All square between Tigers and Reds at Leichhardt Oval
Both sides had opportunities to gain the full three-points and by full-time both coaches were justifiably disappointed not to have come away with maximum reward.
Sydney United started slowly and Bishara Stephan tried to take full advantage by chasing a long ball down into the left-hand corner and playing the ball on to Robbie Younis. The United defenders though combined well to clear the ball from danger.
In the 13? minute Younis made a decisive run in the attacking third, beating defenders and even falling, and regaining his feet, without losing possession. He laid the ball back to Nick Rizzo but Vedran Janjetovic easily save his effort on goal.
On 18? minutes United sent out the warning signals when Davor Bajsic, David Zdrilic and Roger Galayini combined well to move the ball quickly through the midfield and into the attacking-third. The only problem with the fancy play was Zdrilic?s ball was not directed towards goal so the Tigers were able to marshall Galayini out over the side-line on the right hand side of the pitch.
In the 23? minute the Tigers responded with a great ball from Shane Lyons out to
Franco Parisi on the right-flank. The cross from Parisi was sent over the goal-line by the United defence.
At the other end of the pitch a minute later, it was Lyons himself who had to cut out a dangerous United cross for a corner. 3? minutes later he was at it again, demonstrating his skills as a defensive midfielder by again dropping back and helping his defence shut down a Sydney United raid on goal.
In the 29? minute Nick Rizzo curled a free-kick in towards goal but Janjetovic was there to intercept it at full stretch, thus denying those Tigers players lined up on the far post any opportunity to head the ball home.
For the next 5? minutes the visitors turned up the heat, with the Tigers having to scramble to stop United?s quick transition play. Elsid Barkhousir played a great ball through to Mitchell Thompson, an especially courageous pass considering the ferocity of the tackle he was hit with just as he released the ball, with Thompson shooting wide in what was a great chance for United to go ahead.
On 35? minutes it was Bishara Stephan who saw his shot go wide as Michael West put a great ball over the top that was flicked on to Stephan, but his shot was blocked by the defence. From the resultant corner Younis headed it just wide of the far post.
Again the momentum swung to the visitors with Barkhousir soon shooting wide of the target. Phil Zabaks had also denied the visitors when required in the first-half, but there was nothing he could do to deny Bajsic in the 38? minute as he scored an outstanding goal.
The Tigers defence had pushed the ball forward but it landed into the path of Thompson who played a great ball to the feet of Zdrilic. Playing in the middle of the park, Zdrilic played a beautiful through ball to Bajsic on the left; the number 12 still had a lot to do, as he dribbled the ball around two defenders and – with no one closing him down – fired a powerful shot from the edge of the area into the far corner of the net to give United the lead.
Right on half-time the Tigers attempted to equalise through Nick Rizzo?s long range free-kick but Janjetovic again was on the spot to thwart any danger.
In the second-half Sydney United started slowly, but this time it was to cost them more than it did in the first period. Michael West put a long ball over the defence and Robbie Younis had time to turn on the ball in the goal mouth and slide the ball home for the equaliser.
Three minutes later Damon Collina just missed an outrageous back heel at the far post that would have put his side back in-front before the Tigers responded with a quick break, denied only by the United defence?s great scrambling effort to anticipate Younis.
Then, down the other end of the park, a United break was denied by a last ditch tackle from Michael West.
In the 57? minute Luka Glavas came on for Sydney United to add to the dangers from the visitors attacking raids, but a minute later it was his opponents who nearly scored as Shane Lyons curled the ball just around the far post from distance.
Just after the hour Todd Brodie tried to grab the game by the scruff of its neck with some clinical runs and passing down the flank. The creative midfielder combined with Barkhousir who put in a powerful cross at the end of the exchange; the cross meant for the players at the far post but intercepted by Luka Glavas?s head, saw the ball finish on the wrong side of the post.
Again Brodie broke down the left in the 71? minute, this time he played the ball to Thompson who cut it back in towards the United attack that was moving forward in a pack. However, the defence was able to block the ball at the same time as the attack pounced, thus denying United a goal scoring opportunity.
The Tigers really had to scramble in defence to deny the visitors who were throwing everything at the locals, though managed to hold the Reds out. The home-side even managed to create a chance for themselves in the 77? minute as Rizzo played the ball to Younis who from 30-metres out spotted Janjetovic off his line by a long way. Younis sent the ball goalwards and beat his goalkeeper, only for the ball to drift off target.
In the 80? minute the home fans were in uproar as they felt Robbie Younis was denied a one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper when he was adjudged offside.
2? minutes later Tiger?s substitute Jason Trifiro played a great through ball to David D?Apuzzo but Damon Collina was able to recover back quickly enough to defuse the situation.
Sydney United?s Glen Trifiro, on as a substitute, fired in a cross against his brother?s side which landed perfectly for Zdrilic in the goal mouth area – Zdrilic surprisingly had time on the ball and for only the second time in the match was able to beat Zabaks in the Tigers goal, only for the ball to cannon off Carlo Musumeci who was standing on the goal-line.
In the 86? minute Roger Galayini saw his shot ripple the wrong side of the side netting before David Zdrilic failed to hit the target from a tight angle on 90?minutes.
In injury time, the former Socceroo was denied by a fine save from Zabaks at the death before the United player found himself free on the far post for one last shot – a shot which he curled over the crossbar.
Following the match, Tigers coach Luke Maguire was disappointed with the final result:
?It is the story of the second round for us. We just do not take our chances, we create a lot of opportunities but can not finish them off. We worked extremely hard today and they threw everything at us. I can not ask more than what the players gave me in terms of effort today, we did a lot of running and were fantastic in defence as a unit.?
Ante Milicic was also disappointed his side did not take the full points thanks to poor finishing:
?I am disappointed because we took the lead today and then let in a soft, somewhat controversial goal. We created enough chances to win today. At times we switched off and instead of letting the opposition do the hard work to score against us we beat ourselves. This was definitely two points lost rather than one point gained today.?
In the earlier Grade-20 match, Sydney United defeated Sydney Tigers 5-1.
Match Stats
Sydney Tigers 1 (Robert Younis 48?)
Sydney United 1 (Davor Bajsic 38?)
Sunday, 5th July, 2009
Leichhardt Oval, Leichhardt
Referee: Khodi Yoghr
Assistant Referees: David Dewhurst and Gareth Askham
Fourth Official: Tom Klein
Crowd: 350
Sydney Tigers: 99.Phil Zabaks; 3.John Kelso, 16.Michael Hawrysiuk, 6.Shane Lyons, 9.Robert Younis, 10.Franco Parisi (24.Jason Trifiro 45?), 12.Michael West, 13.David D?Apuzzo, 15.Danial Cummins (11.Carlo Musumeci 72?), 18.Bishara Stephan (8.Marino Musumeci 83?), 22.Nicola Rizzo
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Giancarlo Papaianni, 17.Joseph Cantisano
Yellow Cards: West 81?, D?Apuzzo 90?
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney United: 1.Vedran Janjetovic; 4.Milan Bosnar (14.Petar Markovic 85?), 5.Damon Collina, 6.Joe Vrkic, 7.Todd Brodie, 3.Roger Galayini, 26.Karl Dodd, 16.Mitchell Thompson, 9.David Zdrilic, 12.Davor Bajsic (11.Luka Glavas 57?), 19.Elsid Barkhousir (18.Glen Trifiro 70?)
Substitutes Not Used: 24.Andrija Petkovic, 30.Michael Frost.
Yellow Cards: Zdrilic 76?, Thompson 86?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Staurt Jones
