APIA’s positive form continues with win over Manly
APIA Leichhardt have kept themselves firmly in contention for the NPL Men’s NSW Premiership after their tricky 1-0 victory over Manly United at Lambert Park, their ninth straight unbeaten game in all competitions.
Fresh off their midweek 2-0 ‘Cupset’ over 2024 A-League Champions Melbourne City in the Hahn Australia Cup, the hosts could have been forgiven for looking a bit fatigued. However, as the game wore on, they looked better and better with Presley Ortiz’s 20th minute belter against his ex-employers from outside the box proving the difference.
Despite missing a host of experienced players, it was Manly who looked fresher than their counterparts.
In the 6th minute Harry McCarthy collected the ball and evaded several APIA defenders, before unloading the ball to Cai Evans, who passed it through to Farah Koko as he forced a quality stop out of rival shot stopper Oliver Kalac.
Kalac continued to have his hands full in the 10th minute when he palmed away a Max Martinello corner kick that was curling just inside the far top corner.
The visitors didn’t stop there and in the 18th minute Evans had his long-range shot blocked by Patrick Flottmann.
Two-minutes later and all that effort was for naught when Ortiz scored an absolute screamer from outside of the box. Despite not having much time, he hit the ball with some real venom as it landed past Levi Kaye into the far bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Jack Stewart meanwhile frustrated the visitors in the 29th minute as his low driving shot into the box was cleared away by Jesse Piriz.
Both sides closed out the first half with creative flashes of brilliance.
In the 33rd minute Kaye tipped Eddie Caspers’ shot onto the crossbar then in the 41st minute Kalac pushed away a testing corner kick from Martinello.
Stewart pressed on for APIA in the 55th minute when he saw his shot take a wicked deflection off Piriz that hit the side netting.
Then on the hour-mark, it was Manly who came incredibly close to scoring as Harry McCarthy’s shot rattled off the post, with Kalac seemingly stuck to the ground.
The back-and-forth nature of the second half continued to unfold with both teams creating multiple quality chances as Joel Bertolissio flashed his shot over the goals in the 63rd minute.
The tension only continued to rise and in the 68th minute when McCarthy uncharacteristically sliced his shot wide with just Kalac to beat as Manly were still well and truly in the match up.
With both sides etching ever closer to another goal, Stewart couldn’t quite convert in the 75th minute as he fired his shot past Kaye’s near post and out of play.
Alex Denmead was then denied in the 85th minute as Kaye got low to push his dangerous shot out of play, only moments after he had denied former teammate Seiya Kambayashi an almost sure-fire goal with APIA ultimately proving victorious.
Match Stats
APIA Leichhardt 1 (Presley Ortiz 20’)
Manly United 0
Saturday 02 August 2025
Lambert Park
Referee: Isabella Mossin
Assistant Referees: Maggie Price and Ethan Zvargulis
Fourth Official: Joshua Kermond
APIA Leichhardt: (2.Seiya Kambayashi 65’), 5.Dredon Kelly, 6.Patrick Flottmann, 7.Jack Stewart, 8.Joel Bertolissio, 9.Presley Ortiz, 11.Rory Jordan, (16.Sean Symons 58’), (18.Adrian Ucchino 86’), 19.Fabian Monge, 21.Michael Kouta, 22.Eddie Caspers, 29.Maskim Kasalovic, (30.Alex Denmead 58’), 80.Oliver Kalac, (99.Franco Farinella 65’)
Unused subs: 1.Anthony Bouzanis
Yellow cards: Patrick Flottmann 71’, Adrian Ucchino 90+3’
Red cards: None
Manly United: 1.Levi Kaye, 2.Aaron O’Driscoll, (3.Matthew O’Donoghue 78’), 4.Jesse Piriz, 8.Stefano Rossello, 10.Harry McCarthy, 14.Maxwell Pengelly, 15.Max Martinello, 17.Farah Koko, (21.Anthony Carreras 86’), 23.Darcy Burgess, 25.Cai Evans, 28.Jasper Chipman, (29.Will Faulder 72’), (33.Max Walker 78’)
Unused subs: 24.Toby Bakewell, 27.Jared Muir
Yellow cards: Max Martinello 15’
Red cards: None
Player Ratings:
3: Oliver Kalac
2 Fabian Monge
1: Harry McCarthy
