NWS Spirit FC spanked by ruthless APIA
APIA regained its composure on the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Premiership race following last week’s shock loss by handing NWS Spirit FC a heavy lesson with a clinical 5-0 victory at Lambert Park on Saturday.
Franco Parisi’s men were eager to strike early, dominating possession with the ball.
APIA was looking to bounce back after a shock 4-0 defeat to Sydney FC Youth last weekend.
After controlling the ball in their attacking half and multiple attacking opportunities, the hosts notched up their first goal in the 11th minute.
Aiming to slide through the Spirit defence, the ball landed at the feet of Jack Stewart. Striking the ball with his left foot, Stewart, who only recently clinched the player of the month award, scored his fourth goal in his last six games.
NWS Spirt goalkeeper Christopher Marques was able to get a vital touch to the ball, but the power was too strong to keep out.
Both teams went back and forth with possession but neither had any realistic opportunities on goal until the 34th minute.
Intercepting the ball from the halfway line in the 34th minute, APIA’s Dakota Askew went on a solo run down the middle of the field and found Rory Jordan.
Recalled into the starting eleven this week, Jordan easily finished it into the bottom left-hand corner, nailing his third goal of the NPL NSW Men’s season.
The goal was well deserved by Jordan who was the main attacking presence earlier in the half and delivered constant pressure.
With APIA’s pressure proving too much for NWS Spirit, Jordan continued to take on the Spirit defence.
In the 45th minute, the on-loan Newcastle Jets star dribbled past three Spirit defenders in the penalty box before delivering an outstanding pass to Sean Symons, who struck the ball into the back of the net.
APIA’s ruthless attack continued in the second half as the home side showed no signs of slowing down.
In the 60th minute, Spirit’s Musashi Kokubo played a risky pass metres away from the penalty box which was intercepted by the opposition.
Continuing to make Spirit pay for their mistake, Sean Symons bulleted the ball into the goal off his left foot making it 4-0.
As NWS Spirit hoped to return to the game, they left an easy opportunity for APIA to counterattack three minutes later in the 63rd minute.
Jack Armson played a lovely lobbed through ball past the last line of Spirit’s defence, finding Symons. Symons made easy work of a rushing Christopher Marques to secure his hat trick, scoring into an open goal.
That was to be the final goal of the match as the match ended with APIA crushing a hapless NWS Spirit FC side 5-0.
Rory Jordan in particular was on fire and stated how important this victory was to the club following their loss last week as the young gun made a stunning return to first team football.
“It’s a great feeling to come back and we knew that last Friday was not a setback but we knew it was a one off,” Jordan said.
“We didn’t think we were going to repeat that tonight and all week the message was, ‘we’re a great team and we have to bounce back’.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to play tonight but I passed all the tests with somewhat flying colours and then had a word to the gaffa [Franco Parisi] and he had full confidence in me to go out and execute tonight. His confidence in me definitely paid off.”
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt FC 5 (Stewart 11’ Jordan 34’ Symons 45’ 60’ 63’)
NWS Spirit FC 0
Saturday 6 May
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris and Daniel Drewitt
Fourth Official: James Makris
APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski (GK) 6. Anthony Sparacino 7. Jack Stewart 14. Jack Armson 15. Themba Muata-Marlow 16. Sean Symons (8. Diego Celis 75’) 17. Rory Jordan 18. Adrian Ucchino (c) (98. Franco Farinella 68’) 19. Fabian Monge (4. Joshua Symons 80’) 23. Dakota Askew (3. Paul Galimi’) 38. Yianni Nicolaou (21. Michael Kouta 68’)
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Anthony Bouzanis (GK)
Yellow Cards: Ucchino 15’ Nicolaou 25’
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit FC: 1. Christopher Marques (GK) 3. Musashi Kokubo 4. Kota Odakura (19. Dominic Jones 77’) 7. Richard Darko 11. Ollie Wiggin 13. Simon Nicholas 16. Kyle Shaw (2. Blake Ilitch 61’) 17. Matthew Cahill 20. Jared Lum (c) (18. Federico Gagliano 77’) 21. Luiz Lobo (9. Mitchell Davidson 68’) 23. Michael Konestabo (22. Abuzar Awaz 68’)
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Jacob Madden (GK)
Yellow Cards: Odakura 53’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3– Sean Symons (APIA Leichhardt FC)
2– Rory Jordan (APIA Leichhardt FC)
1– Jack Armson (APIA Leichhardt FC)
By Ethan Lee Chalk
