Saints undone by Blacktown City comeback

A Jak O’Brien double and a strong fightback led to an impressive 3-2 comeback win for Blacktown City over St George FC at home at Landen Park.

Both St George and Blacktown were pushing their attack early in the hopes of getting an early goal, but each defence shut down any chances close to goal.

There was an early injury scare for St George’s Jaden Casella, who went down just after the 10 minute mark with an apparent ankle injury, but he was quickly back on his feet and back on the pitch.

St George then controlled most of the possession and attack, with a weak attack in the 15th minute quickly followed up by a stunning free kick from Casella which went straight to the keeper.

Kaidyn Wright had his own opportunity which went into a Blacktown defender, while Casella set up a nice cross which unfortunately went to no one.

Blacktown had a good chance with a long ball just outside the box going to Daniel Axford.

St George finally opened the scoring just before the half hour mark as Justin Boon found his way past a thick Blacktown defence to hit the back of the net.

Blacktown didn’t stay down for long and found an equaliser just five minutes later courtesy of Jak O’Brien, who put pressure on the St George defence and set up his own goal following a cross from Jakob Cresnar.

However it was St George who still took the lead into the break, with Casella producing a cheeky chip over Blacktown keeper Caden Henderson and snatching back the lead in the 41st minute.

Blacktown came back from the sheds with goals on their mind and almost levelled the scoring within minutes, but the early goal was waved off by the offside flag.

Adam Berry’s 52nd minute strike went into the hands of Axford, while an impressive bicycle kick from Mitch Mallia went over the crossbar.

The consistent pressure and some choice substitutions from Blacktown coach Mark Crittenden finally paid off as Danny Choi produced a brilliant cross to Jak O’Brien, who easily tapped it in for his second of the night.

The home side kept up the pressure, with Choi almost bagging a goal of his own but his shot was deflected out for a corner with 30 minutes to play.

Blacktown finally took the lead for the first time all match with 15 minutes to go. Mallia capitalised on some scrappy attack in the box to sneak it past the keeper and snatch a 3-2 advantage.

St George remained consistent in their attack after going down but struggled to produce any strong chances.

Their final opportunity came off a free kick in stoppage time, but the resulting shot went over the crossbar.

Blacktown coach Mark Crittenden said although the result was good, there’s still a lot of work to do.

“Obviously I’m extremely happy with the result,” Crittenden said.

“But that was probably our worst first half of football all season.

“We’re scoring the goals, but defensively in those couple of moments, we’re just not good enough.”

Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 3 (Jak O’Brien 36’, 61’, Mitchell Mallia 76’)

St George FC 2 (Justin Poon 29’, Jaden Casella 41’)

Sunday 13th April 2025

Landen Stadium, Seven Hills

Referee: Ivica Covic

Assistant Referees: Travis Griffith and Arinath Gobinath

Fourth Official: Liam Smith

Blacktown City FC: 1. Cayden Henderson (GK), 4. Lachlan Campbell (10. Maksim Jez 76’), 5. Grant Lynch, 6. Adam Berry, 7. Travis Major (c), 8. Jak O’Brien (9. Keanu Moore 80’), 14. Mitchell Mallia (22. Jacob Maniti 80’), 16. Benjamin Berry (11. Danny Choi 60’), 17. Martin Fernandez (3. Jared McKinley 60’), 18. Nicholas O’Brien, 23. Jakob Cresnar

Substitutes Not Used: 20. Zac Bowling (GK)

Yellow Cards: Saxon Hillyer 12’, Awan Lual 50’, Ricky Fransen 63’, Maliwethu Nkomo 68’, Dallo Sandy 90’

Red Cards: Nil

St George FC: 3. Troy Danaskos, 4. Mark Rodic, 5. Nicholas Kalogerou, 6. Pat O’Shea, 8. Evangelo Souris (23. Javier Rodriguez 76’), 10. Jaden Casella, 14. Justin Poon, 15. Bai Antoniou, 16. Kaidyn Wright (7. Sunday Yona 58’), 20. Daniel Axford (GK), 27. Jayden Seeto (12. Thomas Dunn 74’)

Substitutes Not Used: 1. Jonte Stark-Harris, 34. Kota Toyooka, 40. Hassan Kamberovic

Yellow Cards: Javier Rodriguez 83’

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Jak O’Brien (Blacktown)

2 – Jaden Casella (St George)

1 – Danny Choi (Blacktown)

-By Katrina May