Blacktown City march on with valuable win at Penshurst
Blacktown City continued its recent fine form defeating St George City 2-0 in an entertaining Round 7 ‘Match of the Round’ encounter at Penshurst Park on Saturday.
The scoring was kicked off by Blacktown City talisman Travis Major, nodding home at the second attempt and settled by a Jak O’Brien penalty.
Major netted in the 67’ minute when firstly glancing a header wide but on hand to put Blacktown ahead with the return ball before O’Brien wrapped up proceedings from the spot sending Jack Kenny the wrong way between the sticks.
Despite three Red Cards issued on the night in what cannot be considered a dirty game, nothing could detract from the exciting football played.
Dubbed the ‘Battle of the Cities’ it was certainly a game for the ages from a neutral’s point of view as two teams turned up to play football in a thoroughly entertaining match with both looking to take maximum points and continue their climb up the ladder.
Maki Petratos came close to giving the hosts an early lead in the 4th minute when cutting inside and curling a shot onto the angle of bar and post with Tristan Prendergast left stranded between the sticks. Adam Berry came close at the other end almost immediately after a beautiful cushioned header via Major left the Blacktown player perfectly placed but again curled his effort agonisingly wide for the visitors in a frenetic opening to the match.
Petratos again went close when Jason Romero cleverly stopped the ball for the wide man to run onto but the shot was narrowly wide of the upright as St George were playing on the front foot in a surprisingly open game.
With both sides separated only by goal difference going into the match, there was certainly plenty riding on the outcome as both sought the win and the opening goal would prove crucial to that.
A very pleasing on the eye and intriguing game of attack and counter ensued, neither side gaining the upper hand for any length of time.
Martin Fernandez, who came close to scoring from the halfway line as a substitute in stoppage time last weekend, fired another shot wide from a well worked Blacktown routine without working Kenny in the home net as another opportunity was spurned. He slipped yet another past the post in the 27th minute.
St George struck the bar once more a minute later leaving the home side to hold their collective heads in their hands, the woodwork rapidly becoming Blacktown City’s 12th man.
The visitors gained the momentum as the half drew on with St George happy to sit a little deeper and hit on the break, something they were quite adept at but it might have changed in the 40th minute when Paolo Mitry skipped through the Blacktown defence but couldn’t find the target from outside the box.
It remained scoreless at the break, although it could be argued had either side gone in ahead it wouldn’t have been unjustified, that in no way supported the enterprise and entertainment provided in the opening half.
Romero forced Prendergast into a solid save from a free-kick, that he himself won, from just outside the area in the opening 60-seconds of the second-half, the home side again starting on the front foot.
Both defences looked stretched at times but recovered quickly enough to prevent any clear cut chances although quick feet allowed Maki Petratos to steal in behind the Blacktown defence and force Prendergast into a point blank save down at his right-hand post 2’ minutes later.
Fernandez couldn’t connect cleanly to put any power into a shot that Kenny gathered comfortably as Blacktown responded and again it was end-to-end football.
Fernandez, needing minutes and match fitness after returning from injury, was replaced on the hour mark by Jacob Maniti, Blacktown switching to a standard midfield four looking to shore up the avenues St George were exploiting.
Tyren Burnie skipped down the right wing and crossed for Major, Blacktown’s all time leading goalscorer, who couldn’t initially gain enough purchase to head home but wouldn’t be denied with the second ball in when nodding Blacktown into the lead in the 65th minute.
A totally unexpected flashpoint occurred in the 68th minute, lead to an ugly incident between the two sides, that saw both Mathew Keremelevski and Mario Shabow sent from the field in what had been, until this point, a fair and keenly contested match.
Fumoto Kamada got a shot away in the 75th minute but again Prendergast was on hand to deny an equaliser, the home side going all out to restore parity and who replaced Mitry with Presley Ortiz immediately after in a bold attacking move from St George coach Mirko Jurilj.
It backfired when Ortiz, on for barely five minutes, was shown a straight Red Card for a high tackle on Ben Berry in the 80th minute reducing the home side to 9-men.
Major galloped away down the right but couldn’t take advantage of a defensive slip and scuffed his shot allowing Kamada to finally clear the danger for St George.
In a grandstand finish, Kenny denied Gibbs once more, Blacktown as in the opening period, grew into the half and found themselves awarded a penalty in the 86th minute that Jak O’Brien confidently struck home to extend the lead by sending Kenny the wrong way.
It may have looked hard on St George to come away with nothing but it left Coach, Mirko Jurilj, to comment.
Once again it has been execution that has let us down after hitting the crossbar twice in the first-half,” he said.
“We should have been scoring from the first one in that position but you get punished by the top sides when you don’t take your chances.
”The execution and header for their opening goal is the difference and we are then left chasing the game and we have to do better and not get ourselves in that sort of situation.
“We certainly put in the effort tonight, that’s for sure and although we finished the game strongly I have to wonder where that intensity and running was prior to our sending’s off. Couple that with our execution and Blacktown are good enough to take advantage,” he concluded.
Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden was proud of his chargers picking up three points in what is a tough place to do it at,
“I thought for the opening 10-minutes we were under the pump a little bit but you come here and you’ve just got to execute well early on,” he said.
“St George are a good side and we knew they were going to move the ball around, particularly around the edge of our box, and we wanted to ensure we remained compact and hit them on the counter.
“We started to get control as the half went on and we moved the ball around well but nil-all at the break was probably a fair scoreline, particularly as they his the bar twice from a couple of decent moves.
“You have to stay in the game when you’re playing good sides and I felt we played some very good football and in the end deserved the win.
“Many would have thought it would have been a more physical game as we’re both big teams but we both moved the ball well around the pitch and we both tried to play football, which for the neutral would have been good to watch.
“It’s a massive result away from home against St George, the smaller pitch etc. but a massive three points away from home,” he ended.
Match Stats
St George City FC 0
Blacktown City 2 (Travis Major 67’ Jak O’Brien 86p’)
Penshurst Park, Penshurst
Saturday 23rd March 2024
Referee: Stephan Lucas
Assistants: Joshua Eiser and Aisha Strutt
Fourth Official: Jackson Tippett
St George City FC: 1. Jack Kenny, 2. Cameron Fong (7. Nathan Roberts 86’), 3. Joshua Hong, 4. Solomon-Johnn Monaghan-Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada, 9. Maki Petratos (19. Jesse Photi 86’), 10. Jason Romero, 14. Paolo Mitry (30. Presley Ortiz 74’), 25. Brodie Clarkson (11. Kosta Petratos 50’), 33. Louis Khoury, 99. Matthew Keremelevski
Subs not used: 88. Mohammed Khamis, 51. Stavros Skotadis
Yellow Cards: 3. Joshua Hong 44’
Red Cards: 99. Mathew Keremelevski 68’, Presley Ortiz 80’
Blacktown City: 1. Tristan Prendergast, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 6. Adam Berry, 7. Travis Major (9. Reuben Awaritefe 84’), 8. Jak O’Brien, 10. Mario Shabow, 12. Tyren Burnie, 16. Ben Berry, 17. Martin Fernandez (22. Jacob Maniti 70’), 18. Nicholas O’Brien, 23, Joey Gibbs
Subs not used: 19. Julian Rodriguez, 20. Cayden Henderson, 29. Zachary Butler, 36. Sebastian Hayward
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: 10. Mario Shabow 68’
Player Ratings
3 – Travis Major (BC)
2 – Jason Romero (STG)
1 – Jak O’Brien (BC)
By NPL NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock
