scoring for the home side, but the visitors were quick to retaliate with first-half strikes to Bul Juach and Jack Stewart cancelling out City’s opener and giving Mt Druitt a 2-1 lead.
Three incredible late goals to Blacktown City, one from Charles Mendy and two from new recruit Jordan Smylie, saw them take away a sensational 4-2 win over the Rangers.
The Rangers travelled to Blacktown City Sports Centre to open their 2022 New South Wales NPL Men’s campaign, after being washed out in Round 1, to tackle a buoyant Blacktown City side and it was a thoroughly entertaining contest.
To add extra spice to this hotly-contested Western Sydney derby, as if needed, it was also the first leg of the keenly sought after ‘Mayor’s Cup’ played between the two clubs each season for local bragging rights.
Mallia opened the scoring in splendid style after just four minutes, when set up by Hiroaki Aoyama, to blast a left-footer past Matthew Symes.
That lead lasted barely two minutes when Bul Juach slotted one home after a long clearance from Symes was played on perfectly by John Roberts to set the striker free and beat the offside trap, finishing in some style against the 16-year-old Alex Robinson.
Mallia attempted a spectacular overhead kick in the 8th minute when trying to restore Blacktown’s lead but the ball lifted over the bar during an explosive opening to the match.
The pace and intensity was unsustainable leading to a tough and uncompromising battle for supremacy in the midfield.
Charles Mendy set up Aoyama in the 25th minute but his effort was pushed away for a corner that was whipped in and eventually fell for Mendy to power home only to be disallowed in a let-off for the visitors.
It wasn’t one-way traffic when the burly Roberts bulldozed his way to the by-line and slipped in a cross the impressive Robinson was able to gather cleanly.
Mallia again came close from a Jak O’Brien chip over the top but, unable to connect with it coming over his shoulder, could only usher it harmlessly out for a goal-kick.
Stewart put the Rangers ahead in the 41st minute with a beautifully flighted curling shot around the Blacktown custodian.
It was the visitors who went to the break 2-1 up in a thoroughly absorbing and entertaining half of football.
City coach Mark Crittenden replaced goal-scorer Mallia after the break, bringing on Jordan Smylie to change things up for the second half.
Blacktown signalled their intent when Aoyama tried his luck from fully 30-yards that had Symes sprawling to turn around the post within a minute of the restart, before sending a raking pass for Stewart on the right to power on and force Symes into a fine save down by the left-hand post.
The match became stretched with attack and counter-attack going unpunished, Mendy flashing a header wide in the 64th minute among the highlights.
Mt Druitt had the lead and contained the City onslaught while creating a few half-chances of their own to frustrate the home side.
Blacktown persistently posed questions but the Rangers found the answers until the ball spilt to Mendy in the 87th minute to slide home the equaliser.
Substitute Smylie headed Blacktown into the lead less than 60 seconds later off a well-placed ball from O’Brien.
Smylie came knocking again in the 94th minute took Blacktown City to a two-goal lead after a great cross from Mario Shabow left him open to send the ball into the netting.
A quietly reserved but happy Blacktown City coach, Mark Crittenden, stated after the game that “at the end of the day I thought it was two pretty ordinary defensive errors that led to us being behind at the break.
“We got out of the blocks quickly but conceded almost immediately after we scored, which is never a good thing, but then thought we dominated possession but couldn’t put them away.
“We then went behind but the faith we have in this team meant we always thought we could get something back and I said to Jordan [Smylie] at half-time ‘go out there and show people why we’ve got you here’ and he did just that.
“It’s pleasing that we’ve shared the goals around and not reliant on one scoring source and that’s a sign of a good team and we believe we’ve built that here.
“Derby games are always hard-fought but we got the three points I felt we deserved today.”
Stewart Montgomery cut a forlorn figure at the final whistle but said “we had the opportunity to clear our lines and didn’t, and against a side like Blacktown you’re going to get punished and we were.”
“We’re defending a lead in the last five minutes and the weight of possession added to the fact they had nothing to lose meant they could get numbers forward and that was telling.
“We’ve got to be better than that, smarter than that and not give up those types of opportunities late into games.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling at the moment as there were some very encouraging signs from us today but right now all I can see is we’ve thrown away three points.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City 4 (Mitchell Mallia 4’, Charles Mendy 87’, Jordan Smylie 88’, 90+4’)
Mt Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Bul Juach 6’, Jack Stewart 41’)
Blacktown City Sports Centre
Sunday, 13th March 2022
Referee: Hassan Jomaa
Assistant Referees: Patrick Teleki and Matthew Staples
Fourth Official: Melik Ibrahim
Blacktown City: 3. Daniel Collins, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 5. Grant Lynch, 8. Jak O’Brien, 11. Mitch Mallia (7. Jordan Smylie 46’) 17. Dakota Askew, 18. Nicholas O’Brien (10. Mario Shabow 69’), 19. Adam Berry, 21. Charles Mendy, 30. Alex Robinson, 32. Hiroaki Aoyama (16. Ben Berry 90’)
Subs not used: 7. Jordan Smylie, 9. Jake Trew, 14. Caleb Jackson-Brown, 20. Cayden Henderson
Yellow Cards: Daniel Collins 84’
Red Cards: Nil
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 1. Matthew Symes, 2. Soloman-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 4. Travis Oughtred, 6. Louis Khoury (8. Jason Perez 73’), 7. Jack Stewart, 9. John Roberts, 10. Diogo Barbosa, 11. Fumoto Kamada, 17. Cooper Coskerie (22. Rhett DeSilva 80’), 19 Bul Juach, 21. Tarik Elrich
Subs not used: 3. Andre Tchuda, 12. Jake Trajkovski, 20. Robert Fanella, 26. Rocco Fragale
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Jordan Smylie (BC)
2 – Charles Mendy (BC)
1 – Jack Stewart (MDTR)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Mens Reporter Micky Brock