Demons score first victory of the season
Ken Schembri?s side has endured a difficult start to their campaign and they produced a disciplined, hard-working display following their 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Marconi Stallions last weekend.
With four-points from their opening two matches, West Sydney would have been expected to take all three-points at home to the Demons, particularly after an impressive opening round win away against title favourites Sydney Olympic.
But the home side were stunned just four minutes into the match, Chris Bedzo catching out a flat-footed Berries defence with a looping ball into the penalty area, Bedzo with the time to finish under the onrushing Hamish McLean at the far post.
The simplicity and directness of the goal would have concerned new West Sydney manager John Calleja, Blacktown City all-too often finding space in-behind an immobile Berries back-line.
Lacking intensity, West Sydney almost went two goals down just four minutes later courtesy of an air-swing inside the area, the ball falling to the feet of Ellis again at the far post with McLean this time producing a crucial stop from close-range.
A relatively open start to the match then saw veteran Berries captain Aheleas Kotsopoulos burst down the left before sending a cross in along the floor for Luke Austin, the striker seeing his effort deflected wide on the turn.
It was a rare display of attacking cohesion though, as Blacktown began to sit deep and operate on the counter, a tactic at which they seemed particularly adept against Marconi last week.
The Demons lost that match 3-0 after being reduced to ten men during the first-half, though their discipline at Lidcombe Oval was beginning to frustrate their opponents.
With Chris Bedzo?s mobility in particular unsettling the Berries, the likes of Akwasi Agyei began to profit from the high defensive line being played by the hosts.
He should have extended Blacktown?s lead in the 36? minute, stealing the ball from the last line of defence before racing into the penalty area with ease, shaping to shoot past McLean but being denied by a superb last-ditch challenge by Jack Sobczyk.
Despite having been outfought by their opponents for most of the opening 45? minutes of the match, Calleja?s men should have equalised just before half-time. Aheleas Kotsopoulos raced onto the ball unmarked inside the penalty-area but skewed his shot well wide of the left upright.
After a first-half devoid of any real sustained quality from either side in possession, it was the Berries who carved out the first half-chance of the second period; Kosta Lagoudakis hitting the by-line but seeing his cut-back hacked clear.
Otherwise untroubled defensively, Blacktown then doubled their lead after another defensive lapse by the Berries on 65? minutes.
A simple ball rolled into the penalty-area found the unmarked Ante Deur, who had time to both turn and place his shot past McLean to give Blacktown a 2-0 lead.
Somehow though the Berries managed to produce a goal on 76? minutes, substitute John Fotiadis? early ball into the box only headed to the edge of the area from where Kotsopoulos volleyed home superbly into the back of the net.
As the home side began to commit bodies forward in the desperate search for an equaliser, Chris Bedzo found space down the right-flank to race into the penalty-area, cutting inside his man before finding the side-netting of McLean?s left post.
Blacktown substitute Nick Sama then had a wonderful chance to score against his old club in injury-time, forcing his way through the Berries defence before finding himself alone with McLean at an angle and chipping the ball audaciously over the crossbar.
For all of their late grafting however, the Berries were unable to produce what would have been an unjust equaliser after failing to break down their opponents throughout the match.
Ken Schembri?s side held on comfortably in the end for their first victory of the season ? as well as their first goals.
Speaking after the game, the Blacktown manager praised his side?s efforts in the face of adversity:
?We had a few things go against us,? Schembri said.
?We had a couple of boys sore and sorry and we lost Tyler Simpson just before half-time to a bad tackle.
?It could have been a little bit of a turning point against us but we made a few adjustments and it was alright.?
Schembri also praised the efforts of youthful duo Chris Bedzo and Joel Chianese, the selfless running of the former up-front key to Blacktown?s victory:
?I thought Chris Bedzo was close to our best.
?I thought he and young Joel Chianese, the two youngsters ran their hearts out.
?In the first-half Tyler Simpson was exceptional though ? we?ll have to see if we can get him back next week.?
Despite a difficult start to the season, the Demons manager said instilling belief in his side was crucial in the lead-up to the match:
?I kept saying we were a good team, that we were better than this and that we had to have a bit of belief.
?For us today, it was crucial. We?re back in the mix with four points ? I can?t knock the effort.?
Berries manager John Calleja meanwhile admitted that his side were second-best ? and that the loss was no more difficult to bare given their positive start to the season:
?I though we were slightly shaded by Blacktown, they were probably the better side.
?We hung in there, we kept coming at them towards the end and put them under a bit of pressure but it wasn?t our day, we didn?t do enough to win the game.
Calleja was happy however with the performance of substitute John Fotiadis, who lost his place in the starting line-up after a poor performance against Penrith-Nepean United in Round 2:
?It certainly was good to have John come back today like that.
?Johnny started in a right midfield role last week and was out of sorts, he?s missed a fair bit of pre-season and that?s why he went back to the bench today.
?But he did what was asked of him today, gave us an impact and hopefully he?ll continue improving.?
The Berries manager also insisted complacency wasn?t at the heart of his side?s downfall:
?We respect all our opposition and we had spoken about Blacktown being an experienced side all week and a desperate side who?d had a couple of loses.
?We knew they?d be up for the game. It wasn?t complacency from us, it was just a matter of them being better and hungrier on the day than us.?
Match Stats
West Sydney Berries 1 (Aheleas Kotsopoulos 76?)
Blacktown City Demons 2 (Ben Ellis 4?, Ante Deur 65?)
Saturday, 21st March, 2009
Lidcome Oval
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Gareth Askham and Lance Greenshields
Fourth Official: Tom Klein
Crowd: 320
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish MCLEAN; 3.Omar SAADI (8.John FOTIADIS 56?), 4.Adam WITHER, 5.Michael CUNICO (12.James KOVAS 87?), 6.Jack SOBCZYK, 7.Peter PERALTA, 10.John TSIRONIS, 14.Liam AUSTIN (17.Chris GAITATZIS 66?), 16.Kosta LAGOUDAKIS, 19.Dimitri ZAKILAS, 11.Aheleas KOTSOPOULOS
Substitutes Not Used: 22. Trinity ALLEN, 21. Daniel WAGUS
Yellow Cards: Austin 38?, Gaitatzis 86?, Wither 90?+1?)
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City Demons: 40.Brody CRANE; 2.Tyler SIMPSON (5.Danial WILKINSON 45?), 3.Paul KARBON, 4.Damien FOXE, 6.Luke CASSERLY, 8.Chris BEDZO, 13.Ben ELLIS (11.Nick SAMA 70?), 16.Ante DEUR, 17.Joel CHIANESE, 18.Akwasi AGYEI, 22.Luke AUSTIN
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Matt RYAN, 15. Ray MILLER, 14. Gavin FORBES
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Chris Bedzo (BCD)
2 ? Joel Chianese (BCD)
1 ? Aheleas Kotsopoulos (WSB)
-By Chris Paraskevas
