Sydney United 58 flip the script and bring Hills down with clinical display
Sydney United 58 returned to the winner’s circle following a convincing 3-0 victory over Hills United FC in round 5 of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition at the Sydney United Sports Centre.
Two first half goals to Matthew Hatch and Shunto Nakamura were followed by a late third in the second half to Aidan Milicevic to seal the deal for Zeljko Kalac’s side.
Sydney United 58 FC had the first real chance of the match in the 3rd minute when Anthony Tomelic found himself with time on his hands but his shot was wide of the goal face.
A minute later however a beautifully worked move should really have seen Sydney United take the lead. Carlos De Oliveira from close range forced Ryan Wood into a great save and the home side’s bench couldn’t believe how that attempt stayed out.
In the 16th minute Sydney United had another great chance when Aidan Milicevic found acres of space down the right flank but his cross was, unfortunately for the home side, not met by Liam McGing in the box and the opportunity went begging.
The home side eventually took the lead in the 24th minute. A delightful ball from club captain Adrian Vlastelica reached De Oliveira on the left and he, in turn, superbly fed it to Matthew Hatch who hit it first time with some force and found the top corner of the net.
Just prior to the break Sydney United doubled their lead when Hatch made a magnificent run down the left channel before giving a beautiful assist to Sunta Nakamura and the talented Japanese midfielder made no mistake from close range. The halftime break shortly afterwards provided a welcome reprieve for both teams from the afternoon sun.
The first goal-scoring opportunity in the second stanza of play was provided by Hills United in the 51st minute when Glen Kelshaw fed the ball through to Yu Okubo and his header from the centre was nicely turned away for a corner by Oliver Kalac.
Sydney United replied shortly afterwards but Alessandro Lacalandra’s shot lacked the power to trouble the visiting goalkeeper.
Hills United came close in the 69th minute when a corner by Isaac Hovar was met by Thomas Lopez in the middle and through a myriad of players he knocked it forward, but somehow on the line Oliver Kalac managed to keep the ball out despite the visitors actually thinking that it may have crossed the line.
The second half was proving to be a lot better for the newly-promoted Hills United with Sydney United now often on the back foot after dominating most of the first half.
However, just when they appeared to be down, it was Sydney United that scored their third in the 80th minute when Aidan Milicevic did all the hard work in the box and on the turn slotted home for a very good individual goal.
The game’s last real chance arrived in the 89th minute with Sydney United on a beautiful counter-attacking move that started deep in their own half and ended with Luke Zuvela’s shot straight at goalkeeper Wood.
Afterwards Zeljko Kalac was very impressed with his side’s performance following a few indifferent results.
“We played some good football but we have actually played some good football all year,” he said.
“Today we got the benefits because we actually put the ball in the back of the net, so it was a very good performance and we just have to continue from here by putting our chances away.
“In the second half we dropped too deep but we rounded it off in the end, so it’s okay. We used a lot of young subs and they really did a great job.
“Today our end product was good and without an end product there’s nothing in football, so you get the satisfaction of playing good football and scoring”.
Hills United coach Luke Casserly on the other hand was disappointed that certain things didn’t go his side’s way today.
“We were sluggish at the start and our tempo wasn’t good so we were behind the pace” he stated.
“We had three games in a week and two of those games were in the heat and the boys certainly felt that with the three games.
“They were up 2-0 in the second half and allowed us to come and we had a lot of good ball in a lot of areas, We had some close calls that didn’t go our way but at the end of the day we didn’t create enough chances so it’s impossible to win”.
Match Stats
SYDNEY UNITED 58 FC 3 (Hatch 24’, Nakamura 44’, Milicevic 80’;)
HILLS UNITED 0
Sunday 10th March 2024
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: Matthew Harris, Arinatah Gobinath
Fourth Official: Nicholas Kour
SYDNEY UNITED 58 FC: 1. Oliver Kalac, 3. Bailey Rule, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 8. Shunta Nakamura (29. Joshua Attard 89’), 10. Carlos De Oliveira (52. Ali El-Sabeh 75’, 11. Matthew Hatch (49. Luke Zuvela 89’), 13. Alessandro Lacalandra (6. Adam Zervas 59’), 14. Liam McGing, 15. Tariq Maia (21. Dejan Bakrdanikoski 75’), 19. Aidan Milicevic.
Substitutes not used: 17. Mathew Nikolovski.
Yellow Cards: McGing 43’, O. Kalac 76’
Red Cards: Nil
HILLS UNITED: 1. Ryan Wood, 2. Rainer Smahel, 4. Brian Jamba (20, Thomas Lopez 56’), 5. Daniel Petkovski, 6. Isaac Hovar, 9. Yu Okubo, 11. Anthony Frangie (13. Cameron Philip 66’), 17. Caleb Jackson-Brown (8. Eoin Montford 78’), 18. Mitchell Smith (7. Wade Giovenali 56’), 19. Glen Kelshaw, 26. Thomas Makko(27, Nicolai Muller 66’) .
Substitutes not used: 21. Emlyn Cross.
Yellow Cards: Makko 63’, Muller 93’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Matthew Hatch (SU)
2 – Shunto Nakamura (SU)
1 – Glen Kelshaw (HU)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
