The Round 8 clash between the Rockdale City Suns v Blacktown City FC match scheduled for this Sunday has seen kick off times changed to accommodate with the Hyundai A-League Grand Final.
The Grade 20s will be kicking off at 11am while First Grade at 1pm.
The Suns have stated to Football NSW that at the conclusion of the first grade match, the club will be screening the Hyundai A-League Grand Final match between the Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers will be beamed live in the club house.
Rockdale City Suns v Blacktown City FC
Friday 2 May 2014
Under 16’s – 6:15pm kick off
Under 18’s – 7:45pm kick off
Sunday 4 May 2014
Under 20’s- 11am kick off
First Grade – 1pm kick off
Gaitatzis breaks Blacktown City hearts
IT WAS a happy return for Harris Gaitatzis, whose penalty was the only goal as Sydney Olympic beat his former side Blacktown City at Lilys Football Centre.
It wasn’t a particularly pretty game as Blacktown City failed to test Olympic’s veteran keeper Paul Henderson, who was a dominant aerial presence when he had to be.
Evan Kostopoulos pulled the strings for Olympic who played some decent attacking football throughout, showing that they have fully recovered from the distraction of Sotirios Kygriakos’ guest stint.
His two games may have been good for publicity but on the park it seemed to have more negatives than positives.
Blacktown City meanwhile were second on the ladder at the start of play, but couldn’t produce some of the swashbuckling attacking play of the early part of the season.
Blacktown City had an early opportunity when William Angel gave possession away to Travis Major but he over hit the cross into the penalty area.
It was the same story when an accurate long ball, from Zac Cairncross, a rarity in itself, found Matthew Lewis on the left, but his first time cross was also well over-hit.
Cairncross probably should have given Blacktown City the lead when his header from a Yianni Fragogiannis free kick went over, before Olympic’s Evan Kostopoulos unleashed a rasping drive from 30 yards that flashed inches wide with Nenad Vekic beaten.
The clearest chance of the first half was Blacktown City’s.
34′ minutes were on the clock when Ryuji Miyazawa, who had a quiet game, crossed from the left. Arriving in the nick of time was Travis Major, but he could only direct his header straight at Henderson. It was a guilt edged chance for the Blacktown City co-captain.
The second half saw Olympic begin to take control with Kostopoulos at the heart of everything good.
His vision and poise on the ball was a highlight of a relatively dour match and it was he who won the penalty from which Olympic one the game.
On the hour mark, Michael Gaitatzis shot over from distance and then, two minutes later, Kostpoulos ran at Blacktown City left back Giorgio Speranza.
Speranza lunged in and a penalty was given by referee Enrico Guerra, here from Umbira in Italy as part of the referee exchange program.
Harris Gaitatzis made no mistake, tucking the spot kick into the bottom corner even though Vekic guessed the right way.
The goal seemed to spark the game into life.
Lewis had a penalty appeal turned down by Signor Guerra just moments after the Blacktown City goal, before Sasa Macura had a shot blocked; unfortunately it was by his own team-mate Major.
In the 72′ minute Major had a chance of his own, sidefooting wide after a good cross by the lively Danny Choi.
Olympic though were absorbing the pressure and threatening on the break themselves.
A free kick from Troy Danaskos was headed narrowly over by the ever-involved Kostopoulos and then substitute Dimitri Hatzimouratis headed over a cross from Harris Gaitatzis.
Blacktown City were trying to take control of the game in the last ten minutes but were undermined by a succession of aimless long balls from Cairncross.
Choi was slid in on goal in the 88′ minute and just as he was to pull the trigger, Brayden Sorge made a perfectly time block.
Then, from the resulting corner Jacob Poscoliero had a header cleared off the line.
