Johnny Warren Cup Round 4 Review
Saturday evening at Jensen Park, Marconi Stallions put four past Wollongong FC, before Bankstown City, in-front of their home supporters, belted six past the Berries ? with only two in reply.
Marconi?s pre-season form has been in-different, with progression toward the start of the season proper David Barrett?s key objective.
Nathan Moulds, Ante Deur, Stefan Donevski and Tolgay Ozbey each scored once, in a match ? by Wollongong?s pre-season standards ? ordinary only for the final result.
Wollongong has been impressive to-date, though the sending off of goalkeeper Daniel Nash arguably hurt John Turner?s men on this occasion.
A good numbered crowd turned out for the second match of the evening, with Bankstown City playing West Sydney Berries off the park inside the first forty-five minutes.
James Monie and Robert Mileski scored twice, meanwhile Stefce Soleski added one for his team inside of the first period.
West Sydney Berries followed the orders of their player/coach Scott Baillie in the second-half, and the ?new boys? on the scene turned out a much stronger performance.
John Tsironis and Josh Ferguson hit-back for the Berries in the second-half, though their strong showing came undone in the final minute of the match as Bankstown City?s Richard Luksic slotted home from close-range.
Across town at Hajduk Stadium, Penrith-Nepean United collected their first win of the campaign ? adding further to the woes of defending Johnny Warren Cup Champions, A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers.
Despite a close encounter, with chances falling to A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt throughout the tussle, Abbas Saad?s men picked up the points with goals to Eric Anabalon, Shannon Burgin and Carl McNaughton.
A.P.I.A.?s response was from Jason Garrido, as the Tigers will be looking to get their preparations back on track next weekend, with First Grade coach John Romeo returning from Italy with the U20 team.
SydneyOlympic re-iterated their intentions with another spectacular performance against Manly United.
Manly, who has performed remarkably well in the pre-season to-date, failed to mix it with a very fit Sydney Olympic outfit.
Phil Moss made some changes to his side for the clash, adding some young guns into the starting team, though Sydney Olympic was up to the challenge.
Michael Cindric and Shannon Cole snatched it for the Blues, as their bid to turn the page following last season?s disappointing showing, is becoming more believable with each performance.
Sunday fixtures saw Blacktown City Demons and Sydney United share the spoils at Lynwood Park, before Sutherland Sharks out-wrestled Macarthur Rams in the later game.
Blacktown City had a dream-start against Sydney United, with Ben Ellis poking home a loose ball in the 2? minute following United keeper Vedran Janjatevic spilling the ball inside the penalty-area.
Dennis Cutura scored his second-goal of the pre-season for Sydney United, salvaging a point from the encounter.
Sutherland Sharks had to come from behind against a spirited Macarthur Rams outfit.
Action aplenty at Lynwood Park saw the Rams take the lead through Dave Gardiner.
Shane Lyons equalised for the Sharks in the 45′ minute, before a controversial penalty was awarded to the Sharks 22? minutes from time ? converted by Predrag Bojic.
-By Joseph Carlucci