Round 1 Super League Review
Crazy results in round one of 2009 NSW Super League
In a direct continuation from the pulsating chaos of last year?s amazing competition, the 2009 NSW Super League has picked up right where it left off with a string of eyebrow-raising results coming from round one action.
Demoted TeleChoice Premier Leaguers Macarthur Rams broke their season shackles with a 6-0 smashing of a hapless 10-man Central Coast Lightning outfit on the road, promoted division one stunners GHFA Spirit FC snuck in a late goal at home to share the points in a 2-2 draw with fancied PCYC Parramatta Eagles.
Granville and St George picked up 3-1 and 6-1 wins over Mount Druitt and Fraser Park to join Macarthur on top of the points ladder, and Uni drew with Liverpool and Rockdale drew with Northern Tigers, both with 1-1 scorelines.
Also hot on the lips of a few coaches, following a whistle-ravaged first round, was the amount of yellow and red cards dished out to several players for ?perceivably? minor infringements. Even rival coaches were bemused at ?some? of the decisions that went their way, but they did agree on the inference that referees perhaps needed to stamp their authority early in the year.
The coaches welcomed a pre-season meeting between football officials and club coaches, focusing on protecting playmakers, player behaviour and the interaction between coaches and referees, but some said they would seek clarification as to what the officials would be targeting throughout the season.
Spirit back from the dead against Eagles
In a cracker of an opener at Christie Park on Saturday night, debutant Super Leaguers GHFA Spirit came from behind twice to snatch an unlikely 2-2 draw with last year?s beaten grand-finalists PPCYC Parramatta. Each time the visitors inched ahead, Spirit found a way through in the dying moments of each half to grab a share of the spoils.
The game-day drama unfolded as early as last week when a bug found it?s way into Melita Stadium and rendered the historic field unplayable. The match was shifted to Spirit?s home ground at Christie Park, and from there, well, the game had just about everything, according to Parramatta coach Jason Falzon. ?Storms, yellow cards, red cards, a penalty, four goals ? a lot happened in the game.?
In an at times open affair, Parramatta made the early impression and former Mount Druittplayer Chris Camilleri found an opening midway through the first term to bag an Eagles goal and 1-0 lead. As the first half ticked to a close, a lapse in concentration from the Parramatta defenders allowed L Papanicolaou to sneak in an equaliser and take the teams to the dressing sheds at 1-1.
Some ?encouraging? words from coach Jason Falzon had the Eagles fired up for the second term and they grabbed the lead again when Mario Ghobrial finished off a superb team goal, which involved plenty of ball movement and accurate passing. Trailing 1-2, the home side?s chances looked dashed when they had a player sent off for a second bookable offence, this time a reckless challenge, before a blessing from above saw them awarded a penalty inside the final 10 minutes of the game. D Cunningham stepped up to slot home the spot kick and restore purity to the game at 2-2.
To rub salt into Parramatta?s wounds, a brain snap from Ghobrial ? allegedly throwing the ball at a Spirit defender after copping a foul ? saw him dismissed from the field for a second yellow card, returning the game to 10-on-10 for the last few minutes. But the full-time whistle blew to end an adrenalin-charged fixture.
Falzon didn?t want to look too far into a first round draw, stating that there was some attractive football played by both teams. But while grabbing a draw on the road against a fancied opponent is a positive he?ll take from the match, being a man who expects discipline from his troops, the Eagles mentor will be reviewing footage of the match to understand why there were double-figured card infringements and two send-offs.
?I want to see the tape again. We had one player sent off throughout the whole of last season and had one sent off in the first game this year,? he said. ?[Although] it?s a draw away from home, I feel we dropped two points because we played some wonderful football; we just did some silly mistakes as well. I hope the players can learn from it, football-wise they all did very well.?
Falzon also warned other Super League teams to expect a tough time from Spirit, particularly at Christie Park. ?They?re very direct and they will win a lot of games at home,? he said.
PCYC Parramatta 2 (Chris Camilleri 24m Mario Ghobrial 53m) Spirit FC 2 (L Papanicolaou 42m D Cunningham 82m pen)
Rams fleece Coast
If there was a parade for returned premier leaguers Macarthur Rams at Pluim Park on Saturday night, the visitors sure did their best to rain on it as they rolled a 10-man Central Coast side 6-0 in the opening fixture. Macarthur did have to battle hard to gain the ascendancy with their extra man, but when they did it was to devastating effect as they scored all six goals in the final hour to get their Super League season off to a flyer.
The match did not start at all well for the home side and Central Coast were lucky their opposition missed a number of early chances on goal. But just as the Lightning players started to settle a suspect two-footed tackle on their captain Jamie Lobb on the quarter-hour mark started their downfall. Lobb was taken from the field with suspected knee damage and, five minutes later, a team-mate joined him after receiving his second yellow card.
Central Coast fought hard with a man down and almost took the deadlock into half-time. But Jason Young struck twice in the closing five minutes of the half to steal a 2-0 advantage for Macarthur and take the bang out of the Lightning strikes. Four more second half goals underlined the numerical supremacy of the Rams and their coach Paul Carter was one happy-chappy.