It wasn’t meant to be for Blacktown, but it is a sign of Olympic’s progress so far under Grant Lee.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 0
Sydney Olympic 1 (Harris Gaitatzis 62′ [PEN])
Sunday, 27th April, 2014
Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills
Referee: Enrico Guerra
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Andre Giev
Fourth Official: Roberto Matae
Blacktown City: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3. Giorgio Speranza (18.Daniel Araujo 77′), 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 11.Danny Choi, 15.Marco Travaglini (5.Jacob Poscoliero 46′), 16.Kearyn Baccus, 19.Zachary Cairncross (C)
Substitutes not used: 12.Joel Hardwick, 13.Blake Tuxford (GK), 14.Nicola Kuleski
Yellow Cards: Danny Choi 24′, Giorgio Speranza 62′, Zac Cairncross 76′
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Brayden Sorge, 3.Troy Danaskos, 7.William Angel (19.Go Shirai 38′), 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 14.Peter Markovic (C), 15.Yianni Spyrakis, 18.Taiga Soeda, 23.Evan Kostopoulos, 33.Christos Tomaras (24.Amaury Gauthier 51′), 39.Michael Gaitatzis (9.Dimitri Hatzimouratis 77′)
Substitutes not used: 5.Bradley Treloar,12.Kresimir Kardum
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3- Evan Kostpoulos (OLY)
2- Harris Gaitatzis (OLY)
1- Kearyn Baccus (BLK)
– By Matthew Lopez, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Lilys Football Centre
Blacktown City win in Sharks thriller
Blacktown City FC have returned to their winning ways by posting a 4-3 fairytale comeback win over the highly-fancied Sutherland Sharks at their normally impenetrable fortress at Seymour Shaw.
It was always going to be a close encounter given that only goal differential separated their respective positions of second (Blacktown City) and fourth (Sharks) on the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 competition ladder, and neither team let their fans down throughout the opening stages of the match.
Blacktown City’s brilliant start to the season, where they recorded wins in all three of their opening encounters, had taken a bit of a battering in recent weeks following a high-scoring 3-3 draw with the winless APIA Leichhardt Tigers and a 3-1 loss to Manly United just six days earlier, but City looked like they were back to their winning ways after Travis Major opened the scoring in the 5’ minute.
As both teams were settling nicely into the game a quick thinking Kearyn Baccus dispossessed Sharks left-back Matthew Gordon after he was delivered a soft pass as the home side attempted to work the ball out from the back. Baccus then tore down the right side and delivered a perfect cross to his captain Major who made no mistake in slotting it past Sharks keeper Nathan Denham.
Major could have had his second in the space of two minutes when he got in behind the flimsy Sharksdefence in the 7’ minute, but a brilliant textbook save by the agile Denham diving at full stretch to his left ensured that the Sharks remained in the hunt.
Blacktown City’s lead though was short-lived as the Sharks hit back in the 14’ minute when a perfectly weighted Panni Nikas free-kick out on the left found the glancing head of the always-reliable Jamie McMaster who found the far corner of the net to level the scores at 1-1 with less than 15’ minutes gone on the clock.
With both teams settling into a nice rhythm and playing some end-to-end entertaining football, the deadlock was only broken by the powerful Perry Moustakas in the 40’ minute after he latched onto the end of a Nikas corner and slammed the ball into the back of the net to provide the Sharks with the lead for the first time in the game.
Nikas was in the thick of the action on the stroke of halftime when he was brought down heavily on the edge of the box in the 44’ minute. Arguably the best exponent of scoring from free-kicks in the league, a fired up Nikas hammered the ball with precision into the far top corner. This ensured that the Sharks would feast on a two goal lead at the break as well as earn him his sixth goal of the year.
The pick of the players in the opening half, Nikas, was both ecstatic and seething during his post-goal celebration and earned the ire of the referee and a subsequent yellow card after physically confronting Blacktown City’s Sasa Macura whom Nikas clearly singled out for the heavy challenge only moments earlier.
Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden must have been seething in the sheds at the intermission and whatever the charismatic mentor said to his troops at the break almost paid dividends in the opening minutes of the second-half when Ryuji Miyazawa almost pegged one back in the 51’ minute following a nice cross from out on the right by Danny Choi.
Always the danger man for any opposing side, Miyazawa got in behind his defenders and was unmarked on the far post following Choi’s cross only to volley it painfully shy of the post.
In a sometimes spiteful second stanza, where Blacktown City’s frustration appeared to be taking its toll at the prospect of not recording a win in its last three rounds after having opened the season withthree-straight victories, the visitors brought a much more physical game to the Sharks throughout much of the second-half.
