Rangers no match for clinical Tigers
A double strike from Argentine striker Diego Celis set APIA Leichhardt on the road to a 4-1 victory against a determined Mt Druitt Town Rangers at Lambert Park in round 12 of the NPL NSW Mens competition on a wet and drizzly Friday night in Sydney’s Inner West.
Further goals to Jason Romero and Sean Symons completed the rout before a late Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika consolation for the visitors.
Walter Scott played a searching ball for Symons down the left in the second minute but his cross was well cut out by Tarek Elrich in APIA’s first foray forward before skipper Adrian Ucchino blasted high over the bar several minutes later.
Scrambling defence denied Celis as the home side carved out the early chances with Mt Druitt yet to register an attempt on goal until the tenth minute when Ivan Necevski needing to be sharp at the feet of Bul Juach to deny the visitors.
It spurred the home team on as they broke straight up the other end for Celis to fire his side into an early lead.
It was the Argentine import’s first goal for APIA.
Soon after, Juach was unfortunate when played through as the ball bobbled just as he was about to strike goalward that sent the ball harmlessly wide of the framework.
Rangers were slowly pegging the hosts back and getting themselves into the match by utilising the pace of Juach in attack and Fumoto Kamada down the left wing.
Necevski denied Juach again, this time with his feet, in a perfectly timed tackle inside the area when the striker was sent through from a delightful ball by Jack Stewart.
APIA weathered the storm and went 2-0 up in the 23rd minute as Celis added to his tally clinically finishing off a well worked move thanks to a teasing Romero cross down the right-hand side.
Mt Druitt, who had been applying the pressure, could feel somewhat aggrieved had Symons made it three four minutes later, but he managed to shoot over from the edge of the area.
Celis came close to a first-half hat-trick when receiving the ball on the left, but blasted his effort just wide of the upright although Robert Fanella between the sticks looked to have it covered.
Nick Azzone then attempted a first time shot from well outside the box after Celis had another effort blocked by Elrich, but again it was high and wide as APIA finished the half as they had begun.
Both teams entered the break with APIA in control as Stewart Montgomery’s men needed a good start if they had any chance of getting back into this match.
That notion however was short-lived as APIA scored their third goal in the opening minute of the second half and it was one of the competition’s hottest players in Romero who smashed his left foot strike that took a slight deflection, to loop over Fanella that did the damage.
It was Romero’s tenth goal of the season and this all but killed the Rangers vibe.
Symons then cheekily added a fourth on the night as APIA were romping to another home victory.
Fanella blocked another Celis effort and Themba Muata-Marlow fired a volley wide but to their credit, Mt Druitt were trying to push on but left gaps in behind and APIA were only too happy to exploit them, as it became one-way traffic for extended periods with the Rangers’ custodian keeping the score down on several occasions.
Necevski had a rush of blood and received a silly straight Red Card for handling outside the box when breaking up an attack in the 72nd minute with Luke Turnbull coming on in his place and Azzone the unlucky one sacrificed.
Monahan-Vaiika headed home a consolation goal for the visitors with ten minutes remaining but it was still too little too late as the heavens opened.
For Mt Druitt it was a case of the ball not falling their way, the story of their season to date, as fundamentally there wasn’t much wrong with the way they approached the match but up against a clinical APIA side at home it proved too big a hurdle.
“We work hard, we do the right things but the luck just isn’t with us at the moment,” Mt Druitt Town Rangers coach Stewart Montgomery stated to Football NSW post-match.
“It’s been the story of our season so far and I can’t put my finger on why.
“We train well, we play well but we’re just not getting the breaks but in saying that we need to be smarter up top and tighten up at the back.”
A delighted Danial Cummins paid tribute to his APIA troops.
“I was very happy with the performance; we’ve been working hard at it.
“I still think we have room for improvement but that was a much better performance, particularly in the first half where we played some of the best football, we’ve managed so far this season.
“Ivan (Necevski) didn’t need to make that play, Paul (Galimi) had it covered but we didn’t communicate but it gives Luke (Turnbull) a go next week and he has been training his socks off waiting for a chance so now he’ll get it and he’ll do an equally great job for us.
“Our combination play is getting better up top, and we just need to get those one-twos going a bit more often but again it’s improving so I cannot complain.”
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt 4 (Diego Celis 11’, 23’, Romero 46’, S.Symons 58’)
Mt Druitt Town Rangers 1 (Soloman-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika 80’)
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Friday 20th May 2022
Referee: Sam Kelly
Assistants: Emma Kocbek and Joon Park
Fourth Official: Alessandro Llana
APIA Leichhardt Tigers: 1. Ivan Necevski, 5. Nick Azzone (22. Luke Turnbull 73’), 8. Diego Celis, 9. Jason Romero, 14. Jack Armson (19. Fabian Monge 60’), 15. Thema Muata-Marlow, 16. Sean Symons (10. Franco Parisi 70’), 18. Adrian Ucchino, 21. Michael Kouta, 23. Walter Scott, 38. Yianni Nicolaou (3. Paul Galimi 60’)
Subs not used: 4. Josh Symons, 20. Nathaniel Blair
Yellow Cards: Adrian Ucchino 34’, Michael Kouta 86’
Red Cards: Ivan Necevski 72’
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 20. Robert Fanella, 2. Soloman-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 6. Louis Khoury, 7. Jack Stewart (24. Mabior Garang 70’), 8. Jason Perez (26. Rocco Fragale 70’), 9. John Roberts, 11. Fumoto Kamada, 17. Cooper Coskerie, 19 Bul Juach (18. Olayinka Sunmola 55’), 21. Tarek Elrich, 41. Ivan Sunjic (25. Mohommed Sabbouh 55’)
Subs not used: 12. Jake Trajkovski, 30. Jerome Narayan
Yellow Cards: Jason Perez 56’, Rocco Fragale 88’, Louis Khoury 90+3’
Red Cards: Nil
*Player Ratings have now been hidden
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
