Rams prevail against Demons
Paul Carter?s men took a shock lead on 9?minutes when Hugo Coronel capitalised on some sloppy defending out on the left-flank.
Picking up a loose ball, Coronel pulled towards the sideline before delivering a pinpoint strike that cannoned in off the far post much to the dismay of Demons custodian Matt Nemes.
Blacktown coach Ken Schembri was visibly unhappy with his team?s lack of bite across the park and introduced attacking lynchpin Leo Carle as well as triallist Jordan Simpson on 25 minutes.
The former Queensland Roar and Perth Glory utility midfielder showcased his class with some deft touches and linked up well with the impressive Ken Chun, who was pulling the strings in the centre of the park to good effect.
Chun almost delivered the games equaliser on 42? minutes after unleashing a fierce drive from the edge of the area that was parried away for a corner from Rams shot stopper Brody Crane.
You sensed it wouldn?t take Blacktown long to step up the intensity after finishing the better of the two teams as they headed to the change rooms so it came as no surprise when Simpson added his name to the scoresheet just three minutes after the interval.
Latching onto an inch perfect through ball from Chun, the Olyroo squad member fired home from six yards before almost snaring a double after his goal bound shot was blocked by Rams skipper Dave Gardiner nine minutes later.
With both sides pushing to the final whistle and Blacktown looking the most likely, it was Macarthur who stunned the crowd with a last ditch winner.
Utility player Paul Crisp delivered a pinpoint through ball for unheralded replacement striker Renato Jelen, who finished with aplomb, much to the delight of his team-mates and coach Paul Carter.
?It wasn?t a pretty win but we will take it,? Carter said.
?The most pleasing part was how we stuck to our guns and played to our strengths.
?Our fitness isn?t quite where it should be yet but that is to expected, we started almost four weeks after everyone else.
?Whatever team Blacktown sends out is always going to be strong so this win will do the boys confidence the world of good but there is plenty of work to do in the coming weeks.?
Carter liked what he saw in Jelen and believes he could be the Rams x-factor this year.
?Not many would know much about him, but he has been in the country for a while now,? he said.
?He was set to sign with Queensland Roar when Miron Bleiberg was the coach but after he was replaced by Frank Farina he found himself in limbo and when he came to us looking for an opportunity we decided to give him a shot.
?He is very quick and has a good eye for goal so hopefully he can bang in a few for us and get us off to flyer.?
Demons coach Ken Schembri was far from impressed with the defending that lead to both of Macarthur?s goals but chose not to dwell on the negatives.
?You never want to lose and to go down in the fashion we did was disappointing,? he said.
?I thought we were pretty sloppy in the first-half but were much better as the game wore on but still didn?t come away with the right result.
?Instead of playing it smart right at the end and working for a point we panicked and left ourselves exposed at the back and that cost us dearly.
?You can put that down to inexperience and the boys will learn from that which is exactly what I want to happen.
?The boys will be stung by this result and that isn?t always a bad thing ? we need to spend more time maintaining our shape and stop worrying about things we can?t control.?
– Andrew Hurrell
Macarthur Rams 2 (Hugo Coronel 9?, Renato Jelen 87)
Blacktown City Demons 1 (Jordan Simpson 48?)
Referee: Jonathan Streater
Assistants: Sarah Ho, Stephen Payne
Crowd: Approximately 300
Macarthur Rams: Brody Crane, Jason Lewis, Michael Brown, Dave Gardiner, David Lagudi, Renato Jelen, Daniel McCann, Steven Baveas, Adam Wither, Hugo Coronel, Paul Crisp
Substitutes: Craig Cooley, Sam Mort, Shannon Hankin, Josh Ford, Mathew Kasbarian
Blacktown City Demons: Matt Nemes, Paul Karbon, Daniel Wilkinson, Ryan Walsh, Ken Chun, Nick Roucco, Brendan Maroney, Ray Rawwt, Damir Prdanovic, Chris Bedzo, Brian Vanega
Substitutes: Matt Presello, Leo Carle, Jordan Simpson, Ben Ellis, Veljko Vujosevic
Yellow Cards: Paul Karbon 88? (BCD) Renato Jelen (90) (MR)
Red Cards: Nil
PLAYER RATINGS
- 3- Michael Brown (MR)
- 2 ? Ken Chun (BCD)
- 1 ? Craig Cooley (MR)