The Sharks struggled to come to terms with Blacktown City’s in-your-face approach and eventually cracked under sustained pressure when a Baccus corner found his captain Major who shrugged off his marker to post his second goal in the 75’ minute.
Major secured his hat-trick and his sixth goal of the season in the 83’ minute following a well-executed free-kick by Matt Lewis out on the left to again level the scores as the momentum swung heavily in the way of the visitors and their fairytale comeback was complete just two minutes later in the 86’ minute when a controversial penalty against Sharks enforcer Nick Littler was converted by Baccus to bring the score to 4-3 where it remained to the final whistle.
Despite the 3-1 deficit at the break Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden remained firm in his belief that his side was still firmly in the contest.
“Their (Sharks) three goals came from set pieces and I told the boys at halftime that we were well and truly still in it,” explained Crittenden.
“Those three set-pieces had us behind the eight ball, but I told them that if we were next to score then we’d win the game and fortunately we did score next and we won the game.
“We made a few little adjustments at the break shape-wise with the intention of pressuring them and that’s what we did.
“The whole team really stood up and I was really proud of them all and the guts that they showed was superb.
“Travis my captain was a real inspiration and Zach my co-captain certainly led by example out there tonight.”
It was a different story on the other side of the ledger as a bitterly disappointed Sharks coach Robbie Stanton took time out to speak with FNSW shortly after his side’s heartbreaking loss.
“When you’re winning 3-1 and just capitulate like we did it’s tough to take,” conceded Stanton.
“Just like last week we had it, but we threw it away. Admittedly we had a few injuries throughout, but they were more determined than us in the second-half so full credit to them as they deserved the win.
“It’s exactly the reverse of what we did to them last year, so in a way they just returned the favour tonight.
“A scoreline of 3-1 at the break should be enough to kill a team off, but it wasn’t to be as we simply lost our way, we stopped playing, we stopped building and reverted to long balls. A few of our boys went missing and before you know it we’re 4-3 down.
The Sharks will need to regroup next weekend as they travel across the harbor and deep into the Northern Beaches next Sunday afternoon as they take on Manly United at Cromer Park, whilst Blacktown City play host to the resurgent Sydney Olympic at Lilys Football Centre – also on Sunday afternoon – in their round seven clash.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 3 (Jamie McMaster 14’, Perry Moustakas 40’, Panni Nikas 44’)
Blacktown City 4 (Travis Major 5’, 75’, 83’, Kearyn Baccus 86’ (pen))
Saturday April 19, 2014
Seymour Shaw, Miranda
Referee: Adam Weir
Assistant Referees: Leigh Pigram and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Sebastien Brennan
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.Jacob Tratt, 5.Nicholas Littler, 6.Matthew Gordon, 8.Lukas Stergiou, 9.Nathan Elasi, 10.Jamie McMaster (12.Jordan Figon 46’), 14.Nick Stavroulakis (c), 15.Perry Moustakas (3.Adamos Pierettis) 16.Ethan Galbraith (19.Nicholas Olsen 70’), 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Andrew Depta, 29.Mitchell Farmer
Yellow Cards: Panni Nikas 44’, Nicholas Littler 85’, Matthew Gordon 85’
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3.Giorgio Speranza (18.Daniel Araujo) 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major (c), 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 11.Danny Choi, 15.Marco Travaglini, 16.Kearyn Baccus (5.Jacob Poscoliero) 19.Zach Cairncross
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Joel Hardwick, 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Players Ratings:
3 – Travis Major (BCFC)
2 – Panni Nikas (SS)
1 – Danny Choi (BCFC)
-By Gary McDonald, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Seymour Shaw Park
Manly soar past Blacktown City
Manly United FC handed new coach Paul Dee a winning start following a 3-1 win against Blacktown City FC on Sunday afternoon at Cromer Park.
After taking over midweek from Craig Midgley, Dee stated it would be more of the same with him at the helm.
4’ minutes in the home side had a dream start when midfielder Dom Ferguson opened the scoring.
Collecting the ball from 25 yards, the Central Coast Mariners National Youth League utility smashed an effort in off the crossbar which Nenad Vekic was never going to stop.
8’ minutes later Blacktown City FC striker Danny Choi showed good feet inside the box to beat his marker.
