Super League Round 20 Review
The White Eagles? success has consigned Fairfield to a daunting position at the bottom of the ladder, the Lions are four points adrift and praying for a miracle to keep their place in Super League. Parramatta look to have sewn up second spot after beating Liverpool 2-0.
Back-to-back victories to Uni has guaranteed ?the students? will again line-up in Super League next year, while weekend wins to fifth-placed Rockdale (on 27 points), Central Coast (26) and Northern Tigers (25) have kept their 2008 finals chances alive. Losses to fourth-placed Granville (29), Fraser Park (24) and St George (22) makes them suspect to late-season challenges, but they have made sure it will be a six-team rush for the final two playoff spots.
White Eagles upset Rage
Bonnyrigg White Eagles might need to expand their clubhouse further to make room for more trophies after they all but sewed up the NSW Super League minor premiership with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Granville on Saturday night. The Bonnyrigg Sports Club crowd spurred their team to overcome a spirited challenge from Granville to move six points clear at the top of the table with just two rounds remaining.
A 39th minute strike from Daniel Willoughby, moving him alongside Goran Subara as the club?s leading goalscorer this season, put the White Eagles in front, but only for a moment, as a David Harding goal for the Rage locked scores up at 1-1 heading into halftime. The game flowed from one end of the park to the other in the second half until Nikola Zonjic restored Bonnyrigg?s lead with a goal on the hour-mark.
Granville never gave up but they couldn?t find a way past the White Eagles defence a second time and the fulltime whistle blew with Bonnyrigg ahead 2-1. Zoric became the home side?s 13th goalscorer this year, which will provide comfort for coach Blagoja Kulevski with several players unavailable for the finals.
The victory ended a great week for last year?s grand final winners. The White Eagles thumped Mount Druitt 4-1 last Sunday, thrashed Fairfield 4-0 in a midweek catch-up game, and finished with a solid 2-1 win against top-five side Granville on Saturday night. The nine points has cemented Bonnyrigg in first place, six points ahead of Parramatta Eagles, who downed top-three rival Liverpool Bossy on Sunday.
To steal the minor premiership mantle, the Eagles need Liverpool and Central Coast to topple Bonnyrigg in the final two rounds, while Parramatta take care of Fraser Park and bottom side Fairfield in their remaining fixtures. It?s a long shot, but stranger things have happened in the round-ball game.
Granville Rage 1 (David Harding 41m) Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Daniel Willoughby 39m Nikola Zonjic 60m)
Rd 17 midweek catch-up: Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 Fairfield City Lions 0
Tigers maul Lions
The Northern Tigers have continued their late surge up the ladder with a spirited 5-2 win over Fairfield City Lions at Norford Park on Saturday night. It followed Northern?s big 4-1 win against Fraser Park last week and moved them to within two points of an unlikely top-five position. The Lions have not beaten the Tigers in six Super League matches.
The visitors were full of early running at Norford and it only took 10 minutes before veteran Tim Gledhill put Northern on the board with a well-taken chance. But Fairfield would not lie down and dug in for a fight, until disaster struck on the stroke of halftime. Sustained pressure from the Tigers saw the Lions defence concede an own goal and Northern led by two goals at the break.
Paul Davies made it 3-0 to the Tigers on 55 minutes before a goal to Fairfield?s Serkan Erel ? his sixth of the year ? gave the Lions a glimmer of hope. This was all but extinguished when Davies added his second goal to give the visitors a 4-1 advantage heading into the final quarter-hour of the match.
Jarred Aligiannis reduced the deficit for Fairfield with a goal 10 minutes out from the finish, but Kevin Garcia gave Northern the last laugh with his team?s fifth goal of the game coming inside the final five minutes for a 5-2 victory.
Consecutive wins will boost Northern?s hopes of a late dash into the finals. The Tigers are a couple of points behind this week?s opponents Rockdale, who currently own fifth place but face a stiff challenge from no less than five clubs. Northern then play Mount Druitt Rangers in the final round.
Bottom side Fairfield is staring at a climb over Mount Everest if they are to remain in Super League next year. The Lions have conceded 12 goals in three losses inside a week to sit four points behind Mount Druitt on the points table, with huge matches against Sydney Uni and second-placed Parramatta ahead of them. The Rangers have tough assignments of their own, but Fairfield have to win both of their games first.
Fairfield City Lions 2 (Serkan Erel 60m Jarred Aligiannis 78m) Northern Tigers 5 (Tim Gledhill 10m own goal 45m Paul Davies 55/73m Kevin Garcia 84m)
Rd 17 midweek catch-up: Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 Fairfield City Lions 0
Eagles tackle Bossy
PCYC Parramatta Eagles made a powerful statement in its 2-0 defeat of Bossy Liverpool at Melita Stadium on Sunday afternoon. With a home final up for grabs, Parramatta showed more skill and determination in a convincing two goal win over a Liverpool side who has already performed above their expectations for the season.
Fred Graham scored for the Eagles after just five minutes, and George Lagoudakis capped off the win with a second goal for Parramatta four minutes into second half injury time. It was the fourth goal of the season for both players. Bossy haven?t beaten the Eagles in their past four Super League fixtures, which hands Parramatta a significant psychological edge heading into the finals.
The Eagles, who play Fraser Park and bottom side Fairfield in their remaining two matches, won?t have given up on the minor premiership just yet. But they will need Bonnyrigg to stumble in its final round match-ups with Liverpool and Central Coast. Bossy can still retake second place with strong performances against the competition leaders (this weekend), followed by a double game against Fraser Park.
