Sydney Tigers pounce on weakend White Eagles
The Bonnyrigg faithful couldn?t have dreamt of a better start to the season with Almir Dizdaric etching his name into the history books with a goal from the side?s very first attacking play.
Fredrick Graham?s ball found Daniel Willoughby in space before his pin-point accurate cross found the boot of Dizdaric for a 1-0 lead in the first minute.
Delight soon turned into disaster for the men in red when Mark D?Alessandro was given a red card for an off the ball challenge on Jamie McMaster in the second minute.
Playing a man down didn?t seem to faze the White Eagles who continued to penetrate the Tigers? 18-yard box and almost doubled their lead through the boot of Milorad Simonovic.
Despite looking a little nervous in the opening stages of the match, the Tigers had several opportunities on goal but neither McMaster nor Mark Byrnes could beat White Eagles goalkeeper Ali Akbal.
Fredrick Graham looked dangerous down the flank for Bonnyrigg but before he could show the home fans some of his magic, his night came to a premature end in just the 20? minute.
A yellow card for a challenge on Stephen Kayes wasn?t pleasant and either were the words shared after the challenge that saw Graham become the second White Eagle to be given his marching orders.
The Tigers looked promising in the midfield despite lacking the patience and vision to finish off their opportunities.
Their goal keeper Phillip Zabaks fumbled a ball and almost presented the White Eagles with a gift goal in the 26? minute when Dizdaric laid off a ball to Simonovic who then unleashed a shot to the top right-hand corner, but went unrewarded thanks to the outstretched arms of Zabaks.
With ten minutes remaining in the first-half the pressure began to take its toll on the White Eagles.
Michael West showed off his fancy footwork to set up Stefan Donevski with a golden opportunity to equalise but unfortunately for the Tigers, Donevski?s header went sailing over the crossbar with only the ?keeper to beat.
Akbal was at his brilliant best in holding out the potent Tigers attack, but on the stroke of half-time the goalkeeper was forced to pick the ball up from the back of his net for the first time in 2009.
Kayes? cross found the head of Cummins, allowing Donevski a one-on-one with the shot-stopper to open the account for the Tigers and break the spirit of the White Eagles for a 1-1 half-time score.
In identical fashion to the first-half, Dizdaric went on the attack in the first minute of the second period with a powerful shot only to be denied yet again by Zabaks.
Both sides went from one end to the other in the opening stages, with the Tigers settling into a rhythm that saw a much more controlled and tactful display from Okon?s men.
Akbal pulled off three consecutive saves from Jamie McMaster within close range, but when the ball deflected to the waiting Marino Musumeci, there was little Akbal could do to stop the ball from sailing into the top right hand corner for a 2-1 lead to the Tigers on 59? minutes.
Moments later the Tigers were at it again, sinking the hopes of a Bonnyrigg comeback with their third goal of the evening.
Bonnyrigg failed to clear a bobbling ball from their own 18-yard box and paid the price when Jamie McMaster guided the ball past Akbal for his first of three goals.
Franco Parisi was creating havoc in the midfield and provided McMaster with the opportunity to cap off a destructive period of play when the striker chipped Akbal to secure his side?s fourth goal in 22? minutes.
The Tigers used the width of the field in the second-half and reaped the rewards when Michael Hawrysiuk whipped in a cross that found the man of the moment, McMaster, for a hat-trick of goals and a convincing 5-1 victory.
?We needed that goal before half-time because it?s quite hard playing against nine men some times,?? McMaster said.
?Okon came in at half-time and said just be patient because we were getting a bit frustrated so we started to use the ball a lot wider and it worked.
?Next week we need to start better. Even though the warm up was alright tonight we just took a while to switch on.?
Bonnyrigg coach Blagoja Kuleski knew his men would be in for a tough battle with the Tigers, especially with such a dangerous attacking line-up:
?At the start of the game we had a headache playing the Tigers 11 on 11, we didn?t need to play them 9 on 11,? Kuleski said.
?The boys who got red cards will learn but they shouldn?t be doing that because they let down the club.
?This is not a competition in the park, it?s a very strong competition.??
?We saw how strong of a team the Tigers are tonight,? Kuleski concluded.
Match Stats
Sydney Tigers 5 (Stefan Donevski 45? + 1?, Marino Musumeci 59?, Jamie McMaster 64?, 67?, 81?)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1 (Almir Dizdaric 1?)
Sunday, 1st March, 2009
Bonnyrigg Sports Club, Bonnyrigg
Crowd: Appx 1500.
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Assistant Referees: Wayne Lenardon & David Christie
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 23. Ali Akbal; 4. David Petrovic, 5. Mark D?Alessandro 7. Nikola Zonjic, 8. Daniel Willoughby (2. Paul Cotte 56?), 10. Fredrick Graham, 11. Almir Dizdaric (9. Eric Nyamekye 73?), 13. Nathan Rivera, 15. Steven Bozinovski, 17. Milorad Simonovic (19. Antonio Faria 56?), 20. Milan Zoric
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Nenad Vekic, 3. Drazen Janjic
Yellow Cards: Fredrick Graham 20?,
Red Cards: Mark D?Alessandro 2?, Fredrick Graham 20?.
Sydney Tigers: 99. Phillip Zabaks; 2. Mark Byrnes, 3. John Kelso, 5. Michael Galluzzo (23. Daine Merrin 73?), 7. Stephen Kayes, 11. Marino Musumeci (6. Shane Lyons 73?) 12. Michael West, 13. Stefan Donevski, 15. Danial Cummins (Franco Parisi 25?), 16. Michael Hawrysiuk, 19. Jamie McMaster
Substitutes Not Used: 33. Peter Triantis, 20. Michael Rutherford
Yellow Cards: Michael Galluzzo 40?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Jamie McMaster (ST)
2 ? Franco Parisi (ST)
1 ? Almir Dizdaric (BWE)
-By Michael Chammas