He hit an effort with his left foot which looked goal bound, only to see it flash past the far post.
After 32’ minutes Yianni Fragogiannis rattled the crossbar with a free kick and you sensed Mark Crittenden’s men were warming to the contest.
Moments later they were back in the game when Kearyn Baccus slotted home a penalty.
The decision appeared harsh after United skipper Graeme Forbes got plenty of ball in the challenge which led to the spot kick, but referee Michael Weiner was adamant Ryuji Miyazawa was fouled in the area.
It didn’t prove to be costly as Chris Payne restored Manly’s one goal buffer on 40’ minutes.
The striker gambled on a nervous backpass to Vekic, and much to the delight of his teammates, stabbed home an effort from the edge of the box.
5’ minutes after the break Blacktown City should have equalised after some comical defending from Josh Lawson.
The usually rock solid defender was the luckiest man at Cromer Park when Miyazawa couldn’t beat Dylan Mitchell from point blank range after being handed the simplest of chances.
15’ minutes later Brendan Cholakian showed blinding acceleration down the left flank after being played into space.
He picked out Payne but he planted his header wide of the target from six yards.
80’ minutes in Payne played provider and Cholakian secured the three points with a well taken goal to send the fans in the Lucas Neill Stand into a state of delirium.
Dee was understandably happy with what his team dished up.
“I asked the boys to elevate the level of performance from last week (against Sydney United 58 FC) and they did so, which was great,’’ he said,
“At halftime we had to adjust a few things which we also did well.
“We have (Blacktown) Spartans next week so we will look to keep doing what is working well for us.”
His opposite Mark Crittenden conceded his team was off the pace.
“You know what you are going to get each time you play Manly,’’ he said.
“They are very physical and full credit to them – their first goal was a bomb and they took their chances.”
Match stats
Manly United FC 3 (Dom Ferguson 4’, Chris Payne 41’, Brendan Cholakian 80’)
Blacktown City FC 1 (Kearyn Baccus 35’ [PEN])
Sunday April 13th, 2014
Cromer Park, Cromer
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant referees: Lance Greenshields and Scott Edeing
Fourth official: Daniel Stack
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 7.Scott Balderson, (22.Jack Green 76’) 10.Brendan Cholakian, 12.Dom Ferguson, (13.Masakatsu Tanaka 55’) 4.Graeme Forbes, 8. Danny Grant, 5.Josh Lawson, 9.Chris Payne, 16.Jed Prater, (17.Nathan Sim 82’) 11. Roberto Speranza, 6.Josh Ward
Substitutes not used: 20.Tonu Liiband (GK), 19,Daniel Saric
Yellow cards: Josh Ward 24’, Scott Balderson 74’
Red cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Nenad Vekic; 16.Kearyn Baccus, 19.Zach Cairncross, 11.Danny Seung-Joo Choi, (20.Giuseppe Camera 85’) 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 6.Mat Lewis, (8.Sasa Macura 60’) 7.Travis Major, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 5.Jacob Poscoliero, (12.Joel Hardwick 69’) 3.Giorgio Speranza, 15.Marco Travaglini
Substitutes not used: 13.Blake Tuxford, 14.Lewis Beumie
Yellow cards: Matt Lewis 45’
Red cards: Nil
Player ratings:
3 – Dylan Mitchell (MU)
2 – Brendan Cholakian (MU)
1 – Kearyn Baccus (BC)
Blacktown City and APIA play out thriller
A hungry looking APIA-Leichhardt Tigers were seeking their first win of the season, while Blacktown City were looking to keep their winning streak alive without conceding any goals, but both sides had to settle for a thrilling 3-3 draw at Lilys Football Centre.
Putting the away fans on the edge of their seats, it was the Tigers who started strong from the opening whistle.
Franco Parisi delivered a beautiful ball into the box to find Daniel Forgarty, but his shot was saved by keeper Nenad Vekic in the very first minute of the game. Brad Bartels was there to get the rebound but put his shot over the bar, a mistake he would make amends for later in the game.
Just a couple of minutes later, a pass from Kearyn Baccus was intercepted by Mathew Mayora in APIA-Leichhardt’s attacking third and seeing the opportunity before him, decided to take a shot from outside the box, but his right footed effort did not trouble the keeper.
