White Eagles still winless in 2011 as Bankstown nick point at Jensen Park
The first-half was dominated by fierce tackling and good defence with neither side really etching out a clear chance over the course of the opening 45 minutes.
Early on, Nathan Elasi had a shot on goal but with little time on the ball only managed to put it well over the crossbar. Then Shannon Burgin made a great sprint on to a long chip but the Bankstown player was denied a chance by the offside flag. Then a corner from Daniel Severino was fired well over the crossbar by Alex Canak who also had little time to control it and place the ball more effectively.
Daniel Gardiner then denied Bonnyrigg once more with a great tackle that denied two advancing opponents after a poor goalkick from Zlatko Joseski put the Bankstown team under pressure.
Bonnyrigg resumed their attacking game as another corner from Severino in the 11? minute saw Severino, Elasi and McMaster combine down the right and the ball fell to Brad Boardman with his back to goal. Boardman tried to turn but with limited space he could not offer a shot in anger.
Bankstown replied with a great run from Peter Peralta down the right-flank ? Peralta saw Frederick Graham in space but once he got the ball the combination of Spruce and Robinson hunted him down and denied Bankstown another opportunity.
On 17? minutes, Stefanos Liavas set up Burgin who had made another great run, this time away from goal to the right. Burgin beat his marker but his cross went well over the head of Graham, and Phil Zabaks got to the ball before a Bankstown attacker could.
A minute later, the visitors had a claim of handball by Bankstown defenders in the wall for a free-kick quickly dismissed by referee Andrew Best.
The next period of the match was really all about who could keep the ball the longest as each team gave up easy ball with poor passing.
In the 28? minute a poor pass from Bankstown saw Alex Canak pounce on the ball and chip it to Nathan Elasi. Elasi headed the ball downwards but found the wrong side of the near post in a chance that should have seen the visitors take the lead. Good work from Chris Tadrosse and Shane Webb then saw Brad Boardman have a free header but he could not get enough power on the ball and Joseski saved easily.
In the 37? minute Frederick Graham looked to have played Shannon Burgin in on goal after a fantastic run off the ball by the latter, though the offside flag denied him the chance to go one-on-one with Zabaks.
A minute later former Bankstown favourite Daniel Severino was mocked by some of the fans who once praised him as he shot well off target from 30-metres out.
Right before the break, there was a flurry of activity but just as it had throughout the opening half, all the activity failed to provide a clear shot on target.
Whilst the first-half was not of a great standard, the second-half, despite providing the same result, was a much more action-packed affair.
In the 47? minute Hussein Salameh and Daniel Slaveski worked well to take the ball off their opponents. The move came to nothing as Graham could not chase the through ball down before it went out for a goalkick.
In the 48? minute David Gardiner, having a fine game at the back for Bankstown, combined with Shannon Burgin down the left for some fine play but the only thing they got from it was a free-kick.
Moments later, Steven Bozinovski – orchestrating so much of the play for Bankstown from the middle of the park – played a great ball to Salameh, who hit the edge of the box and turned to shoot but only managed to put the ball well wide of the far post, thanks in part to Zabaks who had made the angle so hard for his opponent. For Salameh the turn was too much and he came off injured, to be replaced by Aman Hadid. The home-side was forced into the change that was very nearly rewarded immediately as Hadid linked up with Bozinovski as it led to a ball put just in front of the feet of Graham in the attacking area only for Ben Spruce to come across and intercept the ball.
10? minutes into the half, Burgin tried a shot from 40-metres out and the ball actually went closer than most of the other shots in the match, although Zabaks seemed to have it covered had the ball looped lower.
Once more Hadid made an impact in the 58? minute when he ran down the right-flank and despite being marked by a number of defenders he got free and played the ball into the feet of Slaveski who fired it over.
During the following 10? minute period, Jamie McMaster tried to take the game by the throat but all his efforts were either denied by the referee?s whistle or the Bankstown defence. In the 64? minute Canak chased the ball done when it looked to be going for a goalkick. Canak instead played the ball across the goal and it deflected into the path of Slaveski but it bounced poorly and his shot went wide of the near post.
A minute later Ben Spruce tried to head the ball goalwards from a corner but the effort went backwards and Canak had to chase it down, which he did, but his pass back into the area was picked off by the Bankstown defence and cleared away from danger.
On 67? minutes, Hadid was presented with a good chance on goal but his header at the near post went away from danger. The ball headed up the other end where Boardman flicked a long ball on to Elasi but he was running on an angle away from goal and thus had to turn to shoot and the ball ended up just going across the face of the goalmouth.
In the 76? minute Burgin put in a great cross to Hadid who headed the ball on goal, only to be denied by the waiting hands of Zabaks.
A minute later McMaster played Canak towards the by-line, but Canak?s cut back was easily stopped by Joseski at the near post, before Ben Spruce played a great long ball to Canak, though once more Bankstown was there to spoil the away team?s attack.
In the 80? minute Joseski and Zonjic clashed and the ball was left free in the area but no Bonnyrigg player was able to take advantage of this great situation.
With 5? minutes remaining, Peter Peralta picked up two yellow cards in the space of a couple of minutes before Brad Boardman of Bonnyrigg picked up his second yellow card on 90? minutes to also be dismissed.
In the end the two sides were tied with number of players on the park as well as the score on the scoreboard.
Brian Brown was philosophical about the result:
?We had enough chances to win the match tonight. Three teams have played us this season playing as Bankstown did tonight.
?We simply need to learn how to break teams down, even with numbers behind the ball.?
Blagoja Kuleski was proud of his side?s effort:
?I am very happy with a draw. For me Bonnyrigg is still the best team in the competition and getting a point off them is not easy.
?I am proud of the team, we created a few half chances and could have taken a lead near the end, but that is football and in the end I am not unhappy getting a draw out of this opponent.?
Match Stats
Bankstown City 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Saturday 9th April 2011
Jensen Park, Sefton
Referee: Andrew Best
Assistant Referees: Sarah Ho and Justin Brady
Fourth Official: Brendan Johansen
Crowd: 500
Bankstown City: 1.Zlatko Joseski; 2.Omar Saadi, 5.David Gardiner, 7.Stefanos Liavas, 8.Peter Peralta, 9.Shannon Burgin, 15.Steven Bozinovski, 19.Steve Krteski, 10.Hussein Salameh (30.Aman Hadid 52?), 20.Frederick Graham (11.Danny Wilson 65?), 6.Daniel Slaveski (3.Chris Petrovski 90?)
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Jordan Nikolovski, 44.Daniel Zeleny
Yellow Cards: Liavas 17?, Steven Bozinovksi 79?, Peter Peralta 84?, 85?, Zlatko Joseski 85?
Red Cards: Peter Peralta 85?
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 99.Phil Zabaks; 3.Nicola Zonjic, 6.Ben Spruce, 17.Michael Robinson (4.Wade Oostendorp 77?), 11.Shane Webb, 9.Brad Boardman, 7.Nathan Elasi, 8.Alex Canak, 5.Chris Tadrosse, 10.Daniel Severino (12.Takuya Murayama 75?), 19.Jamie McMaster
Substitutes Not Used: 16.David Vrankovic, 15.Wely Al Rikaby, 20.Todd Hamilton
Yellow Cards: Brad Boardman 72?, 90?
Red Cards: 9 Brad Boardman 90?
Player Ratings:
3 – Ben Spruce (BWE)
2 – Steven Bozinovski (BC)
1 – Shannon Burgin (BC)
-By Stuart Jones
