Super League Round 22 Review
Bonnyrigg finished top of the table, but only just, pipping Parramatta by just two points in the end.
Liverpool was next, a remarkable turnaround given Bossy were fighting for their Super League spot at this stage last year, and a much-improved Granville consolidated their fourth position on the ladder. Rockdale rounded out the top-five with a terrific end-of-season dash into the finals, and they are dripping with confidence.
Behind them, Northern Tigers and St George fell a win short of sneaking into the playoffs, while Central Coast and Fraser Park were also in the mix. Despite their lowly positions, Sydney Uni and Mount Druitt proved extremely difficult for any side to break down, and a few results going their way would have seen them push for a top-five spot too. Fairfield struggled for most of the year along the way to a bottom-place finish, and they look likely to be replaced by State League Division One frontrunners Spirit FC in next year?s Super League.
It was a good year for strikers with this year?s Super League averaging a whisker under three goals per game at 2.99 (up from last season?s mark of 2.96 goals per game), although there were 15 less scorers in 2008. Liverpool midfielder Alex Canak will claim the Golden Boot award after netting 14 goals from the 15 games he made it onto the field for. Four red cards left Canak spending quite a few matches on the sidelines instead of adding to his impressive strike rate of almost a goal scored in every game he played. In an interesting contrast, Bonnyrigg had the most number of players score a goal with 14 finding the back of the net this season, while their grand final opponents from 2007, Northern Tigers, had the least with seven.
Bonnyrigg draw with Central Coast
Bonnyrigg White Eagles and Central Coast Lightning fought out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Bonnyrigg Sports Club on Sunday afternoon. White Eagles coach Blagoja Kulevski said the club had accepted promotion into Premier League and were hoping to show their fans what may lay ahead of them with a good showing against the Lightning. What they got was a good run for their money from a team that is proving to be a thorn in Bonnyrigg?s side.
It wasn?t long before the White Eagles had their fans cheering when Domenic Cutri netted in the ninth minute of the match, but the crowd was silenced within minutes by a Neil Woodcock strike that brought the scores level again. The silence turned to disbelief when Woodcock added a second on 34-minutes and the visitors were on their way to another big result. With the clock ticking down in the second half, and with a Central Coast player of the ground injured, Bonnyrigg made the most of the extra man and space to score through Nikola Zonjic in the 85th minute.
The 2-2 draw continued the frustrations of Bonnyrigg, who have only beaten Central Coast once in six Super League fixtures, and Lightning coach John McLafferty invited finals coaches to phone him and find out how to do it. ?We know how to play them, and maybe [Parramatta coach Jason] Falzon should give me a phone call,? he said, with the usual ?wink? in his comments. ?There is a system. In all honesty, you need to respect them because they?re the best team, but you also have to play them off the field, starting with giving their backs a hard time and not giving them time to build up the play. You will get breaks, which we?re very good at putting away.?
?We should have won on Thursday night [a 1-0 loss to St George put Central Coast out of the finals race], but we went to Bonnyrigg and make them play us for the full 90 minutes. I am very proud of the players, for what they have managed to achieve throughout the year, so it was important that they got something from the game [against Bonnyrigg]. It was a pretty good year for the club.?
White Eagles coach Kulevski wasn?t surprised to be embroiled in another fierce battle with the Lightning, and he may even harbor a secret delight that he might not have to deal with them anymore if the club?s ascension into Premier League is supported by Football NSW. But with the minor premiership sewn up, he could take his foot off the accelerator a little bit.
?It was a very good match,? he said. ?No one played under much pressure, so we could enjoy the game. Central Coast came to play and made it a good game, so the supporters could also enjoy it. The next step for us is to win the grand final and go into Premier League. The club is excited and the players are also excited, but we must focus on finishing off the season on a good note, then we can start thinking about next year.?
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Domenic Cutri 9m Nikola Zonjic 85m) Central Coast Lightning 2 (Neil Woodcock 16/34m)
Liverpool stamp out Fraser Park
A solid performance from Bossy Liverpool saw them dismiss Fraser Park 4-1 in the final game on Sunday afternoon. Liverpool had effectively ended Fraser Park?s faint finals hopes with a 1-1 draw at Moorebank three days earlier, so the pressure was well and truly off either side, although Fraser Park must be scratching their heads on how to beat Bossy ? they?ve only managed one win in eight Super League tries.