?I wouldn?t read into a great deal as a lot of little things went to us,? he said. ?I still give credit to our boys as sometimes having a player off can spur teams on and, to [Central Coast?s] credit, they never gave up. My young boys were patient, waited for the gaps, and eventually took advantage of the extra man. Sometimes you can get carried away with having an advantage, so it was a bit of maturity on our part.? Carter had a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds on the park at the end of the game.
?To be fair, I thought the send-off was a harsh decision, but punishing a team when they go down to 10 men is not as easy as it sounds, so I take my hat off to my side for that. Central Coast certainly kept on going to the very end, and still tried to play good football with a man down, [but] a first-up win away from home for us is a very good result.?
Lightning coach Peter Preston was more obvious. ?I think the result says it all. We are a young side and showed a bit of naivety. I don?t think the sending off was deserved, and I haven?t heard yet how bad [Jamie Lobb?s] knee is. That?s how it went for us; we learned some very tough lessons.?
?Credit to Macarthur, they got on top of us in that second half. But a week is a long time in football; we?ll assess where we?re at. We showed some good patches, and if we can keep 11 players on the field I think we?ll be competitive. You would expect Macarthur to be right up there as one of the teams to beat.?
Central Coast Lightning 0 Macarthur Rams 6 (J Young 40/45m A Cimitile 52m N Martin-Pompl 65m D Fogarty 84/88m)
Uni level with Bossy
Sydney University signaled their intent for a good year ahead by snaring a hard fought 1-1 draw with FC Bossy Liverpool at Ernie Smith Reserve on Sunday afternoon. While Uni claimed first half honours courtesy of a perfect glancing header from Tom Geekie off a free kick on the quarter-hour mark, Bossy dominated the closing quarter of the match to grab a late equaliser and share the points.
Uni?s only win in seven matches against Liverpool came at Moorebank two years ago and they looked like emulating that success with a blistering start to the game. Geekie bobbed up to cap off one of several Uni raids, and Amon Haded might have done better late in the first half when he failed to beat Bossy keeper Chadwick Taylor from two metres out from goal.
Both sides hit the post as a dramatic game swung the home side?s way and, with 10 minutes to go, Liverpool finally scored their equaliser after having a penalty saved.
Uni coach John Caruana said if before the game someone had asked him if he?d be happy with a draw at Liverpool in the first game, he would have said yes. ?We played well for the majority of the game and probably took out foot off the pedal in the last 10 minutes. I thought we dominated possession, and the way we played that first half I thought we would go on to win it. We?re on the right track with a new squad. It was a pleasing performance, I?m just a little disappointed we didn?t get the three points.?
Caruana wasn?t the only one to rue the missed opportunity. His Bossy counterpart Saso Boskovski wasn?t pleased at all with his players. ?No, I?m not happy. They [Uni] scored from a dead-ball situation, we hit the post three times, and should have scored more goals in that second half. That is football, now we look to next week,? he said. ?I am happy that we get one point in the end, but we should have had together three points in all.?
FC Bossy Liverpool 1 (Alex Asanovic 93m) Sydney University 1 (J Geekie 12m)
Granville conquer Mount Druitt
Granville Rage secured a solid 3-1 win over Mount Druitt Town Rangers at Popondetta Park, but it wasn?t enough to impress coach Hugh McCrory. As title contenders, he expects more from his players and hoped they stepped up another level next week. A neat header put Granville in front before Mount Druitt struck back to level the scores. Two further goals put the Rage on the ascendancy and they held the scoreline to fulltime for a convincing win.
McCrory said he did not see enough from his team to warrant a tag of title contenders. ?We won 3-1 but I don?t think we played well, we could have scored more. The positives were that we didn?t have our full side out there. We played some good football and got the three points, but it still wasn?t good enough. I wasn?t happy with the [players] overall application today. We have to step up a level if we wanted to be taken seriously.?
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (C Lima 14m) Granville Rage 3 (David Harding 6m L Berbis 33m Kris Holbrook 42m)
Tigers draw at Rockdale
Competition favourites Rockdale City Suns were held to a 1-1 draw by Northern Tigers in a one-sided affair at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon. In a game played almost entirely in the Tigers defensive half, the visitors did extremely well to sneak a 1-0 lead through a great run from Tigers captain Tim Gledhill late in the first term.
And while many will view a late goal to Suns player Kurt Crnic to drew the scores level again as a sign of Rockdale?s luck, coach Mile Todorovski said he was delighted with the style of football played by his side. It was the fourth time in six games between these two sides that the score had ended at 1-1.
?I am happy for my players because we take the possession all game,? Todorovski said. ?They had two shots in the whole game and rarely passed the centre line. Unfortunately we also have the trouble to score so we cannot find the win.?
?We are looking to play the best football and have this type of players, but good football doesn?t guarantee the result,? he said. ?I will change a few things and try to do the best for the team. It?s a shame we couldn?t get a better result, but plenty of things happen in football.?
