Ex-Manly stars return to haunt their former club
Presley Ortiz and Seiya Kambayashi have come back to haunt their former club Manly United as the two stars scored both goals in APIA Leichhardt FC’s 2-1 victory in their round 11 Good Friday clash at Cromer Park.
Manly had their first chance in the 2nd minute when Bilal Belkadi’s shot thudded off Ortiz after the defender whizzed his way into APIA’s box.
Six-minutes later the visitors continued to apply pressure as Josh Bertolissio lost out on the race to the ball against Levi Kaye. Then moments later from a difficult sideline angle, Bertolissio’s attempt was thwarted by Aaron O’Driscoll and put out of play.
Jordan Segreto was next off the block for the visitors as his lethal attempt was pushed away from a diving, one-handed save by Kaye. That chance was shortly preceded by his 26th minute shot that thundered off the post after a barnstorming run.
To help close out the first half, Jack Stewart saw his long-range attempt saved well by Levi Kaye in the 35th minute who was kept the busier of the two keepers thus far.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 38th minute as APIA found the back of the net through Presley Ortiz who powered home his shot over Kaye to open the scoring.
Adrian Ucchino came close to opening the second half with a bang for APIA Leichhardt in the 51st minute, as his curling shot from outside the box looked perfectly positioned to land in the bottom corner, only for it to smack off the back of Harry McCarthy.
Then three-minutes after Ucchino’s audacious attempt, Jack Stewart saw his effort from a significant distance blaze over the bar.
APIA doubled the margin in the 59th minute through Seiya ambayashi as the Japanese star capitalised on an error from the hosts with a run that started from just inside his own half and ended with him scoring from inside the oppositions box, as Kaye was left powerless to stop the ball.
The visitors continued their dominance in the 66th minute after a poor error from Harry Van Der Saag allowed Kambayashi to fire the ball through the arms of Kaye, then the follow up shot courtesy of Eddie Caspers was halted by an out-stretched Kaye.
Manly finally found their breakthrough in the fourth minute of added time as a Jesse Piriz header escaped the clutches of Oliver Kalac, it mattered little for the final result though with the visitors securing a 2-1 win away victory.
APIA substitute Maksim Kasalovic was delighted with the result as he stated that the club’s expectations were to win everything that’s on offer.
“We’re disappointed with Manly’s strike as it came down to a lack in concentration. We should’ve been more switched on as we really wanted the clean sheet.
“At training we’ve been working on winning games with full control and comfortably…it was a big goal of ours.
“Tonight, we were dangerous and a good version of ourselves.
“We want to climb the ladder, stay in top spot and win it all.”
Match Stats
Manly United 1 (Jesse Piriz 90 + 4’)
Apia Leichhardt 2 (Presley Ortiz 38’, Seiya Kambayashi 59’)
Friday 18 April 2025
Cromer Park
Referee: Karl Davies
Assistant Referees: Alessandro Llana and Arinath Gobinath
Fourth Official: Thomas Dale
Manly United: 1.Levi Kaye, 2.Aaron O’Driscoll, 3.Matthew O’Donoghue, (4.Jesse Piriz 75’), 6.Bilal Belkadi, (7.Peter Kekeris 67’), 9.Benjamin Koop, 10.Harry McCarthy, 11.Lucas Meek,12.Rocco Pelle, (13.Taiga Kawano 67’), (14.Maxwell Pengelly 75’), (17.Farah Koko 75’), 19.Alen Aganovic, 23.Darcy Burgess, 26.Harry Van Der Saag
Unused subs: 18.Jay Coates
Yellow cards: Aaron O’Driscoll 30’
Red cards: None
APIA Leichhardt: 2.Seiya Kambayashi, 4.Josh Symons, (5.Dredon Kelly 71’), 6.Anthony Sparacino, 7.Jack Stewart, 8.Josh Bertolissio, 9.Presley Ortiz, (11.Rory Jordan 62’), 16.Sean Symons, 17.Jordan Segreto, 18.Adrian Ucchino, 22.Eddie Caspers, (29.Maksim Kasalovic 62’), (30.Alex Denmead 71’), (41.Nicholas Azzone 81’), 80.Oliver Kalac
Unused subs: 1.Anthony Bouzanis
Yellow cards: Josh Symons 34’
Red cards: None
Player Ratings:
3: Seiya Kambayashi (APL)
2: Levi Kaye (MU)
1: Presley Ortiz (APL)
-By Tobias Canning