First half goals to Sam Awad and Adel Eljamal gave Liverpool a dream start at Fraser Park before a Koji Sosaki goal reduced the deficit to one goal in the 54th minute. But Liverpool finished the regular season with the third best defence and the third best offence and, not surprisingly, claimed third spot on the ladder. Further goals to Sam Mort and Suad Ameti capped off a good 4-1 victory. Bossy coach Mile Todorovski had mixed emotions following the match.
?It was a comfortable win, yes, but I am generally unhappy with the team. There are many players with yellow cards and this weekend will be very difficult against Parramatta. If we do not play smarter then it will be hard to be more than third spot. But, if someone had told us we would finish third at the end of the season, we would take it. We can try to jump more ahead, but we will see what happens. Bonnyrigg and Parramatta are the only teams that could compete in Premier League at the moment, so they will be hard to beat, but anything is possible in the finals.?
Todorovksi said discipline could prove Liverpool?s undoing. His star player, Alex Canak, has scored 14 goals in 15 games. He has also missed plenty of matches due to him also collecting four red cards throughout the season. Canak has been linked to a move to Marconi next season and Todorovski is hoping the bigger challenge may bring out the best in the talented midfielder. He also held special praise for youngster Suad Ameti. ?He is a great runner, and if he continues to work like this he will go into Premier League or even further ? it is up to him, really.?
Fraser Park 1 (Koji Sasaki 54m) Bossy Liverpool 4 (Sam Awad 23m Adel Eljamal 44m Sam Mort 64m Suad Ameti 72m)
Parramatta pound Fairfield
PCYC Parramatta Eagles pummeled Fairfield City Lions 6-0 at Norford Park on Sunday afternoon. Showing scant regard for Fairfield?s miseries at the end of a tough year, which will probably see them dropped to division one, Parramatta played all over their opponents, although a sole Fred Graham goal lifted the Eagles to a 1-0 lead at halftime. But the Eagles opened the floodgates in the second half with Nathan Rivera, Patrick Cappuccio, George Lagoudakis, Michael Fallah and Gustavo Orcajo each bagging a goal to round out an impressive six-goal victory.
Rather than play down the dominating display, Parramatta coach Jason Falzon pointed to all the positives gained from a one-sided affair. ?We?ve got no suspensions, no injuries, and we worked on a few things we want to try in the finals ? we really used it as a good hit-out to practice a few things,? he said. ?We?ve tried to do the right thing and put a structure in place this year. We wanted to play good, attractive football, and we?ve scored the most goals of any team. We fell just short in the minor premiership, but the finals are a whole new ball game.?
Fairfield City Lions 0 PCYC Parramatta Eagles 6 (Fred Graham 22m Nathan Rivera 47m Patrick Cappuccio 51m George Lagoudakis 65m Michael Fallah 82m Gustavo Orcajo 85m)
Granville, St George stalemate
Finals-bound Granville Rage may have been held to a 2-2 draw by St George Saints at Garside Park on Sunday afternoon, but they have plenty to look forward to this weekend. After a real see-saw battle early on, Fred Umlil pushed Granville ahead with a 40th minute penalty and the Rage couldn?t believe their luck when the referee blew a second penalty four minutes later. Umlil missed the second spot kick but was ordered to retake it by the referee. Not leaving it to chance, goalkeeper Jason Holmes sprinted upfield to convert and take Granville to the sheds two goals up.
The second half belonged to the Saints, who needed to win to have any chance of sneaking into the top-five, and goals to Vince Savoca and Mathew Demetriou leveled the scores with half an hour still to play. The action went from end to end, but a decisive strike went begging for both teams and the fulltime whistle blew with the scores still at 2-2. The result consolidated Granville?s fourth spot on the ladder and finalised St George?s account of 2008.
?We couldn?t go up and we couldn?t go down, so we put out a team that would keep the momentum going for us,? Rage coach Lee Sterrey said. ?We should have gone on with it with a 2-0 at halftime, but instead we lacked a bit of concentration and gave away two diabolical goals. I managed to rest a few players to make sure we had our best deck to deal with next week. We didn?t get too many knock s or bumps or bruises and, overall, we came out of it okay.?