Tigers coach Jason Eager was also happy with his players. ?As we expected, Rockdale were a very solid unit with plenty of quality players, [so] to go to Rockdale and come away with some points is certainly pleasing.?
?I thought we were competitive in the first half, but we were certainly under the pump in the second half,? he said. ?We have a lot more improvement in us. We?ve started now, we?ve got a point will look to take all three next week.?
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Kurt Crnic 85m) Northern Tigers 1 (Tim Gledhill 38m)
Saints smash Fraser Park
The Sunday scoreline said a 6-1 home win to St George FC over Fraser Park FC, but neither coach is paying too much attention to it. With the scores locked at 1-1 at halftime, the game changed dramatically when Fraser Park?s Leigh Gunn was sent off for a poor challenge shortly after the restart. Five Saints goals followed ? four of them to Juan Carlos Chavez, to hand the red and whites an emphatic victory.
Tanju Balabanel got the ball rolling for the home side in the fifth minute of the game when he slotted under Fraser Park goalkeeper Frank Mikuletic, but the visitors returned fire eight minutes later through a terrific free kick from Paulo Oliviera, whose curling shot beat the defensive wall and Saints custodian Terry dal Broi before nestling in the top corner of the net.
Chavez began his goalfest five minutes into the second half, controlling smashing one past Mikuletic and finishing off a Balabanel move to grab goal number two. A handball in the Fraser Park area by Sefer Yildiz handed Chavez his hat-trick from the penalty spot before Balabanel netted his second via a neat chip over Mikuletic. A fourth Chavez goal six minutes from fulltime sealed a fantastic start to the Saints season.
Despite the big win, St George coach Nikola Orlic refused to elevate his side?s expectations. ?It?s a first round win and I thought we were a little bit lucky on a few occasions. It could have gone each either way at halftime,? he said about the Saints? first home win over Fraser Park in Super League. It was also a triumphant return to St George Stadium after spending last year at Belmore Sportsground.
?We are a very young team and, as I said before, they are a kinder surprise, you won?t know what you get each week. We?re building for the future with a bunch of good quality kids. The scoreline flattered a lot of things. It?s a week by week progress and I?m still going through the whole process.?
The 6-1 scoreline looked deadly, but Fraser Park coach Jeff Suzor still had plenty to be happy about. His side of young charges held a quality opponent to 1-1 for 50 minutes before having a player sent off. “There was nothing I saw today that could discourage me,” he said. “It was only a five-minute period after halftime [when the Saints converted a penalty following a touchy handball, followed by the send-off] that decided the game.”
“The last three goals were my fault. [At 3-1 down] I tried to chase the game a bit, threw some players up front and got caught out. But, overall, I was quite happy with the effort. The players looked disappointed with themselves in the dressing sheds after the game, which is a good sign because they know they can compete. It’s a learning experience. We’ll keep our heads up and learn something new, week-in, week-out.”
Fraser Park FC 1 (Paulo Oliveira 37m)
Round 2 fixtures
Round two of the 2009 NSW Super League sees GHFA Spirit FC welcome Granville Rage to Christie Park, Fraser Park host Sydney University, and St George Saints travel to Lynwood Park to tackle Macarthur Rams, all on Saturday night (March 21, 7.30pm kick-offs).
On Sunday (March 22), Mount Druitt Town Rangers play FC Bossy Liverpool at Ernie Smith Reserve, Northern Tigers take on Central Coast Lightning at Mills Park, and PCYC Parramatta play Rockdale City Suns in a blockbuster at Melita Stadium (all first grade games start at 3pm).
Round one results
Central Coast Lightning 0 Macarthur Rams 6 (J Young 40/45m A Cimitile 52m N Martin-Pompl 65m D Fogarty 84/88m)
PCYC Parramatta 2 (Chris Camilleri 24m Mario Ghobrial 53m) Spirit FC 2 (L Papanicolaou 42m D Cunningham 82m pen)
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Kurt Crnic 85m) Northern Tigers 1 (Tim Gledhill 38m)
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (C Lima 14m) Granville Rage 3 (David Harding 6m L Berbis 33m Kris Holbrook 42m)
FC Bossy Liverpool 1 (Alex Asanovic 93m) Sydney University 1 (J Geekie 12m)
St George FC 6 (Juan Carlos Chavez 50/52/78 pen/84m Tanju Balabanel 8/82m)
Fraser Park FC 1 (Paulo Oliveira 37m)
Grade 20 results
Central Coast Lightning 1 Macarthur Rams 1
PCYC Parramatta 0 Spirit FC 1
Rockdale City Suns 1 Northern Tigers 4
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 3 Granville Rage 2
FC Bossy Liverpool 0 Sydney University 7
St George FC 4 Fraser Park FC 0
-By Daniel De Nardi
St George FC 6 (Juan Carlos Chavez 50/52/78 pen/84m Tanju Balabanel 8/82m)
