Division 1 Round 17 Review

It was their robust striker Papanicolaou that did the damage, scoring his fourteenth and fifteenth goals of the season on 34 and 81 minutes. Sandwiched in between was a goal on 70 minutes from strike partner Simpson, rounding off a comprehensive victory for Spirit.
Despite their strong form of late, Dulwich Hill came unstuck at Cook Park on Saturday night, losing 1-2 to the home side Mounties FC. Bourke put the home side in front on 19 minutes, with Bove equalizing for Dully just eight minutes later. Provan gave the home side something to cheer about with his winner in the 79^th minute, putting them three points behind their fifth placed opponents, Dulwich Hill, and with a sniff of making the finals.
In Saturday?s other match, played at David Phillips Field, Stanmore Hawks remained in third place on the ladder with a 3-2 victory over UNSW.
All five goals came in a frenetic first half, with the league?s top marksman, Chavez, scoring his sixteenth goal of the season in the 8^th minute to put the Hawks one-up.
UNSW?s Claridge then scored the first of his two goals on 15 minutes, before Hadjisocratous restored Stanmore?s lead in the 26^th minute.
However the lead was cancelled out just two minutes later when Claridge grabbed his second of the match, before Theodosiou scored what turned out to be the winner with his goal just minutes before half time.
On Sunday afternoon at Concord Oval, Inter Lions kept up the heat on Spirit FC with a 2-1 victory over Hurstville ZFC. Dimento (15?) and Crocco (31?) scored first half goals to put the Lions in the box seat, and they held on to grab the 3 points despite Simic?s last minute goal for Hurstville.
The win puts Inter on 37 points, 4 points behind the competition leaders with a game in hand.
At Second Ponds Oval, Schofield Scorpions moved ominously into the top five with a 1-0 away victory over Hills Brumbies. Macrae was the lone goalscorer in the 57^th minute to continue the Scorpions? great run of late.
All eyes this week will be at Arlington Oval on Sunday evening when Stanmore Hawks host Inter Lions in a top of the ladder clash.
Match of the Round
?SPARTANS GRAB WIN IN DOUR MATCH?
The clouds looked ominous as they crowded over a cold Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Division One match between bottom placed Hurstville City Minotaurs, and semi final aspirants, Blacktown Spartans.
Hurstville were looking for an unlikely victory to move off the last rung of the competition ladder, whilst the Spartans were hoping to consolidate their position in the top five, and were confident of victory away from home.
Both teams struggled to get a grip on the match, with both sets of midfield trying to win possession early on to take the initiative on their opponent.
The Spartans spent quite a bit of time in the initial stages in the attacking third of the pitch, but some resounding defensive effort and an often wasteful final pass kept them at bay.
It took 14 minutes before they threatened when Haddad hit a volley on the turn from the edge of the box that flew over the crossbar.
But the Minotaurs had the slightly better of the early chances with what ball they did manage to hold, with numerous close calls in the ensuing 20  minutes or so.
Hurstville almost took an undeserved lead on 20 minutes, when Dimento sent Di Meglio away down the left flank, and the nippy striker cut inside his defender to hit a rasping shot that was brilliantly parried by Blacktown keeper Abrahams.
In the 28^th minute the Minotaurs won a corner, and tall defender Giannoulis headed firmly over the bar after Di Meglio had whipped in the set piece.
A minute later and Iliopoulos took a quick free kick on the touchline to find Di Meglio in space just behind the Spartan defence, but the striker?s lob from the edge of the box beat both the onrushing Spartan keeper, Abrahams, and the goalpost, as it bounced to safety.
Blacktown Spartans finally made their possession count in the 38^th minute. The move started just inside the Minotaur half, big midfielder Macerola receiving a return pass from McPherson, and beating the oncoming Hurstville kepper, Flamminio to the ball on the edge of the box before lobbing him. One ? nil to the Spartans and most onlookers thought they would run away with it, especially when Falanga had all the time in the world as he raced inside the box, but alas his half volley blasted into the side netting.
Referee Mr A.Best?s half time whilstle blew, bringing to an end a dour first half, hoping both teams would regroup and recharge before taking on the challenge of the second half.
Blacktown came out after the break eager to grab an early goal and put the game beyond doubt, and McPherson should?ve done just that 2 minutes in when he shot over the bar from a tight angle after beating the offside trap.
A corner on 49  minutes almost brought a goal for the Spartans, Minotaur keeper Flamminio brilliantly finger tipping a header from Johnston the cross bar.