Sterrey dipped his hat to his team?s custodian Holmes, who had a sensational game in goals, and scored one himself to boot. ?He?s been around, and scored from the penalty spot for us in the Tiger Turf Cup,? he said. ?I don?t like the same player taking two penalties in a row as the pressure is right on the kicker, so I was already worried when Fred [Umlil] stepped up to take that second kick. He missed but the ref gave us a second chance and I?m glad Jason got it, otherwise he would?ve needed to catch a taxi back to the goals as he?s not the fastest on his feet.?
Saints coach John Calleja had mixed reactions to his team bowing out of the finals. A 1-0 midweek win over Central Coast had set up a mathematical shot for the finals against Granville. But it wasn?t to be and the tactician was left to lament on what could have been. ?I am disappointed with the way the season panned out. I would?ve liked to have fallen into the five, but the table doesn?t tell lies at the end of the season, we just weren?t consistent enough. We should?ve won today, so you start to think about the points that slipped away from you throughout the year. Realistically, we shouldn?t have been in a position where we were fighting for fifth spot.?
Granville Rage 2 (Fred Umlil 40m Jason Holmes 44m) St George Saints 2 (Vince Savoca 49m Mathew Demetriou 57m)
Suns defeat Uni
Rockdale City Suns found out how tough Sydney University has become in the latter part of the season, sliding to a 1-0 victory on the back of a second-half Daniel Wilson goal at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon. The slender win was enough for Rockdale to wrap up the fifth and final playoff spot, ahead of a hungry pack of chasers. Suns coach Michael Grbevski praised Uni?s efforts, but signaled a warning to his finals counterparts.
?Uni were really hard to beat, and they have been for over a month, which is why it was a good effort from our boys to get past them,? he said. ?In the end, the boys were ready for it and it was a good way to finish. I went about this game in a different way. I took the pressure off by reminding them that six weeks ago we were fighting for relegation. I told them that making the finals was for us and all the hard work we put into the season. We gave away plenty of points this year and had quite a few unlucky results. This was our opportunity, and we took it.?
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Daniel Wilson 54m) Sydney University 0
Tigers down Rangers
Last year?s grand finalists Northern Tigers ended a disappointing 2008 season with a 2-0 win over Mount Druitt Town Rangers at Popondetta Park on Sunday afternoon. Second half strikes to Tigers Marcus Frost and Tim Gledhill were enough to put away a spirited Rangers outfit, but the Tigers still missed this year?s playoffs by two points. They will already be looking at ways of returning to the top-five next year, and Mount Druitt will also be planning for a rise up the ladder in 2009. Coach Phil Pavela has high hopes to do better.
?We expected to be higher up the table than what we came, but the ball didn?t bounce for us this year. We had a bit of bad luck with injures, and didn?t have a big squad to start off with,? he said. ?The main thing was to stay in the division, which we achieved. We had a few draws earlier on that we were unlucky not to get wins from. It was pretty close, with a few clubs bunched up together, so we could have even pressed for a top-five spot had we had a little more luck. But it?s a great club and I?ve been really happy here, so now we start to plan for next year.?
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 0 Northern Tigers 2 (Marcus Frost 47m Tim Gledhill 63m)
This week?s games
Bonnyrigg earns the weekend off due to finishing as 2008 NSW Super League minor premiers, but there are a couple of absolute doozies to kick-off this year?s finals. Parramatta and Liverpool go to war in the preliminary semi final at Melita Stadium on Sunday afternoon (3pm kick-off), following the sudden death knockout semi final between Granville and Rockdale at Garside Park on Saturday night (7.30pm).
Round 22 results
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Domenic Cutri 9m Nikola Zonjic 85m) Central Coast Lightning 2 (Neil Woodcock 16/34m)
Fairfield City Lions 0 PCYC Parramatta Eagles 6 (Fred Graham 22m Nathan Rivera 47m Patrick Cappuccio 51m George Lagoudakis 65m Michael Fallah 82m Gustavo Orcajo 85m)
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Daniel Wilson 54m) Sydney University 0
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 0 Northern Tigers 2 (Marcus Frost 47m Tim Gledhill 63m)
Granville Rage 2 (Fred Umlil 40m Jason Holmes 44m) St George Saints 2 (Vince Savoca 49m Mathew Demetriou 57m)
Fraser Park 1 (Koji Sasaki 54m) Bossy Liverpool 4 (Sam Awad 23m A Eljamal 44m Sam Mort 64m Suad Ameti 72m)
-By Daniel De Nardi
