Blacktown City FC flying high with defeat of Bonnyrigg
This top of the table clash started with the home-side dominant as Tolgay Ozbey and Mitchell Long were the spark for some good early half chances. With Bonnyrigg yet to get settled Ozbey setup Luke Roodenberg whose effort at the ball was poor and easily dealt with by the White Eagles defence.
For Roodenberg it was his 150th match with Blacktown, a feat team-mate Kain Rastall achieved just four games previously.
Where Bonnyrigg were dangerous was on their left-hand flank through David Gullo who was constantly turning Matt Pressello around in the first-half. In the 9? minute his run ended when he played a cross in but Brad Boardman could only flick the ball on with his ankle and the chance amounted to nothing.
However, at this point, the game was still virtually all Blacktown, and in the 10? minute Long broke through to get a shot in on goal, though Phil Zabaks saved well at his near post.
It was the last chance for Blacktown for a while as Bonnyrigg came to grips with the game. In the 15? minute Bonnyrigg nearly scored thanks to the surface as a shot from Daniel Severino along the ground took a funny bounce and Michael Herbet, the Blacktown City keeper, had to cover the ball as it shaved the far post.
Moments later, Herbet was beaten as Zac Cairncross tried to clear a dangerous ball but it deflected off him and went over Herbert and bounced off the far post.
On 23? minutes, some world class play by Bonnyrigg as Jamie McMaster engineered a brilliant one-two in the area, though the Blacktown defence responded and shepherded him past the far post.
The 26? minute saw Long pounce on a poor pass by the Bonnyrigg defence. He played it to Roodenberg who tried his luck from distance though was denied by a strong deflection. From resulting corner Roodenberg got a low header to the ball at the near post only for it to be cleared off the line by the defence. The ball came back into the penalty-area and Ozbey back-heeled it goalwards only for Zabaks to respond brilliantly and thwart the opportunity.
Despite possession going Bonnyrigg?s way their chances on goal during this period were few. In-fact, despite holding less of the ball, Blacktown extremely dangerous on the counter-attack.
Tolgey Ozbey had a penalty claim dismissed by the referee on the half hour. It was a tough period of the game for the referee as he had to maintain control as just a minute later Jamie McMaster and Kain Rastall almost came to blows as McMaster pulled Rastall to the ground but was not carded.
On 33? minutes Severino played Daniel Gullo seemingly through on goal but the ball came off the youngster?s knee and Herbert got to the ball first.
Two minutes later, it looked like Brad Boardman would put the visitors in front as he pulled the ball down only metres from goal but as he pulled the trigger Tyler Simpson, playing another strong game in defence with Luka Dukic, got a tackle in on the burly striker to put him off balance and fire his effort over the crossbar.
The ball then went up the other end of the field and Tolgay Ozbey tried beating his markers, Wade Oostendorp and Vuko Tomasevic, only to be crunched between them. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and Ozbey got up and smashed the ball in with a fierce shot to send Blacktown City ahead.
Again in the 40? minute, the surface nearly came to Bonnyrigg?s aid as Daniel Severino departed from his usual free-kicks to put one along the ground that bounced off the surface and Herbert had to pull off a fingertip save.
Then Ozbey almost scored again, denied by a brilliant save once more from Zabaks, with Ante Deur unable to get to the rebound before the ball went out for a corner.
Moments prior to the break, Boardman was tripped just outside the area but Bonnyrigg?s Severino was unable to produce one of his famous free-kicks, and the dead ball play came to nothing.
Just before half-time a Milorad Simonovic run saw the ball end up eventually with McMaster who put a great shot just the wrong side of the near post.
Following the break, as the patrons were taking their seat after the break, Long and Ozbey combined only for Zabaks to shut the play down at the near post with a point-blank save.
In the moments that ensued Blacktown City lost their composure but again Bonnyrigg could not convert good play into shots on target. It was to be costly on 53? minutes as Mitchell Long doubled his side?s lead. Ozbey played the ball through to Long who flicked it on with his toes, over Zabaks, and into the back of the net.
Kain Rastall nearly put the result beyond doubt for the home-side as he ran through the midfield and ended up in the penalty-area. As he came to the last defender he shot and the ball curled magnificently but only onto the crossbar.
Still Bonnyrigg did not give up and on the hour McMaster fired the ball over the target after good lead-up play.
Four minutes later Shane Webb played the ball to Simonovic who also fired the ball over the crossbar with a powerful effort. Then it was Blacktown?s turn to sacrifice chances. First Ozbey could not beat Zabaks one-on-one, and then Mitchell Long made a terrific run right through the centre of the park only to be tackled by Gullo who ran twenty-five metres to make the challenge in the area when everyone else had seemingly given up.
In the 69? minute Cairncross was red carded and this gave Bonnyrigg added life, but still they could not score as Blacktown kept their shape behind the ball.
Blacktown had a great substitute of their own as Joel Chianese sparked the side once he entered the fray. In the end though there were no more goals on this day. The closest final chance went to Tomasevic who fired the ball from midfield and Herbert had to reach for the ball at full stretch.
Following the final whistle, Bonnyrigg White Eagles boss Brian Brown was upset his side had not taken their opportunites:
?We had enough chances and did not take them. Blacktown took their few chances. They counter-attacked us well today. We just did not move the ball quick enough. We can?t give away goals like the second one and expect to get points from the game.?
Aytec Genc was extremely pleased with the result:
?We started well today and put pressure on them early. They had a couple of good chances and then so did we, only to be denied by world class saves from Zabaks.
?In the second-half we also came out positively and scored our second goal and then the chances came our way. On the balance of chances we deserved to win today but we played a top class team and are very excited to come away with a positive result against such a great team. The match was a credit to both sides.?
In the earlier Grade-20?s match Bonnyrigg came from 2-0 down to draw level, only to immediately leak another goal and lose 3-2 to Blacktown City.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 2 (Ozbey 36? pen Long 53?)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Sunday, 11th April, 2010
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Peter VRTKOVSKI
Assistant Referees: Scott EDELING and Gareth ASKHAM
Fourth Official: Chris WELLS
Crowd: 650
Blacktown City FC: 1.Michael HERBET; 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 5.Luka DUKIC, 6.Matt PRESSELLO (18.Travis MAJOR 75?), 7.Luke ROODENBERG, 11.Mitchell LONG, 22.Zac CAIRNCROSS, 19.Tolgay OZBEY, 13.Lachlan CAHILL, 9.Kain RASTALL (10.Jordan SIMPSON 65?), 16.Ante DEUR (17.Joel CHIANESE 81?)
Substitutes Not Used: 40Matt RYAN, 35.Bernie IBINI
Yellow Cards: Pressello 14?, Rastall 30?, Roodenberg 41?
Red Cards: Cairncross 69?
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 99.Phillip ZABAKS; 7.Nikola ZONJIC, 20.Wade OOSTENDORP, 6.Vuko TOMASEVIC, 4.Michael BROWN, 19.Jamie MCMASTER, 8.Milorad SIMONOVIC (2.Paul COTTE 74?), 11.Shane WEBB, 10.Daniel SEVERINO (13.Juan CHAVEZ 58?), 9.Bradley BOARDMAN (15.Nathan ELASI 58?), 17.David GULLO
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Ali AKBAL, 5.Milan ZORIC
Yellow Cards: Elasi 84?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Mitchell Long (BC)
2 – David Gullo (BWE)
1 – Jamie McMaster (BWE)
-By Stuart Jones
