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Roberts swaps Popondetta for Central Coast

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Former Mount Druitt Town Rangers star John Roberts has become the latest NPL NSW Men’s star to sign with A-League outfit Central Coast Mariners. 

18-year old Roberts has been on trial with the Mariners for a number of weeks, highlighted by a clinical hat-trick against the North Shore Mariners that caught the eye of club supporters.

Roberts has spent time with both Melbourne City and Western Sydney Wanderers in the past, but said that this opportunity with the Mariners feels like a second chance and a new start for him.

“For me, and for my family, this is really big,” Roberts said on Tuesday.

“It was tough since I left Western Sydney, trying to figure out where I was going to be.”

“Staj gave me a chance to come here and play and train at the Mariners, it’s not something I’m going to take lightly and I feel like I owe Staj and the club so I will try to reward them now.”

Roberts was born in Guinea after his parents fled the war in Sierra Leone, and made his way to Australia before he turned 10 years old.

This year, he returned to NPL NSW Men’s club Mt. Druitt to restore his confidence and get some game time, and believes it was a key to him arriving where he is now.

“I think I needed to take that step backwards to then take another one forwards,” he said.

“From now it is about working hard, giving 110% every time and hopefully getting some game time in the first team.”

Mariners Head Coach Alen Stajcic said it was an exciting opportunity for Roberts and a further indication of the Mariners providing opportunities for young players.

“John has been on trial now with the Mariners for a few weeks and he has impressed us with his work rate, his footballing ability and also his attitude around the club.”

“He’s a hard worker and this is a big chance for him to show us what we know he can be, given his time formerly in the Joey’s and also as a Young Socceroo.”

“This follows on from Lewis [Miller] signing and Sammy Silvera and shows the Mariners are a club that is ready to provide opportunities to our talented young players.”

 

Blacktown City FC crowned Under 18 Champions

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Blacktown City are Champions of the 2019 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s U18s competition, coming through a scoreless 110 minutes to beat Mt Druitt Town Rangers in a penalty shootout.

It seemed fitting that this match was decided from the spot given how little separated these two teams throughout the season. Mt Druitt should have won in normal time, with Zane Cunico putting in a sensational shift between the sticks to keep the green and yellow tide at bay.

Neither could find a breakthrough, and Cunico proved the hero in the shootout to ensure the Championship would be heading to Lily Homes Stadium.

The Premiers settled on the ball early and looked to ease their way into Mt Druitt’s half through Thomas Bienasz, who set his opponents on the back foot every time he took possession.

The first real chance of the match came from a Mt Druitt freekick; Callum Richards swinging a cross in from the left for Jesse Hirschowitz to rise unmarked and glance a header towards goal. Zane Cunico was alive to the danger and threw up a glove to make a spectacular save, tipping the ball over the bar to deny Mt Druitt an early opener.

Blacktown appeared rattled by the chance, while Mt Druitt seemed emboldened. The Rangers pushed their opponents back into their half as they began to dominate possession, though with little to show for their time on the ball.

Rhys Osmond took an opportunistic crack at goal after running onto a loose ball at the top of the box, but Cunico got down well to gather the shot as it curled towards the bottom corner; a comfortable save for a keeper of his pedigree.

Blacktown struggled to push past the halfway line as Mt Druitt rolled forward, with Osmond looking threatening as he slid a shot just wide of the far post after good work from Yinka Sunmola on the edge of the area.

Cooper Halfpenny might have been an unlikely goalscorer if not for another crucial intervention from Cunico as the half came to a close; the fullback running into space on the right before lashing a volley goalwards for the keeper to palm the ball away.

Mt Druitt picked up in the second half where they left off in the first, though Blacktown came out with markedly more fight than they had shown in the opening 45 minutes.

The half slid by with little incident before exploding into life as extra time began to cast a shadow over the final ten minutes.

Jesse Hirschowitz should have given his side the lead their dominance deserved when he pinched the ball off a Blacktown defender on the byline and skipped past Cunico, finding himself in front of goal with only a man on the line to beat. Inexplicably, the Mt Druitt man failed to pull the trigger until the keeper recovered, allowing Cunico to make another extraordinary save to keep his side in the game.

Blacktown might have grabbed a late winner against the run of play but Blake Richards sent a header spinning wide of the near post before Connor Rose did the same, leaving the two sides level at the end of the 90.

Both teams became increasingly desperate as the spectre of penalties loomed into view, though neither could find the opening for a shot as extra time wore on.

