APIA battered by ruthless United 58 in stunning display
Sydney United 58 have defeated APIA Leichhardt 5-1 in a cohesive, clinical performance at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre.
It was Sydney United 58 that had the first chance of the match, with a genius, bounced pass from Carlos De Oliveira freeing Patrick Antelmi in behind.
The striker was presented with a highly attractive opportunity to find the back of the net in a one on one against Anthony Bouzanis, but Antelmi dragged his volley wide.
APIA had a strong string of dominance over the next 10 minutes, threatening with a mixture of patient possession and direct chance creation, but it was the away team who found the opener in the 12th minute with a well-worked move.
A pass from Adrian Vlastelica found the run of the purposeful Matthew Hatch in behind on the left, and the fullback whipped in a brilliant ball to the back post.
His cross found the foot of Aidan Milicevic, who made no mistake in converting to give United 58 a valuable lead.
The away side consolidated a strong start by clinically doubling their lead with a brilliant, classy strike from Antelmi.
The striker received the ball in the box and shrugged off Josh Symons, before earning himself space in the box.
With his newfound room, Antelmi produced a delightful chip, which arched over the head of Bouzanis and gave United 58 an imperative second goal against the reigning Champions.
APIA had a strong chance to halve the deficit in the 19th minute, with a long-range strike from Dakota Askew troubling Oliver Kalac and presented Jack Armson with a close range chance off the rebound, but the goalkeeper did well to smother Armson’s effort and retain United 58’s strong lead.
United 58’s afternoon was only getting better, with the away side adding a third after a sloppy attempt to retain possession from APIA.
An intercepted pass found Hatch in behind, who curled another incisive, quality ball into the box.
Antelmi latched onto the lobbed pass and, after taking the ball down, efficiently slid the ball beyond Bouzanis and into the back of the net to stretch United 58’s lead to three.
APIA had chances of their own to claw a goal back on two separate occasions, with a dangerous low cross from Armson being cleared well by the away side’s defence in the 36th minute, before a Ben Gibson header was prevented by a strong save from Kalac.
Before APIA were able to go into the sheds and regroup at halftime, United 58 spectacularly added a fourth in the 45th minute, with a spectacular strike from Hatch capping off a sensational first half performance from the left-back and his side.
Receiving the ball just outside the box, Hatch unleashed a deadly first-time strike, slicing the ball into the top-right corner to make it four.
On the stroke of halftime, United 58 could have added a fifth in a half that was characterised by a sluggish APIA against a sharp, incisive Sydney United 58, but an Antelmi hattrick was prevented by both Bouzanis and the post.
In the 61st minute, United 58 added a fifth to continue their crushing rout against APIA.
Shunta Nakamura received the ball in behind on transition, and converged towards goal, before firing a shot past Bouzanis into the far corner.
However, APIA clawed a goal back three minutes later, with a clever pass in behind from Jack Stewart finding the feet of fellow substitute Rory Jordan, who was tripped by Kalac.
Stewart stepped up from the spot and converted to claw a goal back for the home side.
United 58 were presented with a 72nd minute chance to make it a sensational six, but an instinct stop from Bouzanis off a stinging volley from Antelmi prevented the forward from finding a hattrick.
Antelmi had another chance to secure his third and United 58’s sixth off another electric transition, but his shot from inside the box dragged wide off the target.
A minute later, Bouzanis was forced into another save, preventing a strong effort from Stephen De Robillard after cutting in from the left flank.
United 58 coach Zeljko Kalac was immensely proud of his side’s performance.
“I thought it was a fantastic performance in the first 45 minutes, really good.
“We just continued on from where we’ve been playing in the last couple of weeks and today we got the just reward.
“We scored some fantastic goals and played some fantastic football in the first 45.
“The second half wasn’t so pretty to watch, but when you go to 4-0 at halftime things can go wrong – you can get a little complacent, but overall a great result.
“To win 5-1 away from home against a team like APIA is a fantastic result.”
Meanwhile, APIA coach Franco Parisi was disappointed with the defeat, but remained calm and expressed that he knew where his team had to improve for next weekend.
“We’ve come away with no points so it’s a bad day,” he said.
“In terms of the performance and football, there’s some things we’ll work on.
“Credit to Sydney United – they executed their game plan really well and scored five goals, so it’s tough to come back from that.
“Credit to United for the way they took the game, and for us, the attitude – we kept fighting the whole way through the 90 minutes – and we know where it went wrong.
“There was no surprise in where it went wrong but we’ll just keep working on it and focus for next week.”
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt FC 1 (Stewart 64’)
Sydney United 58 FC 5 (Milicevic 12’, Antelmi 16’, 30’, Hatch 45’, Nakamura 61’)
Sunday 14 April, 2024
Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Arinath Gobinath and Mayson Griffith
Fourth Official: Rowan Fisher
APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 2. Seiya Kambayashi, 4. Josh Symons, 9. Ben Gibson, 14. Jack Armson (11. Rory Jordan 59’), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 16. Sean Symons (8. Nick Sullivan 73’), 17. Jordan Segreto (7. Jack Stewart 59’), 18. Adrian Ucchino (C) (41. Nicholas Azzone 79’), 22. Edward Caspers (19. Luigi Ditroia 79’), 23. Dakota Askew
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Alexander Parkes
Yellow Cards: Caspers 36’, Jordan 71’
Red Cards: None
Sydney United 58 FC: 1. Oliver Kalac, 3. Bailey Rule, 4. Adrian Vlastelica (C), 5. Anthony Tomelic (21. Dejan Bakrdanikoski 85’), 8. Shunta Nakamura, 9. Patrick Antelmi (13. Alessandro Lacalandra 85’), 10. Carlos De Oliveira, 11. Matthew Hatch (7. Jordan Ivancic 90’), 14. Liam McGing, 15. Tariq Maia (22. Stephen De Robillard 70’), 19. Aidan Milicevic (2. Cristian Gonzalez 90’)
Substitutes Not Used: 17. Mathew Nikolovski
Yellow Cards: Kalac 64’, Antelmi 72’
Red Cards: None
Player ratings:
3 – Matthew Hatch (SU)
2 – Patrick Antelmi (SU)
1 – Shunta Nakamura (SU)
By Jack George (@JackGeorge0004)