Blacktown City stun Sydney United with late winner
Blacktown City defeated Sydney United 3-2 after City defender Tyler had been sent off at the end of the first-half.
Blacktown won the early tussle and seemed ready to take advantage of the initiative with an early goal after Mirko Jurilj stole the ball and played it to Ante Deur who ran down the left flank and fired in a shot. The rebound off Vedran Janjetovic fell to Tolgay Ozbey but he fired the ball wide. Then 4? minutes later Mitchell Long stole the ball on the edge of the attacking area and played it through to Ozbey, though his cross was easily taken by Janjetovic.
Despite this early dominance, in the 15? minute, it was Sydney United who took the lead. Mirjan Pavlovic stole the ball and played it in low and hard, but what looked to be fairly innocuous. However, the Blacktown defence tripped on the ball and it fell to Elsid Barkhousir at the far post who tapped the ball home for the first goal.
Blacktown continued their early dominance despite this goal but this excellent play was going unrewarded. In the 22? minute Ante Tomic broke through the Blacktown defence but Zac Cairncross was able to track back and defuse the danger. However, this was to be more like a one-off in the first-half as even Luka Dukic at left back was getting involved in dangerous runs down the flank.
Then, just after the half hour, the goal finally came Blacktown?s way. Jurilj played the ball through to Long on the right-flank and he made a great run before stopping and waiting for Ante Deur on the left. His floating cross was perfect for Deur to easily head home at the far post.
A minute later and Tolgay Ozbey nearly collected another goal as he fired a hard shot at Janjetovic but Joel Chianese could not bring it down properly to score from the rebound.
In the 37? minute Elsid Barkhousir nearly setup a goal against the run of play after an error from the Blacktown defence but the United attackers were adjudged to be offside.
In the 40? minute Pavlovic was denied by Matthew Ryan who beat him to the ball as he ran through on a pass from deep. Then in the 44? minute Ozbey and Long almost snatched a goal only to be denied by the United defence. Then Tyler Simpson only just failed to put his header on target from the resultant corner.
It was not the end of the action for the half though as United tried to run time down they played the ball back to Janjetovic who took a touch and looked to play the ball up-field. Unfortunately for the home fans, Chianese was alert to the situation and dived in at the goalkeeper and took the ball off him. Chianese was the quickest to react as the ball fell loose and he tapped home to give Blacktown City the lead.
Even then the action was not over as a foul by Kain Rastall soon after the kick-off led to a bit of argy bargy, and after a second round of push and shove Tyler Simpson was sent off, thus handing the second-half impetus to Sydney United, despite the locals being a goal down at the break.
For the second-half Blacktown played with five at the back, three in the midfield and Tolgay Ozbey up-front. Early on, Long and Ozbey combined well to see Chianese create half a chance but the ball went just behind him and he had to stop, giving the United defence enough time to shut him down. For United it should have been a warning about what could happen despite their numerical advantage.
From that point it was all Sydney United until the end. Petar Markovic beat the left back but with so many defenders they were able to adjust and the attack came to nothing.
Then in the 51? minute Sean Mitchell put a floating cross to Pavlovic at the far post and he put the ball back towards the danger area only for it to crash off the corner of the crossbar and post.
On the hour, Ivo Bosnar fired the ball from 30-metres out on the right. It looked to be honing in on goal only to swerve at the last and go the wrong side of the post.
Sydney United had all the ball but the defence of Blacktown, led by Cairncross and Jurilj, was outstanding.
Blacktown did counter occasionally, though clear chances were few.
It looked like Sydney United would have no answer until the 78? minute when Luka Glavas scored a spectacular goal. With Glavas a long way from goal, and surrounded by opponents, he turned on the ball and his shot curled into the top corner.
It seemed to be just the shot for United as they poured forward for the winner, but as was the case for much of the half, the chances were not being converted into goals.
After three corners in a row – and a half celebration for the locals when Joe Vrkic headed the ball into the side netting, just the wrong side of the net – the pressure looked to have broken after Barkhousir was presented with a free header. He did all the right things and headed the ball down and goalwards but Ryan denied him with a save at full stretch.
Right at the death Tolgay Ozbey broke and ran into space. He surprised his opponents by stopping and waiting as they ran back towards him. Rather than then playing the ball to the two teammates, also running forward, Ozbey turned and shot low and hard, beating Janjetovic and handing his own side an unlikely victory.
Aytek Genc was proud of the courage and character his side had demonstrated in the match:
?We played a very good team today. For us the turning point was Tyler Simpson being sent off.
?We had shown great character having come from 1-0 down and gone 2-1 up and then to lose a player could have been a massive blow. However the system we play is flexible and today?s win was built on character.
?This win was all about the second-half effort, it is a defining game for us as it shows we can come back.?
David Zdrilic was obviously unhappy with the result:
?This was a bad game from us today. It was the worst first-half performance that we have played all year.
?We did well in the second-half and finally got a goal but then to cop a goal like we did on the break at the end of the match was obviously not what we wanted to see.?
In the earlier Grade 20 match, Sydney United defeated Blacktown City 2-1.
Match Details
Sydney United 2 (Barkhousir 15? Glavas 78?)
Blacktown City 3 (Deur 31? Chianese 44? Ozbey 90?)
Sunday 2nd, May, 2010.
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Murray WILSON and Scott EDELING
Fourth Official: Nick TRAGOUSTIS
Crowd: 300
Sydney United: 1.Vedran JANJETOVIC; 5.Damon COLLINA, 14.Petar MARKOVIC, 23.Ivo BOSNAR, 22.Peter ZORBAS, 25.Mirjan PAVLOVIC, 32.Ante TOMIC (11.Luka GLAVAS 55?) 6.Joe VRKIC, 9.David ZDRILIC (21.Sean MITCHELL 45?) 16.Elsid BARKHOUSIR, 8.Shane LYONS
Substitutes Not Used: 4.Michael CINRDRIC, 7.Todd BRODIE, 30.Roy BELL
Yellow Cards: Ivo BOSNAR 22?, David ZDRILIC 33?, Damon COLLINA 45?, Peter ZORBAS 51?
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 20.Matthew RYAN; 2.Tyler SIMPSON, 5.Luka DUKIC, 6.Matt PRESSELLO (13.Lachlan CAHILL 69?) (35.Bernie IBINI 83?), 11.Mitchell LONG, 19.Tolgay OZBEY, 9.Kain RASTALL, 22.Zac CAIRNCROSS, 17.Joel CHIANESE, 4.Mirko JURILJ, 16.Ante DEUR (10.Jordan SIMPSON 78?)
Substitutes Not Used: 8.Chris Bedzo, 40.Justin BIEGA
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Tyler SIMPSON 45?
Player Ratings:
3 – Zac CAIRNCROSS (BC)
2 – Mirijan PAVLOVIC (SU)
1 – Ante DEUR (BC)
-By Stuart Jones