And so this final would be decided from the spot: Mt Druitt went first, with Nathan Grimaldi skying the ball over the bar to hand Blacktown an immediate advantage. Kai McLoughlin scored to put the Premiers up 1-0, before Cunico saved Dimo Vlachos’ penalty to leave Blacktown on the brink of an incredible win. Callum Garrett stepped up to take the decisive kick, and rolled the ball into the open side of the net to send his side into raptures.

“It could’ve gone either way,” admitted John Carnevale as his team lined up for photos with the crowd. “We came into it more in the second half and extra time, and I knew when we went to penalties that we’ve done it before.”

“Zane pulled off a couple of great saves, and it’s capped off a super year for us. The boys have done extremely well, and it’s just reward for their efforts during the year.”

“It’s never easy losing on penalties,” said a dejected Joe Dermillio. “I think the boys did enough to win, but sometimes those goals are just not there. Testament to the boys, I don’t think Blacktown had a shot on goal, and the keeper pulled off a few good saves.

“I think the boys deserved a result today; I’ll try to lift them. It’s been a phenomenal season, these are the tightest bunch of lads. They’d take a bullet for each other, they’re an amazing team.”

Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 0 

Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC 0

Blacktown win 4-2 on penalties. 

31st August, 2019

Bankwest Stadium

Referee: J. Crawford

Assistant Referees: B. Merchant & M. Ibrahim

Fourth Official: A. Bloch

Blacktown City FC: 1. CUNICO Zane, 6. ATTARD Ryan (16. VELDHUIZEN Cameron [ 2. SMITH Corey]), 12. BERRY Ben, 10. BIENASZ Thomas, 14. BURNIE Tyren, 3. DUFFY Ryan, 15. JACKSON-BROWN Caleb, 11. MCLOUGHLIN Kai, 4. RICHARDS Blake, 9. ROSE Connor (13. CIRINO Christian), 8. TAPP Bradley

Substitutes not used: 20. VIDAKOVIC Tristan

Yellow cards: Tapp 62’

Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC: 22. ALLEN Brendan, 14. GARRETT Callum, 3. GRIMALDI Nathan, 2. HALFPENNY Cooper, 6. HOWARTH Riley (12. CHOL Dilang [11. IDEHEN Anthony]), 4. ILITCH Blake, 9. OSMOND Rhys, 16. RICHARDS Callum (18. GONI Daniel), 7. SUNMOLA Yinka (19. CHUKWUEKE Nonso), 10. HIRSCHOWITZ Jesse, 8. VLACHOS Dimos

Substitutes not used: 21. NARAYAN Jerome

Yellow cards: Richards 82’, Halfpenny 90’

 

Rangers win not enough to gift them finals football

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Mt Druitt Town Rangers have narrowly missed out on a place in the National Premier Leagues NSW Mens finals series despite a brilliant 2-1 upset win against APIA Leichhardt at Popondetta Park on Sunday. 

The Rangers needed victory and for Sydney United and Sydney Olympic to lose if they were to pull off a miracle top five finish, and while Aidan Desmond’s side did their part the other half of the equation didn’t.

Toufic Alamedddine gave Mt Druitt the early lead before Chris Payne equalised for the APIA with his 21st strike of the season.

However, the home side would bounce back as Mirjan Pavlovic sealed the deal for Mt Druitt in the second half with a clever goal.

It was a frustrating defeat for APIA ahead of the playoffs but with nothing riding on the final round tie coach John Calleja will scratch the result and hopes his team regroups before their match with Blacktown City next week.

With a possible finals spot on the line, Mt Druitt exploded out of the blocks and took the lead inside the opening ten minutes.

A pass from Fabricio Fernandez found Toufic Alameddine in the box and his clinical diagonal finish was too much for goalkeeper Ivan Necevski to handle giving Mt Druitt a 1-0 lead.

In the 18th minute a Fernandez free-kick caused some consternation in the box for the APIA Leichhardt defence but eventually the ball fell onto the upper side of the crossbar and over with troubling the ‘keeper.

Mt Druitt should have made it two in the 25th minute when Alameddine fed the ball in for Josh Gould but his header was cleared off the line by the APIA defence.

APIA pounced on the very next play as they raced up field to equalise much to the dismay of the home support.

Corey Biczo played a delightful ball from the right across to an unmarked Chris Payne who had no trouble slotting home as Mt Druitt’s defence were left waiting for an offside call which would never arrive.

Mirjan Pavlovic, who has made a real difference to the Mt Druitt team since his transfer mid-season from Marconi, tried his luck in the 31st minute with a great shot from the left but Necevski made a wonderful save anticipating a galloping Fernandez.

Shortly afterwards APIA Leichhardt almost scored when Sammy McIllhatton in the middle fed the ball wide to Payne who fluffed his chance and the ball went wide.

