Gonzalez Sparks, Ortiz Finishes as APIA Down Manly United

APIA Leichhardt have surged back to the top of the NPL Men’s NSW ladder after a commanding 2-0 round 18 victory over Manly United at Lambert Park, securing back-to-back wins and continuing their strong run against the Northern Beaches outfit on a chilly Saturday evening. 

Oscar Gonzalez and former Manly attacker Presley Ortiz were the difference once again, sealing APIA’s fourth win from their last six meetings with Manly United.

APIA started brightly with long serving stalwart and high flyer Michael Kouta heavily involved early. In the 3rd minute, his dangerous delivery into the area just evaded Rory Jordan, before he again created panic when his cross was headed over by Oscar Gonzalez.

Despite the early pressure, Manly had a brief opening in the 7th minute when Jesse Piriz beat his opponent to a loose ball, sparking a rare attacking moment that saw Benjamin Koop fail to connect with Kakeru Ono’s sharp pass.

The breakthrough came in the 21st minute and it was young gun Oscar Gonzalez who struck first. A quickly taken free-kick caught Manly off guard, with Gonzalez taking a few touches before calmly finishing underneath Max Martinello.

APIA continued to push forward, with Seiya Kambayashi pulling the strings. In the 23rd minute his perfectly weighted through ball found Jordan, only for the chance to be smothered, before his deflected effort shortly after rattled the post. His 31st-minute free-kick was then met by Themba Muata-Marlow, whose header went over.

The home side nearly doubled their lead in the 39th minute, but Piriz was again on hand for Manly, clearing a dangerous APIA corner.

Manly opened the second half with renewed intent, as Koop broke through the APIA defence but dragged his effort wide. Moments later, Stephan De Robillard thought he was in, only to be denied by a superb tackle from Cameron Fong.

Despite sustained pressure, Aaron O’Driscoll’s header in the 54th minute was not far away, while Jordan forced a strong save from Turner two minutes later.

De Robillard remained lively, delivering a dangerous cross in the 68th minute that narrowly missed its target, before Kyle Shaw produced a powerful defensive intervention to deny Koop.

The decisive moment came in the 71st minute when Presley Ortiz came back to haunt his former club, firing home past a trailing O’Driscoll and Turner to make it 2-0 and effectively seal the contest.

Late drama followed, with APIA denied a third in a goalmouth scramble in the 79th minute, before Ayumu Kimura rattled the post from distance in the 88th minute.

APIA’s captain fantastic Themba Muata-Marlow praised his side’s performance after the match.

“Today was massive for us and our win helped us continue to play our way back into form. Our defence in particular was brilliant as we got a nice three points under our belt.

“Credit goes out to the whole team because they worked hard today. Manly is a good side who moves the ball around well. Fair play to them because we knew it was going to be tough, but we managed to close them out and I’m really proud of the lads.

“We had earmarked this game at home knowing the other rounds results and knowing that three points would help us get back on track. We did that really well with some free-flowing football and we want to go on and win everything available to us and finish the campaign strongly.”

Match Stats

APIA Leichhardt 2 (Oscar Gonzalez 21’, Presley Ortiz 71’)

Manly United 0

Saturday 06 June, 2026

Lambert Park 

Referee: Michael Weiner

Assistant Referees: Joel Crwaford and Daniel Cornofsky

Fourth Official: Molly Godsell

APIA Leichhardt: 1.Oliver Kalac, 2.Seiya Kambayashi, (3.Navid Alizada 80’), (9.Presley Ortiz 64’), 11.Rory Jordan, 14.Max Court, 15.Themba Muata-Marlow, 19.Fabian Monge, 21.Michael Kouta, 22.Edward Caspers, (23.Levi Sciuriaga 80’), 24.Cameron Fong, 25.Kyle Shaw, 26.Oscar Gonzalez, (28.Ali Saab 72’), (99.Franco Farinella 64’),

Substitutes not used: 20.Alexander Parkes, 30.Alex Denmead

Yellow cards: Themba Muata-Marlow 61’

Red cards: None

Manly United: 4.Jesse Piriz, 5.Aaron O’Driscoll, 7.Stephan De Robillard, 8.Kakeru Ono, 9.Benjamin Koop, 10.Darcy Burgess, (11.Ayumu Kimura 61), 15.Max Martinello, 16.Will Faulder, 18.Luke Nieuwenhof, (19.Cai Evans 76’), 21.Harry Turner, 24.Toby Bakewell, (29.Douglas John 61’)

Substitutes not used: 2.Luka Kirzan, 3.Matthew O’Donoghue, 14.Max Walker, 20.George Russell

Yellow Cards: None

Red cards: None

Player ratings

3 – Michael Kouta (APIA)

2 – Oscar Gonzalez (APIA)

1 – Jesse Piriz (MAN)

-By Tobias Canning