Super League Round 11 Review

Rockdale had their game washed out on the Central Coast, as were matches similarly abandoned between Parramatta and Mount Druitt and Macarthur and Fraser Park due to the wet weather. It means even more catch-up games and distorted ladder with Spirit FC now pulling in alongside league giants Parramatta and Macarthur, one point behind Rockdale.
In a remarkable season to date, Spirit are now the league?s most potent offensive unit having scored 28 goals in 11 games (including 13 in the past two matches) to also claim the best for-and-against record. Rockdale (22), Macarthur (21) and Parramatta (19) are the next highest goalscoring machines.
In the individual stakes, Saints striker Juan Carlos Chavez scored against Bossy to take his season tally to 12 goals, but Spirit superboot Tim Simpson scored a double of his own to close the gap; with last week?s hat-trick over Central Coast, he?s now on 10 goals for the year. Mount Druitt?s Troy Eedy is also in the picture with nine goals.
Also in the news, Fraser Park broke through for their first win of the year in a 1-0 midweek arm wrestle that consigned Liverpool to the bottom of the table. It?s not looking good for last year?s champions; Bossy have the worst goal difference at the halfway mark and now trail Fraser Park by four points.
Spirit trounce Tigers
The Northern Tigers endured a miserable six goal hiding from Spirit FC at Christie Park on Saturday night, who have now netted 13 goals in the past 180 minutes of football. The Spirit were ruthless in their annihilation of a hapless Tigers side, and the ferocity of the last two weekends has even stunned their coach Jason van Blerk.
?We hitting good form but that?s what you get when you have 15-16 players playing to their maximum,? the Spirit mastermind said. ?In any team, it only takes 1-2 players to not be on their game and team will suffer. I just think that the boys want to see what they can do ? they?re probably proving it more to themselves than to anybody else.?
?We have Parramatta away next week and that?s a good step up for us. To win the championship you have to prove yourself away, and we have a few games away on the bounce. If we show the form we?re playing at the moment, then I think we can do well. The main thing is everyone is enjoying their football.?
On the other hand, Tigers coach Jason Eager could not believe the side he watched on Sunday had just been on a five game winning streak. ?We were certainly poor all over the park,? he said. ?Our keeper Stuart Page was the only player who could walk away with his head held high as he was let down by the players in front of him.?
?Look, the Spirit play a very specific style off football, and it?s very effective, and they thoroughly deserved their victory. Our boys will have to take a good look at themselves this week and then we just have to get onto next week and put in a good effort. We?ll look forward to meeting Spirit again in the second round.?

Spirit FC 6 (Tim Simpson 22/70m Daniel Cunningham 24/60m pen Leo Papanicolaou 49m Ashley Balcolm 86m) Northern Tigers 0
Rage roll Uni
Look out, here comes the Granville Rage juggernaut as the western Sydney side continued its impressive run in May. In the first match of nine at Garside Park, Granville outplayed Sydney University to come away with a 2-1 result on Saturday night, locking up their amazing rivalry at 20 goals each from nine league meetings and leapfrogging ?the students? on the league ladder.
Granville coach Hugh McCrory was pleased again at the effort but implored his troops to be more certain in front of goal. ?It was a good game, I thought, and we probably deserved to win it. But Uni kept coming at us and to their credit kept battling away, so the game was in doubt right to the end,? he said. ?2-1 is a terrific result for us, but we have to keep plugging away.?
?We?ve really only played poorly in one game this year, against Rockdale, in the rest we played hard but didn?t get the result. And we probably could have scored more last night. A lack of goals has been a major problem for us. We play well in patches and look quite good, but our objective is to make the five, and we need to put away our chances if we want to do well.?
Uni coach John Caruana was not impressed at all. ?That was one of our poorest performances this year,? he said. ?We let our guard down a little bit. They ambushed us, and got us with goals early on in each half. We kept trying, we just didn?t finish off our chances. That?s the way it goes. We?ve dropped two games now in a row, which puts a bit of a dampener on a lot of the things we?ve been trying to do, but we?ll bounce back this week.?
Granville Rage 2 (Luciano Berbis 14m Shannon Hankin 47m) Sydney University 1 (Emilio Vigliante 45m)
Saints beat Bossy
St George Saints proved too good in a 2-1 defeat of FC Bossy Liverpool at Ernie Smith Reserve on Sunday afternoon, the only game played on a day of intermittent rain. Liverpool were desperate but couldn?t contain a St George outfit whose form is as consistent as a yo-yo.
The Saints were made to work hard by a dogged Bossy side and it was left to St George goal whiz Juan Carlos Chavez to break the deadlock five minutes into the second half. Liverpool?s hopes were dashed when Tony Park received a second yellow card for deliberate handball with six minutes to go, and the Saints made sure of the win when Nick Theodorakopoulos finished emphatically from close range with just moments remaining.
Bossy coach Zlatko Nastevski didn?t like what he saw. ?It wasn?t good,? he said. ?We had a midweek game [a 1-0 loss to Fraser Park] where we could have done a whole lot better and, even today, the same thing happen. St George was better; they keep more possession and won the game with a second goal in the second half. We are competitive, but still something missing. We need more time, but It depends on how long we can wait.?
FC Bossy Liverpool 0 St George FC 2 (Juan Carlos Chavez 50m Nick Theodorakopolous 90m)
Round 11 results
Spirit FC 6 (Tim Simpson 22/70m Daniel Cunningham 24/60m pen Leo Papanicolaou 49m Ashley Balcolm 86m) Northern Tigers 0
Granville Rage 2 (Luciano Berbis 14m Shannon Hankin 47m) Sydney University 1 (Emilio Vigliante 45m)
FC Bossy Liverpool 0 St George FC 2 (Juan Carlos Chavez 50m Nick Theodorakopolous 90m)
Central Coast Lightning Rockdale City Suns washed out
Fraser Park Macarthur Rams washed out
PCYC Parramatta Eagles Mount Druitt Town Rangers washed out
Rescheduled round 10: Fraser Park FC 1 FC Bossy Liverpool 0
Grade 20 results
Spirit FC 2 Northern Tigers 0
Granville Rage 1 Sydney University 1
FC Bossy Liverpool 2 St George FC 1
Central Coast Lightning Rockdale City Suns washed out
Fraser Park Macarthur Rams washed out
PCYC Parramatta Eagles Mount Druitt Town Rangers washed out
Rescheduled round 10: Fraser Park FC 3 FC Bossy Liverpool 0
Round 12 Fixtures
Round 12 of the 2009 NSW Super League pits St George at Fraser Park, Mount Druitt at Granville (Garside Park), Liverpool at Uni (Hensley Athletic Field), and Central Coast at Macarthur (Lynwood Park), all on a Saturday night. It?s a double treat on Sunday afternoon, Spirit tackle Parramatta in a top-three blockbuster at Melita Stadium while fifth-placed Northern Tigers host competition frontrunners Rockdale at Mills Park.

-By Daniel De Nardi