Super League Round 13 Review
At the top end, three points separates top-five teams Rockdale (24), Spirit FC (22), Macarthur (22), Parramatta (22) and the Northern Tigers (21), with St George (18), Central Coast (17), Sydney Uni (16) and Granville (14) still barking at the finals door. At the bottom end, little separates Mount Druitt (9), Liverpool (8) and Fraser Park (6) in the battle to avoid relegation.
The race for the competition?s Golden Boot award also got a little tighter after Mount Druitt?s Troy Eedy added three goals to his tally this week and a Tim Simpson strike for Spirit FC. St George?s Juan Carlos Chavez has scored 13 goals while Eedy has 12 goals to Simpson?s 11 ? the next in line is Central Coast?s Tom Gibbs with seven. A bunch of players have scored six times this season, including Spirit?s Daniel Cunningham, Northern?s Scott Balderson, Uni?s Christian Soares and Fraser?s Diogo Andrade.
Spirit quells Rage
A second-half Tim Simpson strike was enough for Spirit FC to defeat Granville Rage 1-0 at Garside Park on Saturday night. With the game seemingly headed for a repeat 0-0 scoreline from their first round encounter, Simpson pounced midway through the second term to notch up his 11th goal of the season and also secure Spirit?s first win away from home (they are yet to lose at Christie Park). For the Rage it was another case of ruing missed opportunities ? a third of their goals this season have come in a first-round 3-1 win over Mount Druitt, with just six successful strikes since.
Spirit coach Jason van Blerk was delighted with the result, which took them into second place on the leaderboard. ?It was one of those matches that could have gone either way really. Both teams had scoring opportunities, fortunately we took ours and they didn?t,? he said. ?It was a pretty even game, but I think we had more of the second half.?
While Van Blerk praised Simpson for chalking up goal number 11, he was quick to point out that his striker was capitalising on the good work of a confident squad. ?Tim is part of the pistol and just one of the many players who are doing really well for us this year. But you need all the players to do well to be up there. We always knew we could give it a good go [in Super League]; how well we could sustain it was the biggest question. You always work to win the games at home and try to pinch points on the road, so it was good to get our first away win this season.?
Granville coach Hugh McCrory said it was too easy to look at a lack of goals as the reason why the Rage were sweating it out in mid-table. ?We played well and didn?t deserve to lose,? he said. ?Actually, it was one of the best games we?ve played this year. We created enough chances to win the game and had one lapse of concentration that let in the goal. But we definitely have to start picking up some points to stay in touch with the top five.?
Granville Rage 0 Spirit FC 1 (Tim Simpson 72m)
Uni close Fraser Park
Sydney University scored three goals in the final 10 minutes to down Fraser Park 3-0 at Hensley Athletic Field on Saturday night and break a four-game losing streak. The match ebbed and flowed before Paul Medulla broke the shackles for Uni with a well-taken chance in the 84th minute. Emilio Vigialante Amaro then scored twice in injury time to consolidate the win. Fraser Park are enduring a four year misery against Uni, and have only managed to grab one win (in May 2005) in 11 league meetings.
Uni coach John Caruana was elated. ?We scored late, but we did dominate. We were very disciplined and we just kept it up the whole game,? he said. ?Fraser Park is a much stronger side than the first round, so it was a good result for the boys and a good turnaround from last week [a 4-1 loss to Liverpool].?
?The top-five is not something we talked about this week. We wanted to go back to basics and go back to working hard, which is how we got the results from the first seven rounds. The last two games were a bit disappointing, but we came back and played some nice football [on Saturday night]. It certainly feels a lot of better [to be a coach] today.?
Fraser Park coach Ramsin Shamon had mixed feelings about the loss. His team is yet to win away from home, which isn?t a good sign with six of their remaining 10 matches away from Fraser Park. ?We played really well and made a few mistakes late in the game to basically capitulate in the last eight minutes. But two of the goals were brilliant finishes, and I was quite happy with the performance up until then,? he said. ?I?ve said all along that Bossy and ourselves aren?t bottom-two teams, it?s just the way the season?s turned out. We didn?t have a good run of it last night, but we are still improving.?