Just prior to the break the Alex Boyadjian with a header from close range almost found the back of the net but Themba Muata-Marlow was there to clear the danger for the Tigers.

Mt Druitt though did re-gain the lead in the second half in the 57th minute with a delightful goal when Cooper Coskerie fed the ball to Pavlovic who made no mistake from close range and chipped an out-coming Necevski.

In the 76th minute there was a great chance for Mt Druitt when a brilliant cross by John Roberts on the right found Fernandez in the middle, but his great diving header was very well saved by Necevski who managed to turn the ball around the post for a corner.

In the 83rd minute Fernandez had the ball in the back of the net but the offside flag was raised and Mt Druitt didn’t get their third despite the celebrations from the home supporters until they realised that the goal wouldn’t stand.

Mt Druitt desperately clung onto win in the final seconds but as news filtered in from other results the victory proved to be a bittersweet end to the season.

Rangers coach Aidan Desmond praised his players for a brilliant win but admitted it was tough miss out on a top five finish by such a small margin.

“We came into today’s game knowing we had to win against one of the leagues best teams to even stand a chance and the team did exactly that,” Desmond said.

“APIA didn’t finish in the top two for any old reason, they are a very good team and we played a great game to finish our season with a win against them.”

“At the start of the season we had set out to play in the finals so to fall two points short is difficult. However, I am happy on the whole with our first year after promotion and I much rather we finish where we did than be battling for survival.”

Match Stats

Mt DRUITT TOWN RANGERS: 2 (Alameddine 10’, Pavlovic 57’)

APIA LEICHHARDT TIGERS: 1 (Payne 26’)

Sunday, 11th August 2019 

Popondetta Park, Emerson

Referee: Katie Patterson
Assistant Referees: J. Bell, P.Teleki

Fourth Official: C. Wright

MT DRUITT TOWN RANGERS: 1.Carlos Saliadarre, 3.Josh Gould, 4. S.J. Monahan-Vaika, 5.Jake Mammone 6.Blake Thompson, 9.Alex Boyadjian (19.John Roberts 55’), 10.Fabricio Fernandez, 11.Toufic Alameddine, 13.Lord Darkoh, 15.Cooper Coskerie (18.Jacob Esposito 72’), 27.Mirjan Pavlovic (12.Nicholas Trimble 88’).

Substitutes not used: 7.Luke Clifford, 17.Jordan Gomez.

Yellow Cards: Thompson 33’, Alameddine 87’

Red Card: Nil

APIA LEICHHARDT TIGERS: 1.Ivan Necevski, 3.Paul Galimi, 6.Chris Payne, 7.Tynan Diaz, 8.Corey Biczo, 10.Franco Parisi, 12.Sammy McIllhatton, 14.Lachlan Hughes (18.Adrian Ucchino 82’), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow (17.Sam Gulisano 73’), 16.Sean Symons (19.Dom Nasrabadi 82’), 21. Michael Kouta.

Substitutes not used: 22.Luke Turnbull

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Card: Nil

Player Ratings have now been hidden due to the second half of the season commencing.

By National Prmier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo

 

Rangers blast past hapless Hakoah

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Mount Druitt Town Rangers secured back-to-back victories in a 4-0 rout of Hakoah Sydney City East on a cold evening at Popondetta Park. 

Tonight’s result saw Mount Druitt Town Rangers pick up their seventh victory of the season and keep their slim finals hopes alive.

Alex Boyadjian and Toufic Alameddine scored in the first half hour to lead 2-0 at the break.

Alameddine completed his brace in the second half alongside a Jacob Esposito goal to bank three more points in their maiden season in the NSW top flight.

For Hakoah Sydney City East, the visitors had their chances through Amauri Gauthier and Joshua Swadling but were wasteful in front of goal. The relegated side added a missed penalty in the second half as they look to next week to finish on a high.

Looking to secure back-to-back victories, Mount Druitt Town Rangers started the contest quickly as a Fabricio Fernandez free-kick from the left was touched wide by Hakoah Sydney City East custodian Ryan Norval.

Fernandez thought he had the opener moments later when he turned home a deflected shot from Mirjan Pavlovic but the assistant referee had his flag raised for offside.

The best chances for Hakoah Sydney City East came from the boot of Amauri Gauthier. The striker struck the post from a one-touch move in the 17th minute then flayed one wide two minutes later as the visitors searched for an opener.

It was the home side that found the opener. The combination between Pavlovic and Alex Boyadjian has grown over the season, as the former clipped a ball into the path of Boyadjian to slam home for 1-nil to Mount Druitt Town Rangers.

