State League One Round 14 Review
Match of the Round
Stanmore Hawks v UNSW
If Arlington Oval resembled a beach on Saturday evening with it?s uneven sandy surface, then Stanmore Hawks provided the waves of attack that gave them a resounding 4-0 victory in Round 14 of Division One.
Furthermore, Eli Squillacioti and Wasim Hijazi played the part of tidal waves with brilliant individual efforts as they spearheaded a comprehensive team performance.
As the fans settled into their seats on a brisk evening, it was 1-0 before you could say ?University of New South Wales?, as Stanmore took the lead after just 25 seconds.
Tall striker, Eli Squillacioti, pounced on a stray square pass across the UNSW penalty area, scooping the ball over the advancing keeper, Iorfino, giving the Hawks a remarkable opening goal.
Ten minutes later it was 2-0, courtesy of Squillacioti once again.
Wasim Hijazi controlled the ball on the edge of the UNSW penalty area, and laid it off for Stuart Bromley, who stung the hands of UNSW keeper, Iorfino, with a fierce 20 yard drive.
Squillacioti was first to react, beating a static UNSW defence to stroke the rebound in off the post and give Stanmore an early 2-0 lead.
On 14 minutes it was almost 3-0 when Hijazi let fly from the edge of the box, Iorfino this time managing to get his finger tips to the ball and divert it for a corner.
Stanmore had all of the early play as the ?students? struggled to gain any ascendancy, quicker with their passing and players moving into space off the ball.
Pieris and James were dominating the midfield, winning first and second balls, and often being the architects of the Hawks? attacking forays.
It took a whole half hour for UNSW to muster any sort of danger on the Stanmore goal, with Hardwick managing to steer his low shot past keeper, Fleming, before it was desperately cleared off the line by the retreating Mavrou.
Within a minute the match was effectively over when Stanmore grabbed goal number three, and it was no surprise to see who were the protagonists behind the attack.
Squilliacioti made a dash down the right flank before sliding inwards towards the penalty area. At this point the big man played a delightful one-two with Hijazi, controlling the return pass with one touch before steering the bal past Iorfino to claim an emphatic first half hat-trick.
UNSW seemed down and out, but were presented with a reprieve when they were awarded a penalty, Stanmore defender, Mavrou, adjudged to have held down Kamleitner.
Lee Davelaar, skipper for the night, is the penalty expert for UNSW, and he struck his spot kick well enough, firm and low towards the keeper?s bottom left hand corner.
But Stanmore keeper, Fleming, pulled off a brilliant save to deny UNSW any sort of way back into the match.
The man-in-the-middle, Mr David Morris, was having a super game, allowing play to flow, and he blew his half time whistle to give the ?students? an opportunity to take a breather and revisit their game plan.
Stanmore almost made it four just minutes after the break when Hijazi got his head to a rebound, sending it over the stranded UNSW keeper, Iorfino, but alas, giant defender, Byrne, got back to head clear from under his cross bar.
Stocky UNSW striker, Rocky Luca, came off the bench on 58 minutes for his long awaited return to football, but couldn?t spark his side into action as Stanmore continued on their merry way in the second period.
On 81 minutes, substitute Pecoul cracked a strong shot goalward that just went wide, Hijazi again the provider.
Then Hijazi himself hit a grass cutter that took a slight deflection as it agonizingly went inches wide. From the ensuing corner, Squilliacioti rose majestically to snap a downward header on goal, once again the ball deflecting wide off desperate UNSW defender, Harb.
Stanmore kept up the pressure, and wrapped up proceedings on 87 minutes when a corner was cleared to the edge of the box, and Pecoul hit a screamer of a half volley that nearly snapped the cross bar in two.
Wasim Hijazi was first to the rebound to bang his shot into the net from a few yards, a just reward for his efforts during the ninety minutes.
UNSW coach, Luke Andrews, was a despondent figure after the match, obviously disappointed to gift Stanmore a couple of goals so early.
?An error in the first minute, and slack defending for the second?it proved too hard to come back from that,? said a dejected Andrews.
?We allowed them too much space between their strikers and midfielders, and they exploited it well. We still have 3 of our 4 main defenders out with injury, and it was Rocky?s (Luca) first hit out for months, so that doesn?t help,? added Andrews.
On a disappointing night for UNSW, they were best served by ; striker Tom Quilty, who was his usual hard working self, chasing everything in the attacking third and a real physical nuisance for the Stanmore defence ; David Hardwick was effective in the centre of the park, linking up well with his defenders and attackers alike ; Andrew Harb put himself about in defence, often thwarting the Stanmore attack with his pace and strength.
Stanmore striker, Wasim Hijazi, was elated with his side?s comprehensive victory.
?We worked really hard during the week at training, and were really confident coming in because we seem to do really well against teams lower than us on the ladder,? said Hijazi.
He added, ?I am really enjoying my partnership with Eli (Squillacioti) ? it seems a perfect mix, with one tall, one short?one leftie, one right footed ? we understand each other and work well together.?
?Our goal is to make the semi?s, and you just never know from there,? predicted the sharpshooter.
Best on a great night for Stanmore were ; striker Eli Squillacioti was lethal with his finishing, ?johnny-on-the-spot? to clinically finish three times, with his pace and height a constant thorn for the UNSW defence ; striker, Wasim Hijazi, was in everything on the night, linking well and providing an option for his midfield, creating opportunities with great lay offs for his team mates, and getting on the scoresheet as a reward for his workrate ; central defender, Mavrou, was a rock at the back, uncompromising in the tackle, constantly putting his body on the line to help keep a clean sheet for the Hawks.
Match Stats
STANMORE HAWKS (3) 4 (Squillacioti 1? / 10? / 31?, Hijazi 87?)
UNSW (0) 0
Saturday, June 19, at Arlington Oval, Dulwich Hill
Referee ? Mr David Morris
Assistant Referees ? Mr David Ward & Mr George Mpliokas
STANMORE HAWKS: 1.R.Fleming, 2. D.Papazafiropoulos, 4.G.Skoulos, 6.A.Skoulos, 7.J.Pieris (23.P.Hadjisocratous 81?), 10.D.James (capt)(9.J.Fearn 62?), 12.S.Bromley, 15.A.Papadopoulos (18.O.Pecoul 75?), 19.Y.Mavrou, 17.W.Hijazi, 11.E.Squillacioti.
Subs not used- 3.L.Machuca, 31.D.Holloway.
Yellow Cards- 19.Y.Mavrou 35?, 10.D.James 43?.
Red Cards-NIL.
UNSW: 1.A.Iorfino, 6.A.Harb, 24.J.Byrne, 5.L.Davelaar (capt), 17.L.Fogarty, 12.G.Cassidy (2.M.Bryan 58?), 13.M.Karagiannis (18.D.Rampono 72?), 22.D.Hardwick, 11.T.Quilty, 30.C.Claridge,3.H.Kamleitner (16.R.Luca 58?).
Subs not used ? 33.K.Boverstock, RGK.L.Goubic.
Yellow Cards-17.L.Fogarty 19?,11.T.Quilty 68?.
Red Cards-NIL.
Division One Review ? Round Fourteen
BALMAIN SC ? FAIRFIELD CITY LIONS 0-2
Sat, June 19 @ Lambert Park
Fairfield City consolidated second place on the competition ladder with a 2-0 away victory over Balmain SC.
A pleasing aspect of the win for Fairfield was that they were able to keep a clean sheet on their way to three points, something they have struggled to do this season on too many occasions.
Madadghar gave the Lions a 13th minute lead, and the match was a real arm wrestle until young Ben Cronk put it beyond doubt with his 85th minute goal, much to the delight of the traveling fans.
INTER LIONS ? HILLS BRUMBIES 1-5
Sun, June 20 @ Concord Oval
Hills Brumbies well and truly flexed their muscles at Concord Oval with a 5-1 thumping of Inter Lions on Sunday afternoon.
The league leaders got off a great start, with Jovan Miladinovic opening the scoring in the very first minute.
Goals to Dragan Savic (30th) and Brendan Mitrovich (36th) gave Hills a commanding 3-0 lead by the half time break, and there was little Inter could do to stem the tide in the second half.
Chiandotto pulled one back for the Lions on 50 minutes, but Savic and Mitrovich both added to their accounts within sixty seconds at the 64th minute mark, closing off a resounding performance by Hills.
HURSTVILLE ZFC ? BLACKTOWN SPARTANS 2-4
Sun, June 20 @ Hurstville Oval
Blacktown Spartans picked up three points against Hurstville on Sunday with a 4-2 away triumph in a match that was closer than expected.
Macrae made it 1-0 on 24 minutes for the Spartans, before McPherson doubled their advantage on the half hour mark.
Hurstville reduced the arrears with an own goal just after the break, before Macrae made it 3-1 in the 58th minute.
Susa made it an interesting last 20 odd minutes when he pulled one back for Hurstville to make it 2-3, but Macrae had the last laugh, notching his third goal, and hat-trick, in the 87th minute, sealing a 4-2 win for Blacktown.
GLADESVILLE RYDE MAGIC ? MOUNTIES WANDERERS 1-2
Sun, June 20 @ Magdala Reserve
Mounties got back on the winner?s list at Magdala Reserve with a 2-1 victory over Gladesville Ryde Magic.
And they did it the hard way, reduced to ten men early in the encounter, and even affording the luxury of a missed penalty.
All the goals came in a frenzied 10 minute burst in the middle of the first half, with Willoughby putting Mounties in front on 22 minutes.
McKie equalized for Magic three minutes later, but skipper, Daniel McCann, restored their advantage just after the half hour mark, and the Wanderers hung on to record a gutsy and satisfying victory.
CAMDEN TIGERS ? SCHOFIELDS SCORPIONS 2-1
Sun, June 20 @ Ron Dine Reserve
Camden Tigers threw the cat amongst the pigeons in the middle of the competition ladder, coming from behind to snatch a 2-1 win against the visiting Schofields Scorpions.
Boyd put the Scorpions in front as early as the 10th minute, and they defended stoutly for the majority of the match before it came unstuck towards the end.
Cook equalized for Camden in the 76th minute, before Semaan scored in the fourth minute of injury time to give the home fans a dramatic ending to a tense afternoon of football.
-By Frank Speranza