In the 5′ minute, Blacktown’s first opportunity came as Yianni Frogogiannis and Matthew Lewis played a sweet one two together, but no one was there connect with Lewis’ well delivered ball into the area.
Drama came for the home side as they conceded their first goal of the season in the 8′ minute. Jamie Lobb found his target man Mayora in front of the goal and he made no mistake as he got over his defender and headed APIA’s first goal.
Their lead would not last long as a determined City looked to equalise right away.
A perfectly timed ball through the defence saw Travis Major one on one with Andrew Bazi and as he put the ball around him, his legs were caught, which saw the ref point to penalty spot with no hesitation, producing the first yellow of the game.
A confident Baccus stepped up in the 16′ minute and made no mistake placing the ball into the bottom right hand corner, leaving the outstretched arm of Bazi no chance of a save.
In the 33′ Bazi just mistimed his kick, looking like a little slip due to the wet conditions and Ryuji Miyazawa took full advantage of the situation and at full force was able to hit the ball into the back of the net sliding in with his right foot, which saw Blacktown take a 2-1 lead into the half time break.
In the 51′ minute the patient and persevering APIA brought themselves level with the hosts as Bartels brought down a cross in the box and smashed it in from the right hand side.
Exactly 10′ minutes later Bartels used his pace to beat his defender to come to a prime one on one opportunity with Vekic. He made no mistake, tucking away his finish to fire APIA into the lead.
The fast paced Miyazawa once again used his speed to find himself in a great scoring opportunity, however Bazi managed to pull of a unique save.
Unfortunately for the Tigers though the rebound hit defender Michael West and saw the ball creep over the line bringing the home side level at three each.
It was then the visitors who came a hair’s length away from creating late drama as Bartels’ shot just missed the bottom left hand side of the goal and 3-all it remained.
“We were always going to concede at some stage, even though we were not hoping for three,” Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden said.
“We were a little bit naive defensively… a few things to look at to get ready for next weekend”
APIA-Leichhardt coach Billy McColl, was pleased with the draw.
“I thought it was an open game, I thought anybody could have won it, we gave away soft goals, but at the end of the day we will take the point.”
“We will get our first win soon and I am hopeful we will have a good year.”
“We took the lead and then we lost it and it showed character to come back and equalise the game, but we just were not good enough to get the three points today”
“Brad (Bartels) had a brilliant game and he was all over… he is skilful. He missed an early shot in the first half, but he took his two goals very well."
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 3 (Kearyn Baccus 16’, Ryuji Miyazawa 33’, Michael West [OG] 72′)
APIA Leichhardt Tigers 3 (Matthew Mayora 8’, Bradley Bartels 51’, 61′)
Sunday, 6th April, 2014
Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Craig Fisher
Fourth Official: Samuel Grasso
Blacktown City FC: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3.Giorgio Speranza, 4.Yianni Frogogiannis, 6.Matthew Lewis (18.Daniel Araujo 50′) 7.Travis Major (C), 8.Sasa Macura (5.Jacob Poscoliero 70′), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 11.Danny Choi, 15.Marco Travaglini, 16.Kearyn Baccus, 19.Zachary Cairncross
Substitutes not used: 13.Blake Tuxford (GK), 17.Keiren Paull
Yellow Cards: Giorgio Speranza 30′
Red Cards: Nil
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Andrew Bazi; 2.Travis Oughtred, 3.Jamie Lobb, 4.Brad Bartels, 5.Michael West (C), 7.Stephen Kayes, 10.Franco Parisi (9.Aman Hadid 68’), 13.David D’Apuzzo (16.Jordan Simpson 92’), 15.Mathew Mayora, 12.Daniel Bragg (8.Brad McDonald 62’), 11. Daniel Forgarty
Substitutes not used: 1.Chris Moore (GK), 8.Bradley McDonald, 17.Matthew Castlenuovo
Yellow Cards: Andrew Bazi 15’, Matthew Mayora 75’, David D’Apuzzo 80′
Red Cards: Nil
Player ratings
3. Daniel Choi (Blacktown City)
2. Bradley Bartels (APIA)
1. Ryuji Miyazawa (Blacktown City)
– By Saman Ziaei