APIA prove too slick for St George
APIA Leichhardt FC remained at the summit of the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition after defeating St George City 2-1 at Penshurst Park with a cohesive performance.
APIA Leichhardt opened the scoring in stunning style in nine minutes with an extraordinary chipped finish from deep.
A disguised pass from Fabian Monge released Jack Armson in space, and the advanced midfielder drove forward with positivity and intent.
He looked up and spotted Jack Kenny off his line, and Armson struck an audacious lob over the retreating goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
APIA had a great opportunity to double their lead five minutes later, as Sean Symons picked up the ball and drove down the wing.
The forward cut the ball back cleverly to Rory Jordan, but the winger couldn’t find the target with a first time shot.
St George looked threatening with a couple of shots at the edge of the box around the 21st minute, but goalkeeper Ivan Necevski remained comfortable.
The home side were looking bright with their sharp interplay around APIA’s box, forcing their opponents to retreat and looking to shoot from central positions from in and around the edge of the box.
St George had a positive structure to progress the ball, featuring interesting rotations and good off-ball runs.
However, they too often misplaced passes when attempting to move into the final third, particularly when playing a pass behind a runner, whereas APIA made few mistakes with the ball.
The home side got in behind through Alexander Kyriacou on the left, but the wing-back saw his shot strike the side netting.
As St George began to dominate, Tarik Ercan, playing as the right central defender in a back three but as a defensive midfielder in possession, began operating that latter role without the ball, as they switched from a 5-4-1 block to a 4-1-4-1.
They also looked to press higher, forcing APIA to adopt a more direct style of play.
Early into the second half, the away side threatened as Jordan snuck in behind, but his powerful shot was just wide of the post.
APIA threatened once again in the 53rd minute as Armson latched onto a loose ball after Symons was dispossessed and forced Kenny to make a sharp save with a shot into the bottom right corner.
Four minutes later, APIA reaped the rewards of starting the second half strongly, doubling their advantage once again through Armson.
After seeing his initial attempted cutback blocked after getting in behind on the left, Symons slid the ball back to Armson inside the box.
The midfielder unleashed a clever disguised effort, finding the back of the net with a shot into the bottom left corner.
APIA were close to adding a third goal as an enterprising run and fantastic pass from substitute Diego Celis saw Jack Stewart in on goal.
The winger cut inside onto his left foot but couldn’t convert in front of goal as a retreating defence blocked the effort.
Minutes later, Celis played another beautiful pass through, this time in a skidding switch to Jordan, who forced an excellent save from Kenny.
St George controlled possession late on in search of a way back into the match, while APIA looked to attack on transition, primarily through Celis.
In additional time, the home side won a penalty as Aiden Mostofi was taken down by Yianni Nicolaou inside the box.
Dean Pelekanos stepped up and made no mistake in converting with a good finish to Necevski’s left.
APIA coach Franco Parisi was left disappointed by the late concession, but was happy with his side’s performance across the 90 minutes.
“We do obsess about the clean sheet and it was very frustrating because that was the last moment and it was an impressive effort from the boys.
“St George were very impressive; there was a lot of good football tonight from both teams and tonight was a super match.
“We’ll end the first round of fixtures on a good note, we definitely wanted to win with the clean sheet but we still take the three points with a lot of energy and confidence around how we performed tonight.”
While St George City coach Mirko Jurilj for the second week in a row was left to ponder how his team came away empty handed.
“The first ten minutes wasn’t good for us and we were reactive after the first goal,” he said.
“We then got a bit of momentum but once we were 2-0 down we ended up chasing the game.
“Our execution in front of goal wasn’t there because there were a lot of good moments that we couldn’t capitalise on.
“Their second goal was our error, an interception and a goal resulted but against a top team like APIA you get punished.
“As a group we are learning the hard way at the moment but you need to keep soldiering on as they say.”
Match Stats
St George City 1 (Pelekanos 90+4’)
APIA Leichhardt 2 (Armson 9’, 58’)
Saturday 13 May, 2023
Penshurst Park
Referee: Sam Kelly
Assistant Referees: Andrej Giev and James Makris
Fourth Official: Charbel Geha
St George City FA: 2. Pedro Ferrari Da Silva (99. Matthew Keremelevski 72’), 3. Daniel Alessi, 4. Brendan Hooper (30. Presley Ortiz 72’), 6. Tarik Ercan (8. Dominic Cox 72’), 7. Nathan Roberts (9. Marley Peterson 60’), 10. Paolo Mitry (20. Aiden Mostofi 60’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 12. Jack Kenny, 14. Dean Pelekanos, 24. Alexander Kyriacou, 70. Maki Petratos
Substitutes Not Used: 51. Salvatore Glinatsis
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 6. Anthony Sparacino, 7. Jack Stewart, 14. Jack Armson, 15. Themba Muata-Marlow (4. Joshua Symons 88’), 16. Sean Symons (8. Diego Celis 79’), 17. Rory Jordan. 18. Adrian Ucchino (98. Franco Farinella 74’), 19. Fabian Monge, 23. Dakota Askew (21. Michael Kouta 74’), 38. Yianni Nicolaou
Substitutes Not Used: 3. Paul Galimi, 12. Anthony Bouzanis
Yellow Cards: Sparacino 55’, Celis 85’
Red Cards: None
Player ratings
3 – Jack Armson (APIA)
2 – Sean Symons (APIA)
1 – Anthony Sparacino (APIA)
By Jack George (@JackGeorge0004)