In the 57^th minute, Macerola weaved past three would-be defenders in a run across the middle of the Hurstville half, before twisting and crossing far post to substitute Scibberas. He took a touch too many and his point blank shot was blocked by brave defender Panagakis.
The Spartans continued to threaten and on 60 minutes McPherson picked up a long clearance down the right wing, racing into the box before blasting high and wide.
Hurstville were resigning themselves to the occasional counter attack, and one of these in the 64^th minute brought a free kick on the right hand edge of the penalty area.
Striker Di Meglio was desperately unlucky not to equalize when he whipped the free kick expertly over the wall and just inches over the bar, Blacktown?s substitute keeper Varnier having been beaten all ends up.
Hurstville moved busy midfielder Dom Dimento, elder brother of Inter Lion?s Jacob, up front to provide some spark in the attack and hopefully snag an equalizer.
Whilst Dimento did add some support for the snappy Di Meglio, what the tactical move also produced by his absence was space down the left wing for Blacktown and more specifically McPherson, to exploit, and exploit he did in the final twenty minutes of the match.
Despite having the better of play in the second half, and creating some real opportunities, whilst the score remained 0-1 to Blacktown there was always the chance that the Minotaurs could snatch something from the game with a goal or two.
On 69 minutes Blacktown’s top goalscorer McPherson almost put that to bed when he expertly cut back a ball across the face of the goal, only for two of his Spartan team mates to get in each other?s way and completely miss the great chance!
A Spartans corner a minute later dropped invitingly for Scibberas inside the box, but his blast cannoned to safety off a defender standing on the goal line.
McPherson continued making a nuisance of himself on the left wing, this time on 73 minutes getting to the by line and whipping over a great cross that eluded everyone. Macerola retrieved the ball near the far goal line, passing back to Falanga whose low cracking shot rebounded off the upright and into the arms of the stranded Flamminio in the Hurstville goal.
Hurstville?s desperation turned to frustration late on, with both Di Meglio and Marconi going into the referee?s note book for over zealous tackles.
The final chance of the match almost produced a remarkable goal, with Blacktown?s goalscorer Macerola spotting Flamminio off his line and lobbing him from just over the halfway line, the Hurstville keeper scampering back to retrieve the ball.
The full time whistle shrieked as the visibility started to worsen, with the hapless home side, Hurstville Minotaurs, losing 0-1 to the wasteful Blacktown Spartans in a dour struggle.
Blacktown?s coach Jeff Suzor would at least have been happy with importantly, the three points, as well as the amount of chances they created, probably planning some shooting practice at training this week. Hurstville would have been pleased that they didn?t throw in the towel, and hung in there for the 90 minutes hoping to grab something out of the match.
Best for the Minotaurs were ; striker Di Meglio showed lightning pace and an eye for goal, unlucky not to get on the scoresheet on the day ; midfielder Dimento, who worked effortlessly in the midfield, supporting the attack on every opportunity before moving there himself late on to spark an equalizer ; agile keeper Flamminio, who kept Hurstville in the game with some great saves, especially during the second half.
For the winners, Spartans, best on the day were ; midfielder Macerola, who was deceptively quick and effective with his distribution, scoring a brave goal to win the points for Blacktown ; skipper Hubbard, fierce in the tackle and effective in his overlapping runs down the wing ; dreadlocked midfielder McCaffery, who was tough in the midfield trenches, often the architect of winning possession and getting Blacktown?s attacking moves underway.
Match Stats
Division One
Round Seventeen
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre
1^st Grade
Referee : Mr. A. Best
Referee?s Assistants : Mr. R. Warry and Mr. A. Denzel.
HURSTVILLE CITY MINOTAURS SC   0  
BLACKTOWN SPARTANS 1 (Macerola 38?)
HURSTVILLE CITY MINOTAURS SC
1. Flamminio, 5. Panagakis ? (4. Garos 88?), 23. Marconi, 19. Giannoulis, 3. Augustis, 20. Kailas (11. Lagoudakis 65?), 16. Dimento, 21. Sarikakis, 15. Phylacton, 13. Iliopoulos, 10. Di Meglio.
Subs not used; 12. Gymelton, 14.Lourbeat, RGK. Morhi.
BLACKTOWN SPARTANS
1. Abrahams (20. Varnier 46?), 10. Falanga, 9. Haddad, 5. Harrington, 17. Hubbard ? ,  6. Infanti (13. Scibberas 55?), 2. Johnston, 18. Macerola, 7. McCaffery, 11. McPherson, 3. Higham.
Subs not used; 4. Todd, 8. Dixon, 15. Delaney.
-By Frank Speranza