Joshua Swadling tried to respond for Hakoah Sydney City East. He rampaged down the left before he bent a wicked ball into the path of Dominic Cox, the winger couldn’t place the shot as it deflected wide.

Mount Druitt Town Rangers made Hakoah Sydney City East pay for their wastefulness with a second goal before the half-hour mark. Toufic Alameddine burst into the box before he finished well for his sixth goal of the season, 2-nil.

Hakoah Sydney City East tried to spark a comeback with a pair of shots from Gauthier and Swadling but both were easily dealt with by Norval as the home side took their two-goal advantage into the break.

Coming out the break, Mount Druitt Town Rangers wasted no time added a third goal. A perfect pass from Blake Thompson split the defence for Alameddine to stride onto, slot home and make it 3-nil.

The visitors were given a chance to hit back from the spot after a handball. Substitute Nathan Roberts stepped up but in a scene reminiscent of the FFA cup contest, Mount Druitt Town Rangers custodian Carlos Saliadarre swatted away the spot kick and the follow up from Gauthier.

Adding a fourth late in the contest was Jacob Esposito who finished the ball at the far post after some delightful ball that bent across the box. Esposito’s second of the season made it 4-nil for Mount Druitt Town Rangers.

Speaking afterwards Mount Druitt Town Rangers coach Aiden Desmond was pleased with the result as they look to finish the season strong:

“I thought we started slow but second half we took our chances well. We go out with the intention to win every game and we’ll see what needs to be done next week.” said Desmond.

Match Stats

Mount Druitt Town Rangers 4 (Boyadjian ‘24, Alameddine ‘30, ‘52, Esposito ‘90+1)

Hakoah Sydney City East 0

Saturday 3rd August 2019

Popondetta Park, Emerson

Referee: J. Macfarlane

Assistant Referees: J. Adabjou & R. Osborne

Fourth Officials: J. Ewin

Mount Druitt Town Rangers: 1. SALIADARRE Carlos, 3. GOULD Joshua, 5. MAMONE Jake, 6. THOMPSON Blake, 9. BOYADJIAN Alex (8. AVERY ‘83), 10. FERNANDEZ Fabricio, 11. ALAMEDDINE Toufic (18. ESPOSITO ‘68), 13. DARKOH Lord, 15. COSKERIE Cooper, 17. HARES Ismail (4. MONAHAN-VAIKA ‘45), 27. PAVLOVIC Mirjan

Unused subs: 14. ELLEM Riley, ALLEN Brendan

Yellow cards:

Red cards: nil

Hakoah Sydney City East: 1. NORVAL Ryan, 2. SHADDOCK Connor, 4. WALKER Bradley, 6. COX Dominic, 8. GREEN Oliver, 9. OKUNO Shohei (10. ROBERTS ‘59), 12. SWADLING Joshua, 13. EZEKIEL Robert (11. GREEN ‘69), 15. BOJIC Predrag, 17. JONES Harry, 24. GAUTHIER Amauri (23. VRANJIC ‘77)

Unused subs: 25. EPHRAIM Max, 60. NOJI Takayuki

Yellow cards: Shaddock ‘36 Cox ‘50 Bojic ‘72

Red cards: nil

-By Justin Davies

Ruthless Rangers end Sharks Finals hopes

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Three second half goals have helped Mt Druitt Town Rangers end the finals hopes of the Sutherland Sharks with a 4-2 win at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday evening. 

Both the Sharks and Rangers needed all three points to keep their slim finals hopes alive but in the end it was an inspired display from the visitors which got the job done.

Cooper Coskerie got Mt Druitt off to a 1-0 lead but The Sharks fired back just after the interval to level proceedings courtesy of a Bai Antoniou strike.

The visitors fired back in emphatic form with a flurry of goals from Alex Boyadjian, John Roberts and Toufic Alameddine to take a commanding lead at 4-1 with less than 15 minutes to play.

A Raul Beneit penalty in the 76th minute hope cut the deficit for the home side but it wasn’t to be their night as Mt Druitt collected the points after Aidan Desmond’s men suffered a heartbreaking penalty shootout FFA Cup Round of 32 loss to Manly United earlier in the week.

With both sides missing crucial players through injury it was a tense opening with neither able to gain the ascendency.

Carlos Saliadarre was called into action in the 8th minute to deny Jeremy Cox after he was put through on goal.

A lofted ball found Fabricio Fernandez but he was unable to lob the ‘keeper under close attention from the Sutherland defence.

A Beneit corner in the 23rd minute found Harry Sutherland at the back stick and again the visiting ‘keeper was swiftly down at his left-hand post to push the header away.