PCYC Parramatta Eagles 2 (Fred Graham 5m George Lagoudakis 94m) Bossy Liverpool 0
Suns rock Saints
A Peter Apolevski hat-trick laid the base for a stinging 4-1 win to Rockdale City Suns over neighbours St George Saints at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon. The result keeps both teams in the semi-finals hunt, and the Saints are still to beat the Suns in a Super League match. Rockdale took fifth spot on the ladder, but will have to rely on other teams faltering in their catch-up games to make the finals.
Apolevski struck in the fifth minute and doubled the lead with a second score a minute out from halftime. Saints player Simon Verrender was then called for handball inside the area on 65-minutes, with Apolevski stepping up to convert the penalty and bag his sixth goal of 2008. The Suns rounded out their 4-0 romp when Igor Kotovski scored in the dying moments.
Rockdale have their work cut out for them to keep their top-five position, and taking Granville?s fourth spot isn?t out of the question either. The Suns face fellow finals aspirants Northern Tigers this weekend before a final round match-up with a re-energised Sydney Uni outfit.
St George have four games to fit into the final two weeks of regular season action, starting with Mount Druitt this weekend. The Saints then take on Granville, Central Coast and Fraser Park, all of whom have their own finals chances to play for. Importantly, fate is all in the hands of the St George players.
Rockdale City Suns 4 (Peter Apolevski 4/25/65m penalty Igor Kotevski 84m) St George 0
Uni down Fraser Park
A second successive win to a besieged Sydney University side, 2-1 at Fraser Park on Sunday afternoon, has seen them assure their Super League spot for next year. The two teams have played in some amazing matches over their Super League careers, and this one was no different.
James Alcorn got the ball rolling for Uni with a well-taken goal on 13-minutes pushing his season tally to seven. But Fraser Park countered with a goal of their own just past the half-hour mark, Mauricio Soler snaring his first of the year to equalise at 1-1. The action got hotter in the second half as both sets of players looked for a winning goal, which came via a Peter Peranta penalty kick 10 minutes from fulltime.
The win moved Uni seven points clear of bottom side Fairfield two weeks out from the end of the regular season, thus assuring Uni of their spot in Super League and leaving Mount Druitt as the only team the Lions have a chance of catching. Fraser Park have lost twice in a row, but they do have four games still left on their plate ? tough ones against top-three sides Parramatta and Liverpool (twice), and St George to boot.
Fraser Park 1 (Mauricio Soler 35m) Sydney University 2 (James Alcorn 13m Peter Peranta 78m penalty)
Coast bring down Mount
Central Coast Lightning pipped Mount Druitt Town Rangers 2-1 at Popondetta Park on Sunday afternoon to throw both sides seasons wide open. The Coasters are now one point outside the top-five with a game in hand, while Mount Druitt are embroiled in a relegation dogfight with Fairfield.
Promoted Lightning under-20 player Eric Koelma provided all the magic with a stellar two-goal performance, the first after 32 minutes to hand the visitors a 1-0 halftime lead. Mount Druitt had a dream start to the second half when their leading goalscorer Michael Haberman equalised a minute after the restart (his fifth of the year), and it was game on from there.
The action swayed from end to end until a moment of brilliance from Koelma 10 minutes out from the finish separated the two combatants. It was the youngster?s first goals of the season and signaled a bright future ahead of him. It also gave Central Coast a great chance of landing a top-five spot.
The Lightning are three points behind fourth-placed Granville with three games left to play, including two away fixtures against Granville and Bonnyrigg and a final round home match against St George. Mount Druitt are four points in front of Fairfield with challenging engagements with the Saints and Tigers still to play.
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (Michael Haberman 46m) Central Coast Lightning 2 (Eric Koelma 32m/78m)
This week?s games
Expect the NSW Super League pace to become frantic this weekend as the season closes in on finals-time in a fortnight?s time. The two Saturday night games feature finals hopefuls St George against relegation scrappers Mount Druitt at Belmore, while Central Coast will attempt to steal Granville?s top-five spot at Garside Park.
There are four matches on Sunday afternoon: third-placed Liverpool has the last chance to stop leaders Bonnyrigg from claiming the minor premiership at Moorebank, fringe team Fraser Park visits second-placed Parramatta at Melita Stadium, the Tigers can snatch Rockdale?s top-five spot at home, while Fairfield?s last throw of the dice to stay in Super League comes in a visit to an on-fire Sydney Uni outfit.
Round 20 results
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 Fairfield City Lions 0
Granville Rage 1 (David Harding 41m) Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Daniel Willoughby 39m Milan Zoric 60m)
Fairfield City Lions 2 (Serkan Erel 60m Jarred Aligiannis 78m) Northern Tigers 5 (Tim Gledhill 10m own goal 45m Paul Davies 55/73m Kevin Garcia 84m)
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (Michael Haberman 46m) Central Coast Lightning 2 (Eric Koelma 32m/78m)
Fraser Park 1 (Mauricio Soler 35m) Sydney University 2 (James Alcorn 13m Peter Peranta 78m penalty)
Rockdale City Suns 4 (Peter Apolevski 4/25/65m penalty Igor Kotevski 84m) St George 0
PCYC Parramatta Eagles 2 (Fred Graham 5m George Lagoudakis 94m) Bossy Liverpool 0
Rd 17 midweek catch-up: Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 Fairfield City Lions 0
-By Daniel De Nardi
