Mt Druitt Town Rangers defeat Saints in thriller
Mt Druitt Town Rangers secured their first win of the 2025 season over St George FC with a thrilling 3-2 win in Round 3 of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition at Barton Park in a game that came to life in the second half where four of the five goals were scored.
The modern sparkling new venue built where the once grand old venue of St George Stadium once stood, certainly didn’t bring any home luck for the famous old club of St George FC.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers took the lead late in the first half before St George FC scored twice early in the second half to lead, before the tables were turned once again with two goals from the visitors which sealed the deal and their first win of the season.
The first noteworthy chance of the game arrived in the 12th minute when a Joao Pedrinho free-kick for Mt Druitt Town Rangers was a rocket straight at goal, but the St George FC goalkeeper Mackenzie Syron was alert enough to pull off a convincing save.
The game ebbed and flowed in what was proving to be a cagey affair until the 27th minute when another Pedrinho free-kick curled past the defensive wall and once again Syron, this time diving to his right, punched the ball away.
The home side through Jaden Casella had a shot on goal on the half hour mark but in reality the ‘keeper Dylan Niski was never really too troubled.
A few minutes later with Niski off his line Aedan O’Shea tried to chip the ball into the vacant net but unfortunately for St George FC it landed on the roof of the net rather than inside.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers replied in the 33rd minute through another Pedrinho free-kick which this time was only a fraction over the crossbar in what was definitely the closest of his three set piece attempts.
Mt Druitt however did eventually take the lead deservedly in the 39th minute. Caleb Jackson-Brown couldn’t believe his luck when he found himself unmarked with the ball at his feet inside the box, and then he simply couldn’t miss from there with a powerful drive.
In the 42nd minute Jude Rankin almost doubled the lead for the visitors when the home side’s defence was caught off guard on the left flank, but his diagonal shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced back into the field of play and with no EPL-style goal line technology the on-field verdict stood.
The first stanza of play was thus brought to an end shortly afterwards by referee Stephen Lucas with the Norwich City lookalikes narrowly ahead.
The second half’s first opportunity belonged to St George FC through substitute Sunday Yona who fired a diagonal shot across the face of goal in the 47th minute.
A few minutes later Jaden Casella did indeed score the equaliser. A flowing attacking move ended up providing him with the ball which he delightfully slammed into the back of the net much to the applause of the home fans in the Frank Arok Stand at the beautifully revamped Barton Park.
St George FC doubled their lead in the 57th minute when Yona cut the ball back from the by-line for Evangelo Souris to slot it home despite the valiant attempts by the Mt Druitt defence to clear the ball off the line. The game was now turned on its head with the home side taking the lead with the two goals in fairly quick succession.
In the 64th minute Zac Sfiligoi curled a free-kick just wide for Mt Druitt Town as the visitors desperately tried to find the equaliser.
In the 78th minute that elusive equaliser did arrive. Joao Pedro Oliveira, simply known as Pedrinho, created some space outside the box before unleashing an unstoppable curling shot that ended up in the back of the net past the outstretched Syron.
In the 76th minute St George FC had a golden chance when a long ball forward found Yona on the right, before he cut back in and fired across the entire face of goal in what was a very close attempt.
Mt Druitt regained the lead in the 82nd minute when Yinka Sunmola fed the ball across from the right to John Azar and his shot bounced off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. Once again the game had been turned upside down with two goals in fairly quick succession to give the visitors the lead.
A Jayden Seeto corner in 88th minute was met by a header from Troy Danaskos at close range but it was turned over the crossbar for another corner by Niski.
Thomas Brown late in stoppage time fed the ball to Thomas Dunn who, from point blank range, couldn’t beat Niski off his line as the goalkeeper smothered the chance and definitely saved the entire three points for Mt Druitt.
Post-match the Mt Druitt Town Rangers dressing room was buoyant and while coach Andy Montgomery was pleased, he wasn’t getting too carried away with the victory.
“It has been a long time coming,” he said
“I have been very pleased with the way we played in the last couple of games too and although the results didn’t go our way, I am still proud of what we are building.
“We are trying to play good football and in the first half especially we did that tonight.
“The boys that came off the bench turned the tide for us in the second half because it was in St George’s favour there for a while, so I am very happy with that.”
The mood was sombre in the St George FC sheds and coach Fabian Miceli was disappointed that yet another game had slipped away after leading.
“The issue with us is that we can’t seem to hold a lead and that has been the case in all three games this season,” he said.
“We seem shaky when we are ahead and go away from our football, and it’s very disappointing.
“Coming back from 1-0 down was good and our reaction from halftime was pleasing and we can say that we are doing good things as much as we like, but in the end we have no points on the board to show for it.”
Match Stats
St GEORGE FC: 2 (Casella 51’, Souris 57’)
Mt DRUITT TOWN RANGERS: 3 (Jackson-Brown 39’, Pedrinho 78’, Azar 82’)
Friday 21st February 2025
Barton Park
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant referees: Lindsay Edmonds, Charbel Geha
Fourth Official: Ethan Zvargullis
St GEORGE FC: 99. Montgomery Syron, 3. Troy Danaskos, 4. Mark Rodic, 5. Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Pat O’Shea, 7. Aedan O’Shea (17. Thomas Brown 77’), 10. Jaden Casella, 14. Justin Poon (8. Evangelo Souris 46’), 15. Bai Antoniou (12. Thomas Dunn 65’), 16. Kaidyn Wright (13. Sunday Yona 46’), 27. Jayden Seeto.
Substitutes not used: 20. Daniel Axford, 40. Hassan Kamberovic
Yellow Cards: Kalogerou 27’, Rodic 32’, Souris 70’, Seeto 81’, Yon4 82’
Red Cards: Nil
Mt DRUITT TOWN RANGERS: 1. Dylan Niski, 2. Alexander Trajanovski, 3. Joseph White, 4. Zac Sfiligoi, 6. Jared Macerola (7. Garang Awac 69’), 9. Joey Gibbs, 10. Joao Pedrinho (17. Cooper Coskerie 89’), 15. Caleb Jackson-Brown (99. Rocco Fragale 69’), 20. Thomas Lopez (14. Yinka Sunmola, 21. William Rankin, 22. Jude Rankin (11. John Azar 57’).
Substitutes not used: 16. Stefan Giglio.
Yellow Cards: Lopez 15’, J.Rankin 43’, Pedrinho 83’, Fragale 85’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Pedrinho (MDT)
2 – Zac Sfiligoi (MDT)
1 – Nicholas Kalogerou (StG)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
