Goals galore at Leichhardt in heart-stopper

These are some of the numbers that this exciting encounter produced: nine goals, four penalties, a hat-trick to Robert Younis, two goals to Elsid Barkhousir, one red card, seven yellow cards and a thousand thrills and spills. 
It started as early as the 4? minute when Nick Rizzo was beautifully set up by Younis from the right and the former Crystal Palace player had no trouble slotting the ball high into the net for the opening goal.
Mirjan Pavlovic brought out the best in Matthew Nash in the 14? minute when he superbly turned and fired in a shot that had the home-side?s goalkeeper diving and somehow push the ball away.
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt doubled their lead in the 25? minute when Damon Collina brought Younis down in the box and it was to be the first of the four penalties in the game.

From the spot Younis had no trouble beating Cem Akili. This opening period of the game was vital to both sides.
?I thought that the team was absolutely electrifying in the first 20-25 minutes,? said A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt?s football manager Tony Raciti.
However, on the other side of the fence David Zdrilic, Sydney United?s coach, saw matters very differently.
?We started very poorly in the first 20? minutes or so and in the end we were always fighting up against it,? he stated.
?It?s disappointing the way we started and we can?t give a team a two-goal head start because you know what is going to happen.?
In the 28? minute Sydney United hit back with a goal that resembled the Netherlands’ winning goal against Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinal a couple of days ago.
A corner by Pavlovic was flicked on superbly by Collina at the near post and Barkhousir from close-range headed the ball in for the first of his two goals.
In the 33? minute a key point in the game was reached when Akili tried irrationally to dribble the ball past Younis, but when he lost possession to the A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt striker he resorted to grabbing and then bringing him down.
Referee Adam Weir, in an excellent position, had no choice but to send off the goalkeeper and award his second penalty of the game.
Substitute goalkeeper Ryan Norval came on for the sacrificed Luka Glavas and while he did save the powerful spot kick from Younis, the rebound unluckily for him fell straight back to Younis who blasted it in from close-range.
In the 43? minute when Petar Markovic beautifully found Barkhousir it looked like Sydney United would score again until the latter?s shot was blocked by Danial Cummins.
The referee correctly awarded the third penalty of the game and Cummins can thank his lucky stars that he wasn?t the last man because instead of a yellow card he may have seen a red one.
Joe Vrkic had no trouble with the spot kick to bring his side back into the fray but his coach David Zdrilic did have trouble with the awarding of only the yellow card.
?We had our goalkeeper sent off for a last man offence, but they [A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt] had a clear hand ball in the box and he doesn?t get a red,? lamented Zdrilic.
After a five goal first-half it was straight back into it in the second.
Cummins again inexplicably stopped the ball with his hand in the box in the 47? minute when an innocuous Todd Brodie free-kick could have been dealt with differently.
It was the fourth penalty and once again Vrkic stepped up to the mark to beat Nash even though this time the home-side?s goalkeeper guessed the right direction.
?Unfortunately Sydney United got back into the game only because of two refereeing decisions to award two penalties,? said A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt?s football manager Tony Raciti.
?One was at the end of the first half and one was two minutes into the second-half. It would demoralise any team which it did to us for while.?
In the 51? minute Sydney United breathed a sigh of relief when Franco Parisi fired a rocket against the crossbar and then he turned provider shortly afterwards for Anthony Hartshorn who shot wide of the mark.
A cross in the 65? minute by Younis traversed the entire face of goal without being met by a team-mate who could have snuck the ball into an open goal.
Almost immediately Michael West tried his luck with a powerful shot that was stopped by Brodie, but despite the Tigers claiming another penalty referee Weir wasn?t too interested.
In the 68? minute Hirofumi Moriyasu couldn?t believe that he didn?t score when his powerful drive burnt a hole in the hands of Norval, but the ball ended up against the woodwork before rebounding into the goalkeeper?s hands.
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt finally struck gold in the 71? minute when a Rizzo cross was met with a powerful header from Mark Byrnes which saw the ball end up against the post and rebounding before finishing up with Moriyasu who drove it in off the underside of the crossbar.
?We hit the post five times in a period of 10 to 15 minutes which should also be put in the Guinness Book of Records,? said Tony Raciti.
In the 78? minute the home-side made it five when a Parisi cross was met by a Moriyasu header that ended up superbly in the path of Younis who struck home his third goal from close range.
Sydney United tried everything to get back into the game and another Barkhousir goal came after he squeezed his header in between the post and Nash from a Michael Thompson cross in the 85? minute.
?I was very encouraged by the way we [Sydney United] got back into the game with ten men,? said David Zdrilic.
?We were at 3-3 for a while and to come back at the end and have a couple of chances to almost equalise it at 5-5 was tremendous.
?We very nearly got the draw which would have been very good considering everything that happened.?
Tony Raciti, like most pundits present, was still shaking his head in disbelief at the end because of the game he just witnessed.
?Undoubtedly it would have to be the match of the season,? he said. ?It?s a shame that there is possibly no video of this game.
?We have had an extraordinary run since Round 7 and considering that, in my humble opinion, we have two of the best midfielders in Marton Vass and David D?Apuzzo in the competition out, it?s a great achievement.
?To make matters worse we?ll probably have Robert Younis out for two weeks because of too many yellow cards.
?It was just a pity that we didn?t have a 10,000 crowd here today.?
Meanwhile, in the Grade 20s division Sydney United defeated A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt 4-1.
Match Stats
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers 5 (Rizzo 4?, Younis 25? (penalty), 34? and 78?, Moriyasu 71?
Sydney United 4 (Barkhousir 28?, 85?, Vrkic 43? (penalty) and 48? (penalty)
Sunday, 4th July 2010
Leichhardt Oval, Leichhardt
Referee: Adam Weir
Assistant Referees: Steven Nguyen and Chris Pehlivanis
Fourth Official: Matthew Samson

A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers: 1.Matthew Nash; 2.Mark Byrnes, 3.John Kelso, 5 Michael West, 7.Stephen Kayes, 19.Danial Cummins, 8.Anthony Hartshorn, 11.Nick Rizzo (18.Bishara Stephan 86?), 16.Hirofuni Moriyasu, 9.Robert Younis 10.Franco Parisi.
Substitutes Not Used: 40.Terry Dal Broi, 20.Liam McConaghy, 14.Andrew Vitucci, 15 David Dascal
Yellow Cards: Cummins 43?, Byrnes 55?, Moriyasu 77?, Younis 83?
Red Cards: Nil

Sydney United: 30.Cem Akili; 7.Todd Brodie, 6.Joe Vrkic, 5.Damon Collina, 19.Michael Thompson, 23.Ivo Bosnar, 21.Sean Mitchell (14.Petar Markovic 32?), 10.Steve Hayes, 11.Luka Glavas (1.Ryan Norval 34?), 25.Mirjan Pavlovic (8.Shane Lyons 73?), 16.Elsid Barkhousir.
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Michael Cindric, 36.Jani Bajramovic
Yellow Cards: Thompson 41?, Bosnar 69?, Vrkic 83?
Red Cards: Akili 33?
– Joe Russo