Sutherland Sharks seized the lead of the PlayStation®4 NPL NSW Men’s U20 competition in another thrillingly unpredictable weekend of action.
There were more dropped points for competition heavyweights Manly United, while Bonnyrigg maintained their upward momentum with a crucial win over fellow challengers APIA Leichhardt Tigers.
The Match of the Round was at Belmore Sports Ground where Blacktown City were looking to break a poor run of form against an ever-improving Sydney Olympic.
Match of the Round
Sydney Olympic v Blacktown City, Sunday 5.00pm at Belmore Sports Ground
A devastating first half spell from Blacktown City has helped the Seven Hills side return to form as Ben Wright’s side held off a fast-finishing Sydney Olympic to triumph 4-2 at Belmore Sports Ground.
The visitors had slipped to fourth place after four matches without a win prior to kick off but bounced back into the winners circle here, albeit in slightly tumultuous fashion as the reigning champions nervily held out a second half Olympic onslaught.
Blacktown shot out of the gates thanks to first-half strikes from Jonathan Grozdanovski, Mason Ireland and George Firth but nearly threw away their handsome three goal cushion in the second half as Olympic stormed back through Sebastian Malfara and Brian Caulker.
Firth sealed a well-taken double and the three points for Blacktown on the counter attack to give the visitors breathing room but not before surviving an almighty second half scare in which Olympic enjoyed one of their finest attacking showings of the season.
Blacktown City took the lead after the ten-minute mark when an errant ball out of defence from Olympic defender Peter Liaskos was pounced upon by Jake Borromeo, whose clipped first-time ball through to Jonathan Grozdanovski was duly dispatched low and hard past Olympic gloveman Denver Crickmore.
It was a bitter early setback for the hosts who had otherwise been impressively threatening going forward and the frustrations were multiplied soon after Grozdanovski’s opener when Mason Ireland raced clear to double Blacktown’s advantage.
The midfielder ignored suspicions of offside as he furrowed into open space and it was unerring finish from Ireland who enjoyed a busy first-half scampering around the pitch in an unusually advanced role.
There were no reservations over Blacktown’s third, however, and as George Firth’s sweetly struck free-kick crashed past Crickmore with twenty five minutes on the clock Olympic’s otherwise untested resolve began to crack in alarming fashion.
However, the Belmore side found Blacktown labouring in their approach to the second stanza and pulled a goal back immediately when Sebastian Melfara punished City for some lackadaisical possession at the back with a fine strike outside the box.
The switch had clicked for Olympic and Malfara’s effort restored genuine hope for John Theodorpoulos’ side who halved the deficit soon after when Brian Caulker kept his composure inside the penalty area.
It had followed another devilishly exciting foray forward from the home side who continued to chase a third with great enthusiasm and their best chance to restore parity fell to substitute Aedon Kyra who fizzed a half-volley inches wide from Nikita Andricopoulos’ corner.
It would ultimately prove a crucial miss for the hosts who for all their enterprising build up found themselves conceding a sucker punch on the counter attack when George Firth cut inside and fired into the bottom corner to seal his double and the win for Blacktown.
John Theodoropoulos rued the concession of three avoidable first half goals that would ultimately prove terminal for a brave Olympic team.
“The second goal I will have nightmares about, but it was an outstanding response in the second half to our credit and we were unlucky not to have made it count”, he said.
Blacktown City manager Ben Wright admitted his side had dodged a second half bullet but remained positive after breaking a four-match spell without a win.
“At half time I told the boys to not give them a sniff, we were lucky to get away with it but it’s good to have got over the line after the past four weeks especially with other teams dropping points this weekend”.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 2 (Malfara 49’, Caulker 55’)
Blacktown City 4 (Grozdanovski 9’, Ireland 20’, Firth 27’, 81’)
Sydney Olympic: 82 N. Andricopoulos, 84 B. Caulker, 91 C. Antoniou, 83 A. Voloder, 20 D. Crickmore (GK), 38 S. Athanaseris, 40 S. Katsionis, 48 P. Liaskos, 49 A. Hadjisocratous, 50 J. Combes, 51 S. Malfara, 81 A. Kyra
Yellow Cards: N/A
Red Cards: N/A
Blacktown City: 20 T. Prendergast (GK), 23 J. Borromeo, 24 J. Mamone, 25 Z. Speth, 26 M. Ireland, 29 L. Fraser, 30 A. Koudakpo, 31 L. Beumie, 33 J. Grozdanovski, 34 D. Askew, 35 I. Elkhaldi, 36 I. Dandan, 37 G. Firth, 40 D. Niski (GK)
Yellow Cards: 37 G. Firth 71’
Red Cards: N/A
Saturday
Sutherland Sharks 2-0 Sydney United 58, 4.30pm at Seymour Shaw
Sutherland Sharks went top of the competition ladder for the first time this season with a solid 2-0 defeat of bottom side Sydney United 58 at Seymour Shaw.
Thomas Papa and Marcus Beattie struck either side of half time as Allan Edmonson’s high flyers consigned Sydney United 58 to another round at the bottom of the table with their sixth victory in their last seven.
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2-0 APIA Leichhardt Tigers, 5.00pm at Bonnyrigg Sports Centre
Bonnyrigg White Eagles climbed in to third place after goals from Andre Guzman and Hayden Tucker saw off the challenge of APIA Leichhardt Tigers in a fourth versus fifth-place showdown at Bonnyrigg Sports Centre.
Guzman opened the scoring for Stephen Sigmund’s side before Hayden Tucker sealed the game late on to consign the visitors to their second defeat to the White Eagles in a month.
The defeat leaves the Lambert Park outfit slip out of the top six at the expense of Wollongong Wolves with the South Coast side, Sydney Olympic and Hakoah Sydney City East all maintaining their challenge for the finals positions.
Hakoah Sydney City East 3-0 Blacktown Spartans, 5.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Hakoah Sydney City East entered the top six after cruising to 3-0 victory over Blacktown Spartans at Hensley Athletic Field.
It was a welcome return to form for Hakoah forwards Brad Paikin and Richard Blanco who collected a goal apiece while Domenic Cutri notched his second of the season to punish an out of form Blacktown.
With seven defeats in their last nine, a late finals assault is beginning to look like a particularly arduous task for Samuel Jacob’s beleaguered Spartans who host Wollongong in Round 15 knowing a win is essential.
Sunday
Parramatta 2-2 Manly United, 1.00pm at Melita Stadium
Manly United came back from two goals down to clinch an important draw against a spirited Parramatta side at Melita Stadium.
Spiro Agathos and David Gullo had Parramatta 2-0 up with half an hour remaining but Mark Zecchin’s outfit relinquished their two-goal cushion in what was a big show of resolve from the championship candidates and a summation of the frustrating season experienced by Parramatta so far this campaign.
Alex Partridge and Mitch Rooke each struck in the final ten minutes to preserve a point for the visitors, but it wasn’t enough to prolong Andrew Christiansen’s side’s spell at the summit of the table with Sutherland Sharks leapfrogging Manly into first with their routine 2-0 win over Sydney United on Saturday.
Wollongong Wolves 3-1 Rockdale City Suns, 3.00pm at WIN Stadium
Stefan Dimoski’s brace led Wollongong Wolves to an important 3-1 victory over lowly Rockdale City Suns at WIN Stadium.
Dimoski hit his second and third goals of the season in between a Jack Lombo effort as Alfredo Esteves’ charges leapfrogged APIA Leichhardt Tigers into the top six.