Blacktown City held out by courageous Saints

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St George FC put its round 1 loss behind with a credible 0-0 draw against one of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW powerhouse sides in Blacktown City FC at Ilinden Sports on Saturday.

The visitors who pummelled APIA 6-3 last weekend were expected to steam roll over the newly promoted NPL Men’s NSW side but the countless efforts on goal failed to hit the target which resulted in St George FC gaining a huge point.

Despite the lack of goals the game itself was a good technical encounter with some very worthwhile moments.

In the 6th minute a free-kick by Joey Gibbs from just outside the box was met by a slight deflection and went wide for a corner in what was the game’s first real chance.

A few minutes later Blacktown City were at it again. Nicholas O’Brien found brother Jak out wide on the right and the latter then cut back inside before firing a shot that was well saved by the St George FC goalkeeper Daniel Axford.

In the 25th minute Adam Berry fired to the stars when he really should have done a lot better when he had the opportunity.

The final goalscoring chance in the first stanza of play was in the 39th minute when Tyren Burnie fired a diagonal shot across the face of goal and just wide of the intended target.

The first opportunity in the second half arrived in the 60th minute when a long looping cross reached Mitchell Mallia at the far post and the former Marconi player, with his first touch since coming on, headed just wide.

St George FC’s first real chance belonged to Evangelo Souris who shot just wide from outside the box when he received a lovely cross from the right just after the hour mark.

In the 71st minute another great chance fell Blacktown City’s way. Burnie did all the hard work before reaching the by-line and then firing across to Gibbs in the box, but his diagonal shot sailed agonisingly across the face of goal.

In the 83rd minute Mallia’s cross was cleared but only as far as Nicholas O’Brien who shot a nice volley just wide of the goal.

After the game Blacktown City FC Mark Crittenden was not happy to have secured only a point but paid homage to St George FC for their tenacity.

“It was poor execution tonight from us,” he said.

“They set up to nullify us, they set up very, very deep and that made life tough for us.

“So it was credit to them for that but it was an ugly game of football which we didn’t help with our poor execution.

“Our crossing wasn’t good enough and our delivery into the box wasn’t good enough. They set up deep and tried to get us on the counter with a couple of half chances but it was disappointing overall for us”.

St George FC coach Jane Talcevski on the other hand was understandably proud of his team taking points off one of the league’s big boys.

“When you come up a division and you are playing against one of the teams that has been for years a benchmark of the competition, it was a good performance,” he said.

“We dominated without the ball and we limited them to a few half chances, whereas other teams might have allowed them to play straight through. So in that regard it was a fantastic game for us and we had to set up to nullify some of their strengths.

“We as a club always felt that we belonged here in this league because of the type of football that we play, but it will still be a matter of transition, adapting to the speed and understanding the league”.

Match Stats

ST GEORGE FC:  0

BLACKTOWN CITY:  0 

Saturday 24th February 2024

Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale

Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Joel Crawford, Lindsay Edmonds

Fourth Official: Hayden Kaye

ST GEORGE FC: 20. Daniel Axford, 2. Caio De Godoy, 3. Troy Danaskos, 5. Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Patrick O’Shea, 7. Jesse Spang (8. Conor Quilligan 60’), 14. Alexander Malfara (9. Peter Grozos 46’), 18. Mark Rodic, 23. Evangelo Souris (15. Mitchell Heapy 87’), 27. Jayden Seeto, 30. Justin Poon (11. Anthony Morabito 83’).

Substitutes not used: 1. Andrew Di Biasio, 19. Nikola Skataric

Yellow Cards: Rodic 33’, Malfara 43’, Axford 93’

Red Cards: Nil

BLACKTOWN CITY: 1. Tristan Prendergast, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 6. Adam Berry, 7. Travis Major, 8. Jak O’Brien, 10. Mario Shabow, 12. Tyren Burnie, 16. Ben Berry, 18. Nicholas O’Brien (9. Rueben Awaritefe 86’), 22. Jacob Maniti (14. Mitchell Mallia 57’), 23. Joey Gibbs.

Substitutes not used: 20. Cayden Henderson, 29. Zachary Butler, 36. Sebastian Hayward

Yellow Cards: Berry 45’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Tyren Burnie (BC)

2 – Mario Shabow (BC)

1 – Nicholas Kalogerou (StG)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo