State League Two Round 10 Review

The results sees Roosters establish a four-point break at the top of the leaderboard with Luddenham nudging into equal-second spot with Hurstville. Prospect and Springwood make up the top-five, but Wanderers, Belmore, Fairfield, Lansvale and Bathurst are all lurking behind. Hakoah?s stunning victory lifted it above Hawkesbury and out of bottom spot.
Six new players found the back of the net in the three games played on the weekend to take the overall tally to 81 goalscorers for the entire competition, not a bad return from the 57 games played thus far. Roosters have the most scorers with 11 players finding their mark this season, while Bathurst, Springwood and Wanderers boast just the four goalscorers in their line-up. Individually, a cracking goal to Roosters skipper Ercan Topal takes him to a chart-topping seven goals from 10 games, one ahead of Hurstville?s Michael Di Meglio and Lansvale?s Michael Amed. Prospect?s Paul Curjak, Fairfield?s Khaled Elkerhani, Bathurst?s Jarred Portegies, Hakoah?s Josh Morgenstern and Minotaurs player Emmanuel Papageorgiou have five goals each.
Bathurst hunt down Roosters in draw
Two goals in the final 15 minutes gave Bathurst ?75 a share of the points in a dramatic 2-2 draw with Roosters FC at a soggy Alec Lamberton Field on Saturday night. Roosters, beaten for the first time last week, came out all guns blazing in the first half and a kick free kick caught the Bathurst defence off guard with Mustafa Akca sending one goalbound just nine minutes in. The home side was reeling and then sent flying backwards when Nick Arokiaswarmy was sent off on the half-hour mark for swearing at the linesman.
Bathurst were gallant despite playing a man short but could only look on in horror as Roosters captain Ercan Topal extended their lead with 20 minutes to go, finishing off a good move down the right hand side of the field with a cracking blast from the top of the box. But Bathurst weren?t done with yet and came charging back at the league leaders, first Brent Osbourne responding quickest to a goalkeeping rebound to make it 2-1 on 76-minutes before Jarred Portegies scored in similar fashion in the dying moments to snatch an exciting 2-2 draw.
Bathurst ?75 coach Mark Rooke was certainly relieved to get something from a trying match. ?In the end it was quite good. We probably would have taken a draw against the league leaders at the start of the game,? he said. ?We were still well in the match until their second goal. So we changed it up again and threw another one forward, got a goal, and just kept going and going. It was very pleasing to get something out of the match; some of the football played on the pitch was pretty decent from both teams. But they [the Roosters] are certainly beatable.?
 Bathurst ?75 2 (Brent Osborne 76m Jarred Portegies 87m) Roosters FC 2 (Mustafa Akca 9m Ercan Topal 71m)
Grade 20: Bathurst ?75 1 Roosters FC 2
Hakoah high-five Gazy
Hakoah did their famous playing strip proud by racking up a 5-0 hatchet job on Gazy Lansvale at a wet Wentworth Park on Sunday afternoon. Gazy were flying high on the back of two outstanding wins but smacked into a brick wall against a fired-up Hakoah, Josh Morgenstern capitalising on a Mark Robertson flick-on from a long Pat Darvill throw by heading in the opening goal on 23-minutes. Darvill added his own within eight minutes and the home side were up 2-0 at halftime. A second half Jon Pillemer double was then rounded out by a Robertson goal to make it 5-0 inside the final quarter-hour. The only down side for Hakoah was a broken nose suffered by Marc Kacen.
Hakoah coach Paul Watkins was chuffed but said there was nothing different about the way they led into the match. ?It was the first time we?ve had our full squad this season, I just think it was a bit more application today,? he said. ?The chances that hadn?t been going in against other teams finally went in; we got a decent start and went on with it. We approached the game in the same way, there was no rev-up speech, it was training as usual this week? but once we got a couple of goals up we found a little bit more confidence and had a number of guys getting forward. I hope it continues next week.?
Gazy coach Phil Pavela was to the point. ?We were just pathetic,? he said. ?Our minds weren?t on the job; they were more hungry than us, and we looked like we didn?t want to be there. That?s the trouble with us, the players switch off when they play teams lower than them on the table and it cost us today.?
 Hakoah 5 (Josh Morgenstern 23m Pat Darvill 31m Jon Pillemer 56m/74m Mark Robertson 76m) Gazy Lansvale 0
Grade 20: Hakoah 1 Gazy Lansvale 1
Luddenham level with Wanderers
Luddenham United and Fairfield Wanderers battled out a 1-1 draw at Knight Field on Sunday afternoon, United using the result to sneak into equal-second on the ladder. The visitors started the game in a brisk manner and with just four minutes gone on the clock, Daniel Farre whipped the ball across to Saula Matayalo whose header hit the crossbar. The ball fell to Michael Wood, who also had his shot ricochet off the woodwork, only for Chris Vella to show his team-mates how it?s done with his effort finding the back of the net for a 1-0 Luddenham lead.
The Wanderers eventually found their feet and pressed forward themselves, Ahmed Khan passing to a wide open Mauricio Sanchez whose sizzling shot smashed into the top corner of the goal to draw level again at 1-1. Both sides had chances after that, Luddenham clearing one effort off the line and having several of their own chances narrowly miss the target, but the whistle blew with the scoreline unchanged.
Wanderers coach Walter Alvarez said it was a very difficult game played in very tough conditions. ?We started very slow but then picked up the pace and could have scored a few goals, but it just didn?t happen,? he said. ?We had plenty of possession and had the chances to score, but they [United] fought very hard for the result. Luddenham put a lot of pressure on us, so it was good to see the defence handle that well.?
Luddenham United coach Andrew Montgomery said it was a very even game. ?Both sides seemed to cancel each other out for the most part of it,? he said. ?Both teams had half-chances to win the game, but I think a draw was probably a fair result in the end. [On moving into second place on the ladder] It is an unbelievable achievement for the team. Who would have thought that??
Luddenham United 1 (Chris Vella 4m) Fairfield Wanderers 1 (Mauricio Sanchez 30m)
Grade 20: Luddenham United 0 Fairfield Wanderers 1
Wet weather claims three fixtures
After holding out for a good two months of football, the weather gods opened up before the weekend to threaten for the first time this year. The late downpour and a shocking forecast for the Sunday games in particular saw the cancellation of three games, with Springwood United vs Fairfield Bulls at Knight Field,
Belmore Hercules vs Hawkesbury City, and Prospect United vs Hurstville City Minotaurs at William Lawson Reserve all placed on the catch-up list.
Round 10 results
First grade
Prospect United vs Hurstville City Minotaurs washed out
Bathurst ?75 2 (Brent Osborne 76m Jarred Portegies 87m) Roosters FC 2 (Mustafa Akca 9m Ercan Topal 71m)
Belmore Hercules vs Hawkesbury City washed out
Luddenham United 1 (Chris Vella 4m) Fairfield Wanderers 1 (Mauricio Sanchez 30m)
Fairfield Bulls vs Springwood washed out
Hakoah 5 (Josh Morgenstern 23m P Darvill 31m Marc Kacen 56m Jon Pillemer 74m Mark Robertson 76m) Gazy Lansvale 0
Grade 20
Prospect United vs Hurstville City Minotaurs washed out
Bathurst ?75 1 Roosters FC 2
Belmore Hercules vs Hawkesbury City washed out
Luddenham United 0 Fairfield Wanderers 1
Fairfield Bulls vs Springwood washed out
Hakoah 1 Gazy Lansvale 1
Next week?s games
Round 11 of State League division two has Saturday night games scheduled where Hawkesbury take on mighty Prospect at Bensons Lane Field (5pm kick-off), Bathurst face Hurstville at Alec Lamberton Field (7pm), and giants Springwood welcome Hakoah to Summerhayes Park (7pm). On Sunday afternoon (3pm kick-offs), Gazy play Belmore in a blockbuster at Cherrybrook Park, Roosters meet Wanderers at Lidcombe Oval and Luddenham host Fairfield Bulls at Luddenham Oval.
-By Daniel De Nardi