Blacktown City and St George City played out an exhilarating NPL Men’s NSW Elimination Final, with Blacktown prevailing 4-2 at Landen Stadium after extra time.
St George’s Fumoto Kamada got the scoring started less than 10 minutes in before Jak O’Brien equalised as the team went into sheds level.
St George restored their lead with 12 minutes to play through Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, but not long after, Joey Gibbs got Blacktown back into the game to send it to extra time.
Matthew Keremelevski’s red card for St George in the first period of extra time gave Blacktown the initiative.
O’Brien grabbed his second just before the second period of extra time and Mitchell Mallia added a super fourth for the team in the dying embers.
As the wind ripped across Landen Stadium, the away side took the lead eight minutes in through Kamada. He scored a screamer to get his team off to the best possible start within the opening exchanges.
St George went close again in the 28th minute when a right-sided corner bounced around in the Blacktown box. Dominic Cox flicked the ball goalwards, but Tristan Prendergast made an important reaction save.
Kamada nearly had his second goal four minutes later as the ball dropped to him in the left of the box. Kamada aimed towards the near post, forcing Prendergast into another sharp stop.
The visitors were left to rue these missed chances as Blacktown City restored parity in the 36th minute.
A neat passing move down the left saw Travis Major pick out Jak O’Brien centrally, the attacker sliding in to score.
In the 42nd minute, Blacktown almost took the lead through Danny Choi whose fierce effort from the edge of the box provoked a top save from Jack Kenny.
An intriguing first half ended with the scores level and left the teams with it still all to play for in the second period.
Blacktown conjured up another chance 10 minutes into the second half when Martin Fernandez dribbled into a shooting position in the left of the box but shot straight at Kenny.
The second half proved to be a cagey affair as the match looked destined for extra time to decide a place in the next round of the finals series.
St George nearly hit the front again in the 76th minute in spectacular fashion. Kosta Petratos swung in a right-sided cross that Jesse Photi attempted to acrobatically direct goalwards; the ball going just over the bar.
The side found their go-ahead goal two minutes later. A corner from the right fell at the far post to Caio De Godoy who headed the ball back across goal to Cox. The midfielder prodded the ball into Monahan-Vaiika’s path to pick out the right of the goal.
Blacktown looked to respond in the 81st minute when the ball popped out to Mitchell Mallia in the right of the box. The winger lashed an effort towards the goal that Kenny palmed over expertly.
However, the side’s instant response paid off moments later. A short corner was pushed out to Adam Berry whose curling cross met substitute Joey Gibbs to flick a header past Kenny.
In stoppage time, St George’s Cox went close to scoring a winner as he sent a shot from the edge of the box narrowly over.
The clash went into extra time.
It took a dramatic twist in the 100th minute when Keremelevski was sent off for a second yellow card offence, leaving St George with 10 men.
Less than two minutes later, Blacktown took the lead.
Choi’s dipping cross was poked in by O’Brien; the ball slowly bouncing into the goal to give Blacktown a goal advantage to add to their man advantage.
St George had a huge chance to equalise in the 110th minute through Petratos. Cox’s ball from the right found the attacker at point-blank range but Prendergast managed to block it.
Prendergast was called into action again four minutes later when Jordan Roberts’ free-kick needed to be tipped over.
The St George barrage carried on as Cox fired another shot just over in the 119th minute.
Mallia put the game to bed in stoppage time for Blacktown with an audacious lob from near halfway that caught Kenny out and found the goal.
Blacktown City will now face Marconi Stallions on Sunday night at 5pm at Marconi Stadium for a shot in the big dance next Saturday at CommBank Stadium.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 4 (Jak O’Brien 36’ 103’, Joey Gibbs 82’, Mitchell Mallia 120+1’)
St George City FA 2 (Fumoto Kamada 8’, Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika 78’)
Wednesday 28 August 2024
Landen Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Alexis Johnson and Matthew Harris
Fourth Official: Karl Davies
Blacktown City FC: 1. Tristan Prendergast, 5. Grant Lynch, 7. Travis Major, 8. Jak O’Brien, 10. Mario Shabow (22. Jacob Maniti 97’), 11. Danny Choi, 12. Tyren Burnie, 16. Ben Berry, 17. Martin Fernandez (23. Joey Gibbs 67’), 18. Nicholas O’Brien (6. Adam Berry 80’), 24. Jackson Bandiera (14. Mitchell Mallia 78’)
Substitutes Not Used: 4. Lachlan Campbell, 20. Cayden Henderson
Yellow Cards: Travis Major 67’
Red Cards: Nil
St George City FA: 1. Jack Kenny, 2. Cameron Fong (38. Kai Kamikura 105’), 4. Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada (33. Louis Khoury 62’), 6. Tarik Ercan, 8. Dominic Cox, 3. Caio De Godoy (28. Noah Ovens 105’), 14. Paolo Mitry (11. Kosta Petratos 62’), 19. Jesse Photi, 25. Brodie Clarkson (7. Nathan Roberts 98’), 99. Matthew Keremelevski
Substitutes Not Used: 21. Ryan Reid
Yellow Cards: Matthew Keremelevski 60’ 100’
Red Cards: Matthew Keremelevski 100’
Player Ratings:
3 – Jak O’Brien (BC)
2 – Jack Kenny (SGC)
1 – Tristan Prendergast (BC)
Report by Tim Gibson
