Blacktown City FC retain top spot with win over Berries
The first-half had started with the visiting Berries coming out all guns blazing.
Despite having been hit with an injury crisis, the team stood tall against the early pace setters of the competition – who were also without several players through injury.
Early on it was Michael Herbet and the offside flag that prevented the Berries taking the lead, with Kosta Lagoudakis, Damir Prodanavic and Dimitri Zakilas combining strongly in the attacking-third and Jesse Pinto, returning to his old club for the first time, threatening down the right-flank.
However, Blacktown was not completely out of the match in the early stages with Tolgay Ozbay seemingly a part of every home attack. On 15? minutes, Ozbey made a run with the ball through into the penalty-area and then laid the ball off to Jordan Simpson who in turn tried to lay the ball across to the far side of the goal where it came to nothing, a better option would have been to have a shot.
Ozbey was then denied by the feet of Berries custodian Hamish McLean. The ball did return to the striker?s feet a third time and on this occasion Ozbey fell in the area from a defender?s challenge, though the referee quickly waved away Blacktown City?s penalty claims.
Combined pressure from the Berries over the following 10? minutes saw chances fall to the two men leading the charge, both ex-Blacktown juniors, Stefan De Jesus and Pinto.
Prodanavic also had a chance in the 24? minute but he was denied by Michael Herbert?s feet.
With Zakilas running hard, the Berries pressure was mounting but they could not get a really strong effort on target. After 30? minutes the tide started to turn and it was the home team that would try and turn the screw.
Firstly a corner from Blacktown City saw the ball go over the players in the goal mouth and landed for Tyler Simpson at the far post. He put the ball back into the area with Luke Roodenberg diving low to meet the ball with his head, though the effort finished over the crossbar.
Roodenberg then played the ball to Mitchell Long, who flew down the right wing and played the ball into Ozbey before Berries defender Daniel Clifford magnificently cleared the ball away to safety.
Still the corner came in and was pushed away by the defence for a second corner, this time Zac Cairncross got a head to the ball only for the effort to finish between McLean?s waiting arms.
The Berries continued to fight, thanks mainly at this point to the play of former Blacktown player Stefan De Jesus. In the 38? minute Prodanavic almost capped off a solid first-half performance with a goal but Herbert made his first difficult save to deny him, and the visitors, the opening score.
Having been scoreless at the break, the home team came out much stronger in the second-half and almost scored from the opening salvo.
Tolgay Ozbey chipped the ball across to Jordan Simpson and his header went just over the crossbar.
For their part the Berries tried attacking down the left but whilst the work of Ryan Jones was excellent, the visitors continued to fail to put shots on target.
Ozbey was in everything by now and after a great interchange with Mitchell Long he fired the ball well over the crossbar 10? minutes into the half. Then Lachlan Cahill, having a strong game for Blacktown down their left, tried a shot from close-range but it went straight at McLean.
Tyler Simpson was then in the thick of it, running thirty-metres and beating several players before passing to Long who acrobatically crossed into the penalty-area, though intercepted by McLean.
At the other end Cairncross, Luka Dukic and Tyler Simpson were working well to deny the Berries any chances on goal.
On 66? minutes Tyler Simpson put a great ball in from the left and 30-metres out. The ball was met by Roodenberg?s head but again it went over the crossbar, the side?s best chance to that point.
Then Mitchell Long, now doing much more running down the flank and looking much more like the dangerous player he can be, curled a great ball into the attacking area only for Clifford to get around his man and cut the ball away from danger.
In the 78? minute the home-side were awarded a free-kick in a promising position, though it was awfully executed, as the home fans could have been excused for thinking the lead would never come. Almost as if angered by the free-kick, less than a minute later Tolgay Ozbey picked the ball up on the edge of the penalty-area and drifted across the penalty line before smashing a shot into the far corner of the goal, well out of the reach of the diving hands of McLean.
To give them their due, the visitors were not done yet and Peter Peralta tried to take matters into his own hands with an effort from distance finishing agonisingly wide of the mark.
Berries coach John Caleja was feeling both disappointed and happy after the match:
?I am happy because it was a much improved performance from our lads.
?I am disappointed because we went for so long holding onto a point and even dominated play in the first-half, but we come away with nothing, that certainly hurts.
?We had possession in the first-half and we played well throughout those 45? minutes but we lacked the bite up front to put away a chance. It was a better performance than last week and something we can build upon.?
Blacktown City assistant coach Mark Crittenden was pleased with the full points:
?We were lethargic and slow in the first-half but were more direct and awake in the second.
?We improved upon our ball retention and got the goal eventually. In the end we could have won by two or three.
?Defensively we did well tonight but we need to increase our intensity across the park through the whole 90 minutes. We have a tough couple of weeks ahead so we are happy about getting the result tonight.?
In the Grade-20 encounter, Blacktown City FC beat the West Sydney Berries 1-0.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 1 (Ozbey 79?)
West Sydney Berries 0
Sunday, 28th March, 2010
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Khodr YOGHI
Assistant Referees: Scott EDELING and Lance GREENSHIELDS
Fourth Official: Nicholas TRAGOUSTIS
Blacktown City FC: 1.Michael HERBET; 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 5.Luka DUKIC, 7.Luke ROODENBERG, 6.Matt PRESELLO (16.Ante DEUR 76?), 9.Kain RASTALL, 10.Jordan SIMPSON (18.Travis MAJOR 83?), 11.Mitchell LONG, 13.Lachlan CAHILL, 19.Tolgay OZBEY, 22.Zac CAIRNCROSS
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Matt RYAN, 12.Brendan MARONEY
Yellow Cards: J Simpson 26?, Ozbey 43?, Rastall 91?
Red Cards: Nil
West Sydney Berries: 1.Hamish MCLEAN; 5.Ryan WALSH, 4.Daniel CLIFFORD (32.Leon PARRELLO 81?), 7.Peter PERALTA, 3.Omar SAADI (18.Shayne MORRISEY 72?), 15.Ryan JONES, 12.Stefan DE JESUS, 16.Kosta LAGOUDAKIS, 21.Damir PRODANAVIC, 19.Dmitri ZAKILAS, 8.Jesse PINTO (18.James O?ROURKE 79?)
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Gem AKILI, 23.Alexander SAPINA
Yellow Cards: Pinto 21?, Jones 65?, Peralta 84?, Lagoudakis 92?, Parello 92?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Tyler Simpson (BC)
2 – Daniel Clifford (WSB)
1 – Tolgay Ozbey (BC)
-By Stuart Jones