Sydney University 3 (Paul Medulla 84m Emilio Vigiliante Amaro 92/95m) Fraser Park 0
Tigers claw past Lightning
A last-minute Scott Balderson goal handed the Northern Tigers their sixth win from eight games against a hapless Central Coast Lightning at Pluim Park on Saturday night. Balderson?s sixth of the season made up for a first-half missed penalty and ripped the heart out of a Lightning side that had played gallantly a man down for most of the match. The 1-0 victory also let the Tigers loose in the league?s top-five and showed that the competition is much more than a two-team race for Rockdale and Parramatta.
Northern coach Jason Eager said Balderson was relieved to atone for his wayward spot kick. ?Central Coast were certainly dangerous and made things very difficult for us. But we just had to be patient [after they had a player sent off] and take our chances when they came. I think we are becoming just as competitive as the top teams and we?d be disappointed if we weren?t playing in September [finals football]. We?re still confident of that and anything can happen after that.?
Central Coast coach Peter Preston said the sending off of playmaker Matt Page in the first half for a second bookable offence changed the nature of the game, but he could not applaud his players efforts loudly enough. ?It?s always disappointing to lose one late, but the way we played was fantastic,? he said.
?Full credit to Tigers, it wasn?t their fault the boy [Page] got sent off, but the decision changed the game. But what do you do? That?s football and it doesn?t always go your way. We battled hard with 10-men for a long time and hung in there with them. To put so much effort in and come away with nothing is gut-wrenching, really.?
Central Coast Lightning 0 Northern Tigers 1 (Scott Balderson 90m)
Bossy conquer Mount Druitt
Boss Liverpool climbed off the bottom of the table after they secured back-to-back victories via 4-1 carve-up of Mount Druitt Town Rangers at Popondetta Park on Sunday afternoon. An early goal to Rangers strike weapon Troy Eedy gave the home side an early lead, which was soon spoiled by three Liverpool answers ? goals to Wilson and Georges (2) ? before halftime. Bossy scored a fourth through Baturay Akin as Mount Druitt pressed forward. The Rangers were able to continue their amazing run of scoring in every match played so far, the only Super League team to do so.
Liverpool coach Zlatko Nastevski was pleased with the direction his team was heading. ?I can?t say we?ve been lucky, but we are getting the results from what we are putting into the game,? he said. ?We?ve totally changed the team and most of the team is young, so it will take more hard work to get them on the right track. But the boys are coming to training with more enthusiasm and they are enjoying their football. We have not set any goals; we are taking it a week at a time. We try to keep winning and see what happens from there.?
Mount Druitt mentor Phil Pavela was disappointed with how his team capitulated, but is still pleased with how the club is going. ?We really went into a shell after they scored and lost our shape, and they got on top of us,? he said. ?We played a lot better in the second half and had a few chances, but their goalkeeper [Chad Taylor] did very well. Maybe we took them a bit too easy, but it was disappointing as we had a team capable of winning. We played really well midweek against St George [coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2], but now we have to lift again for next week.?
Pavela did acknowledge Troy Eedy?s goalscoring efforts this year. ?He has been a major player for us up front and is also putting us in good positions to score. I brought him in from first division [Schofields] to be a fringe player, but he?s proved better than that and has pushed himself into the first 11. Look, I?ve been happy with the boys in terms of the team going forward, but my main concern is the ability of our defence. They seem to lack concentration at times, and if we rectify that I reckon we could be closer to the top-five. The good thing is we have those catch up games to play, the bad thing is we have to play them in the next few weeks, which means less time to recover between matches. We?ll see how we go.?
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (Troy Eedy 5m) Bossy Liverpool 4 (D Wilson 30m S Georges 34/35m B Akin 74m)
Rescheduled game, round 4: St George 2 Mount Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Troy Eedy x 2)
Rams fleece Saints
Macarthur Rams ended a disappointing string of results with a convincing 4-0 victory over St George Saints at St George Stadium on Sunday afternoon. A midweek team discussion seemed to be the catalyst for Macarthur?s four goal romp, thanks to scores from Josh Ford (2), Cole Peverly and M Bianco, also bucking a trend of low scores against the Saints. The Rams have also managed to pick up points in every away game they have played, which is great for them since seven of their remaining 11 matches are away from Campbelltown.
Macarthur coach Paul Carter was pleased his players chose to step up this week. ?We had a heart to heart during the week, and sat down and looked at what we?re trying to achieve. We?ve been a bit up and down of late, and I?ve been disappointed with a few of our losses. St George is a good side who have picked up some good results, but our movement around the park against them was very sharp. I guess we turned it on a bit today and I?m really happy about it,? he said.
