Goals galore as ruthless Hills get past young Sky Blues

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Hills United secured its second win of the 2024 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW season with an entertaining 4-2 victory over Sydney FC at the Landen Stadium on Wednesday night.

The hosts came into this tie on the back of a stunning 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Central Coast Mariners, whilst Sydney FC was looking to right the wrongs of last week’s defeat to St George FC.

After being on the back foot for some portions of the first, Hill stunned their opponents with three goals within five minutes to take a resounding 3-0 lead of the contest.

Goals from Caleb Jackson-Brown, Cam Philp and Thomas Lopes helped Hills go out to the unassailable lead as the visitors were left stunned.

Nathan Amanatidis fired one back for the Sky Blues but Anthony Frangie’s late strike quickly cancelled that out.

Mitch Glasson showed his potential with a spectacular finish in the dying moments of the game to bring the score to 4-2.

In a relatively even start to the game, it was the defences that came out on top with neither side able to threaten in front of in the opening ten minutes.

It was the hosts who had the first real chance of the game as Yu Okubo headed a perfect ball into the path of an open Jackson-Brown close to the target. However, his heavy touch gave the Sydney defence a chance to catch up and defuse a goalscoring situation.

Amanatidis answered back for the Sky Blues with a low-drive effort from long range that forced an athletic save from Ryan Wood.

Okubo very nearly opened the scoring for Hills with a curling effort from just inside the box that went inches wide of the target, whilst Amanatidis had a similar outcome with his long-range effort for the visitors.

Sydney began to take control of the game in the middle stages of the first half and looked the likelier of the two sides to break the deadlock.

Matthew Scarcella came closest for the Sky Blues with a low-driven shot across the face of goal which again forced a brilliant save from Wood to keep the scores level.

With Sydney taking control of proceedings, Hills surprisingly drew first blood through Philp. After a lofted ball from Glen Kelshaw, Philp used his speed to cut in past two defenders as he blasted a shot towards the front sticks and past Adam Pavlesic in goals.

Two minutes after opening the scoring, United had doubled their lead through Jackson-Brown. The pacey forward was the beneficiary of a clearance from a corner that fell perfectly into his path giving him the perfect chance to riffle his effort home from close range.

It was a bitterly disappointing end to first half for the Sky Blues after being denied on a handful of occasions, they were now behind by two goals within a matter of minutes.

After a wild end to the first half, the hosts ensured the drama would continue just moments after the resumption of play. 60 seconds after the restart, Lopez was awarded a penalty and buried his chance in the top right corner to extend Hills’ lead to three within five minutes.

Sydney looked determined to prove the scoreline wasn’t a true reflection of their effort in the game and came agonisingly close to drawing a goal back. It was Bailey Callaghan who perfectly set up Lachlan Middleton with a headed pass but his piercing effort whistled past the front post.

After being awarded a free kick in a dangerous area, Jimmy Van Weeren opted to bring on his top scorer Tiago Quintal the get his side back into the game. His effort deflected onto the path of goal but was desperately cleared away just before going over the line by Thomas Mako.

The Sky Blues finally cracked the Hills’ defence in the 61st minute after a skilful backheel from Glasson put Amanatidis through on goal, where he neatly curled his effort past Wood.

It was a very fluid end to the game with both sides trading blows in the attacking third with no success until the later stages.

After being put through on goal, Okubo made his way towards goal before picking out Frangie in the box, leaving the experienced forward with a near-open net to secure his side’s fourth of the night.

Glasson managed to steal another one back for the visitors with a powerful effort that bounced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line.

Although Sydney pushed hard in the end, it wasn’t there night as Hills walked away with the impressive victory.

After guiding his side to a feel-good win, Hills United coach Luke Casserly stated his pride in the team’s efforts on the night, whilst giving credit to his opposition.

“Delighted for the bounce back and the win… we talk a fair bit about finishing your actions and if you get into good areas and you deliver the ball, get shots off anything can happen and that’s what happened tonight.

“Sydney are a very good team, I’m delighted that we took our chances when they came, I’m very happy.”

Sydney FC coach Jimmy Van Weeren admitted the result was a fair one and that his side has areas to work on throughout the season.

“Fair result I think, they had a real clear game plan and executed it, fair play to Luke and Hills, I thought they executed that game plan really well.

“In some of those goals there’s some things that we think we can definitely do better, I think the challenge for us is if we cop one than we don’t cop three in a short amount of time, then the game is really away from us.”

Match Stats

Hills United FC 4 (Philp 41’, Jackson-Brown 43’, Lopes (pen) 46’, Frangie 85’)

Sydney FC 2 (Amanatidis 61’, Glasson 89’)

Landen Stadium, Seven Hills

Wednesday 6th March 2024

Referee: Stephen Lucas

Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris and Arinath Gobinath

Fourth Official: Nicholas Kour

Hills United FC: 1. Ryan Wood (GK), 2. Rainer Smahel 4. Brian Jamba, 5. Daniel Petkovski, 6. Isaac Hovar, 9. Yu Okubo (. Eoin Montford 89’) 13. Cameron Philp (11. Anthony Frangie 62’), 17. Caleb Jackson-Brown, 19. Glen Kelshaw, 20. Thomas Lopez (24. Sunday Yona 62’) (7. Wade Giovenali 79’), 26. Thomas Mako (27. Nicolai Muller 62’)

Unused Subs: 31. William Loucas

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Sydney FC: 20: Adam Pavlesic, 3. Tyler Williams, 5. Richard Nkomo, 6. Dylan Rose (8. Lachlan Middleton 45’), 9. Bailey Callaghan (3. Jacob Brazete 57’), 11. Marin France (10. Tiago Quintal 57’), 14. Jared Middleton, 18. Matthew Scarcella, 19. Mitchell Glasson, 21. Zachary De Jesus (2. Noah Mathie 45’), 28. Nathan Amanatidis

Subs not used: 40. Alex Zaverdinos, 4. Joseph Calusic,

Yellow Cards: Williams 46’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Caleb Jackson-Brown (HU)

2 – Brian Jamba (HU)

1 – Mitch Glasson (SFC)