Toufic Alameddine sent in a teasing cross from the left enabling Cooper Coskerie to open the scoring with a shot that squirmed under the body of the diving Anthony Bouzanis in the 34th minute to give Mt Druitt the advantage. After mounting continuous pressure on the Sutherland back-line they finally found the telling ball.

It was a slender lead they would take to the break but it left the Sharks with it all to do in the second period.

And do it they did inside a minute of the restart when Charles Lokolingoy left Blake Thompson on his backside and fired in a shot that Saliadarre couldn’t hold allowing Bai Antoniou to steal to pick up the scraps and level the scores. It was a sucker punch the visitors could ill afford.

Sutherland had a spring in their step and upped the ante making an uncomfortable period for the Rangers to endure which was managed partly through grit and determination and partly desperation.

They clung on and hitting on the break allowed Boyadjian to give the visitors the lead once again in the 54th minute when firing in across the ‘keeper. It was against the run of play but an exceptionally well worked counter-attack.

Alameddine came narrowly close to extending the lead when hitting the upright before John Roberts, picking up the loose ball, fortuitously added Mt Druitt’s third in the 57th  minute to completely turn the game on it’s head. It was now do or die for the home side.

Antoniou forced a save out of Saliadarre but Lockolingoy was offside on the follow-up and the Rangers’ breathed again.

Cox was again put through one-on-one with the ‘keeper who proved once more to be an unyielding force at the back as the home side threw everything forward in a last ditch attempt to salvage something from the match.

But Alameddine ended any hopes of a comeback in the 76th minute when cutting in from the left to send a curling shot into the back of the net to cap off a great performance on the night and secure the points for Mt Druitt.

Sutherland were the recipient of a somewhat innocuous penalty in the 78th minute that was dutifully tucked away by Beneit to reduce the deficit but it remained a forlorn hope and consolation.

Antoniou could have made it an interesting final few minutes when slipping past his marker to power into the box before spinning to create space only to sky the effort over the crossbar.

It was a spirited, if ultimately fruitless, second-half performance from Sutherland but the Rangers were not to be denied at the final whistle and were worthy winners.

Mt Druitt coach Aidan Desmond praised the resilience of his players to secure victory after a busy week which included an FFA Cup match.

“I’m delighted with the result tonight especially after the midweek FFA Cup game that went to extra-time,” he said.

“We knew Sutherland would come at us hard after the break and they pulled it back immediately and we showed great character in the way we went about our business.

“We are now back at home, on the grass, for our remaining fixtures and we’ll battle on until the end and see what happens.”

A disappointed Terry Palapanis felt his side paid the price for their first half performance.

“We were slow to pick up our pace and didn’t defend to the best of our ability,” he said.

“What can I say? It’s not the way we wanted to sign off our last home match of the season but credit Mt Druitt, they deserved their win.”

An impeccable minutes silence was dutifully observed prior to kick-off for Sharks’ midfield stalwart of yesteryear, Keith Schumann, who passed away this week.

Match Stats

Sutherland Sharks 2 (Antoniou 46’, Beneit 78’p)

Mt Druitt Town Rangers 4 (Coskerie 34’, Boyadjian 54’, Roberts 57’, Alameddine 76’)

Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda

Saturday 27th July 2019

Referee: Roberto Mattei

Asst.Ref: Sarah Ho & Joon Park

4th Official: Matt Howarth

Sutherland Sharks: 1.Anthony Bouzanis, 2.Quentin Cheng, 4.Patrick O’Shea, 7.Bai Antoniou, 8.Mateo Poljak (32.Alexander Lopez 80’), 9.Jeremy Cox (44.Jermey McGowan 90’, 10.Raul Beneit, 14.Charles Lokolingoy, 19.Harry Sutherland, 21.Tarik Ercan, 25.Brodie Clarkson (30.Thomas Aquilina 65’)

Subs not used: 18.Mitchell Evans, 29.Jarrad Wiley,

Yellow Cards: Cheng 42’

Red Cards: 

Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 1.Carlos Saliadarre, 3.Joshua Gould, 5.Jake Mammone (8.Alvin Singh 87’), 6.Blake Thompson, 9.Alex Boyadjian (18.Jacob Esposito 74’), 10.Fabricio Fernandez, 11.Toufic Alameddine, 13.Lord Darkoh, 17Ishmail Hares, 19.John Roberts

Subs not used: 7.Luke Clifford, 12Aaron Avery, 22.Brendan Allen

Yellow Cards: Darkoh 26’, Boyadjian 44’, Roberts 79’

Red Cards:

Player Ratings have now been hidden due to the second half of the season commencing.

By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Micky Brock