?It?s now about consistency. If you want to win the competition, you can?t afford to be giving away too many results, or you really are looking over your shoulder. Definitely for both myself and the club, we want the minor premiership more than anything. I still think we were hard done by to be relegated. We are an emerging big club, but you have to back that up and win something, and today was a potential banana kick for us. If we had lost we would?ve been fighting for sixth spot, so it was good of the team to stand up and announce ourselves.?
St George 0 Macarthur Rams 4 (Josh Ford 23/50 Cole Peverly 79m M Bianco 92m)
Rescheduled game, round 4: St George 2 Mount Druitt Town Rangers 2
Suns scorch Eagles
Rockdale City Suns picked up their first Super League win over PCYC Parramatta Eagles and threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the competition with a 3-1 win at the Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon. The top-of-the-table showdown was tight, tense and terrific as Rockdale moved two points clear of the chasers. A C Jones first-half double put the home side in the front seat, but Parramatta edged back via a Foti Hatzivalsamis strike five minutes after the restart. The Suns made sure of the win when Igor Kotevski added a third on the hour-mark to remain unbeaten at home.
Rockdale mastermind Mile Todorovski said the win was good, but was now last week?s news. ?I?m very happy to win against any team, but Parramatta is one of the top teams, so it is a very good feeling. But football is not just one game,? he said. ?I prepared the team very well [for Parramatta] and the players had big motivation to win the game. But it was a very hard game. We may have been better than them by just one millimetre, but sometimes that is all that is needed.?
In terms of gaining a mental edge over the great rivals, Todorovski was quick to put the result into perspective. ?There is no time for celebration. Every game is a different game and a different story, and finals football is different altogether. If the players decide to play well and with the heart then you can expect something. If they are the other way then you can forget it.?
Parramatta coach Jason Falzon is relishing a rematch. ?It was one of those games we?d rather forget. They scored their first goal with their first shot on target [regular keeper Stacey Alogdellis was injured midweek and playmaker George Lagoudakis injured himself at training]. We got into the swing of things after that and created some good opportunities but conceded an own goal just before halftime, which is a critical time to give away a goal.?
?But we came out firing in the second half and scored a goal and the momentum started to swing. Then we made a terrible back pass, something we haven?t done before, and gifted them a third goal. We haven?t conceded three goals like that all year. We are better than that and have to get ready for next week. Full credit to Rockdale, but it just didn?t go our way today.?
Rockdale City Suns 3 (C Jones 7/43m Igor Kotevski 60m) PCYC Parramatta Eagles 1 (Foti Hatzivalsamis 50m)
Round 13 results
Central Coast Lightning 0 Northern Tigers 1 (Scott Balderson 90m)
Sydney University 3 (Paul Medulla 84m Emilio Vigiliante Amaro 92/95m) Fraser Park 0
Granville Rage 0 Spirit FC 1 (Tim Simpson 72m)
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 (Troy Eedy 5m) Bossy Liverpool 4 (D Wilson 30m S Georges 34/35m B Akin 74m)
Rockdale City Suns 3 (C Jones 7/43m Igor Kotevski 60m) PCYC Parramatta Eagles 1 (Foti Hatzivalsamis 50m)
St George 0 Macarthur Rams 4 (Josh Ford 23/50 Cole Peverly 79m M Bianco 92m)
Rescheduled game, round 4: St George 2 Mount Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Troy Eedy x2)
Grade 20 results
Central Coast Lightning 1 Northern Tigers 4
Sydney University 0 Fraser Park 1
Granville Rage 2 Spirit FC 3
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 1 Bossy Liverpool 3
Rockdale City Suns 0 PCYC Parramatta Eagles 4
St George 1 Macarthur Rams 2
Rescheduled game, round 4: St George 2 Mount Druitt Town Rangers 4
Round 14 Fixtures
Round 14 of the 2009 NSW Super League sees Granville play Rockdale at Garside Park and St George host Sydney Uni on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool welcome Spirit FC to Ernie Smith Reserve, Mount Druitt play at Fraser Park, Parramatta tackle Central Coast at Melita Stadium, and Northern Tigers meet Macarthur at Mills Park.
-By Daniel De Nardi
