State League Two Round 7 Review
United dished out Chopin Park?s first loss in a 4-2 thriller to pop up ahead of Prospect whose game against Northbridge was postponed, while the decision was split in a 3-3 draw between top-five Hawkesbury and Roosters. Fairfield held off Lansvale 3-2 to take third spot, Hakoah smashed Hurstville to place fourth, and Springwood beat Bathurst 3-1 to keep their heads in the picture, but a 1-1 stalemate between bottom sides Nepean and Belmore doesn?t help either campaign cause.
It will certainly be a busy time for division two clubs with the midweek round eight followed by round nine of the championship next weekend, but spare a thought for the seven sides saddling up for round two of the Waratah Cup knockout the following week, lining up five competitive matches inside the next fortnight (possibly more if catch-up games are scheduled). If you love football, State League 2 is where all the action is.
Luddenham lasso Chopin Park
A Huso Merdanovic second-half double helped Luddenham United lop Chopin Park Rams 4-2 in an enthralling top-five showdown at Chopin Park on Saturday afternoon. The win helped Luddenham leapfrog Prospect on the ladder (at least until the catch-up games are played) and extended their credible road record to three wins from four away fixtures. Chopin Park?s first defeat of a distinguished division two debut might be a blessing in disguise.
The Rams were looking to improve on a paltry home record of just a win and draw in four matches heading into Saturday?s game at Chopin Park and Henry Martinez put them on the board early when he ran onto a great long ball and rounded United keeper Bojan Radmillo for the opening score. The visitors hit back almost straight away through a Pasquale Corso brace on the half-hour mark to make it 2-1 to Luddenham at halftime.
Corso missed last season due to a knee injury but has really hit his straps this year and a move up the park has also proved effective. His first goal came from an enterprising Angelo Martino canter and pass to Grant Odei who slid the ball through to Pasquale to bash into goal. His second just minutes later was almost identical, with Odei heading down a Martino lob to Michael Wood to thread through to Corso, who nutmegged the Rams keeper to put Luddenham 2-1 up at halftime.
Chopin Park came out firing after the break and Nima Nikfarjam took just seconds to equalise on a quick Rams attack only for goalscoring ace Huso Merdanovic to put United back in front minutes later via a penalty, Reece Shiels beating a defender and faking out a second before passing to Merdanovic whose shot on goal was handled in the box by a defender.
The game was still up for grabs when Merdanovic popped up again to land the killer blow with Luddenham?s fourth goal (and the striker?s sixth of the season) inside the final 10 minutes, Shiels chipping over the defence for Merdanovic to run onto, fake the Rams keeper and dribble around him into goal. The Rams couldn?t pick themselves up off the canvas and fulltime sounded with the score showing 4-2 to United.
Luddenham coach Andrew Montgomery is delighted his side has produced a league-best offensive output of 20 goals in seven matches. ?It was a great victory and any win?s a good win against Chopin Park. Initially they were very hard to break down, but the work by both sides over 90 minutes showed a difference in fitness,? he said. ?With Tuesday?s [round eight] game in mind we rested a couple of players and it shows the depth we?ve got in the squad.?
?We had six new players come into the squad at the start of the season so I?m happy with the way that they?ve gelled. The players coming in off bench also know their positions, so it shows that we are really coming together as a team? plus, it?s [20 goals] entertainment for the fans, isn?t it.?
Chopin Park Rams 2 (Henry Martinez 22m Nima Nikfarjam 47m) Luddenham United 4 (Pasquale Corso 30/34m Huso Merdanovic 51/79m)
Reserve grade: Chopin Park Rams 1 Luddenham United 0
Belmore, Nepean stalemate
Belmore Hercules and Nepean FC played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Blick Oval on Saturday afternoon. The contest might have been tight but the result doesn?t really help either side ? Nepean still winless and Belmore a point above them. Paul Paras opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a well-placed shot to put Belmore in front early on in its first home game of the season, but a blistering 68th-minute Mitchell McLintoch strike leveled the scores up for Nepean before fulltime.
You don?t need a crystal ball to see that Belmore will be kicking themselves at season?s end with all these missed opportunities and it?s even easier to see that a lack of goals and goalscorers are major parts of the problem. Just three Hercules players have found the back of the net in six games, but coach John Kyriazopoulos was still pleased to get a point from an even contest.
?The weather conditions were not the best and it was quite a bit of a battle,? he said. ?We missed a few chances to score more goals in the first half, and they just battled on and got one late. A draw is still positive and hopefully we can turn it around game-by-game and bounce back on Tuesday.?
Nepean remain winless but it would be interesting to see how they play with their noses in front as the newcomers are yet to lead for a single second in a competition game this season. But there was enough in the overall performance against Belmore to suggest to coach Carlos Camacho that this could be the turning point. ?It was a very physical game, fairly well-balanced, and one thing we got out of it was a sense of ?team?,? he said.
?The boys came into the sheds all sweaty and muddy and I just caught this vibe that everyone had put in a real effort for each other. We could have won it or lost it and we showed a lot of fight to make sure we got something from the game. From the technical aspects, tactical considerations and team spirit, we really showed a good balance of the three. The game itself was quite a good spectacle as both teams went for it [the win].?
Belmore Hercules 1 (Paul Paras 13m) Nepean FC 1 (Mitchell McLintoch 68m)
Reserve grade: Belmore Hercules 4 Nepean FC 0
Can?t split Hawkesbury and Roosters
What else would you expect from two of the competition?s heavyweights than an electric 3-3 draw between Hawkesbury City and Roosters FC at Benson Lane Field on Saturday evening. Hawkesbury came from two goals down in the second half to pull off a miracle equaliser in the last minute of injury time to share the points. They still haven?t won at home this season.
Both sides had a couple of first-half chances, City?s Paul Cooper coming closest hitting the post and side netting, but the sides entered the dressing sheds deadlocked at 0-0. However, the water down at Bensons Lane must contain a high dosage of electrolytes as it didn?t take long for the action to heat up in the second term, Roosters Sinan Aksu laser-guiding a long-range missile to open the scoring, and team-mate Gurkan Girgin extending the lead moments later with a superb half-volley from outside the box to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
Recent Hawkesbury signing (former Mount Druitt Super League captain) Vaughan Profilio then came onto the field and with his first touch of the ball thread it through to John McCrae who chipped the Roosters keeper to halve the deficit on the hour-mark. But the visitors restored their two-goal advantage five minutes later when Adem Taslak headed a corner kick into goal to stamp their authority on the match.
With five minutes to go and Roosters in command City coach Gary Lewis was staring down the barrel of another home defeat when his luck turned. McCrae was causing all sorts of problems for the Roosters defence down the right-hand side of the field and he beat a couple of players and checked into the penalty area before being brought down, the referee pointing straight to the penalty spot. Cooper stepped up to convert Hawkesbury?s first spot kick of the year to make it 3-2.
City almost leveled in the last minute of regular time when defender Ethan Simone ventured upfield to latch onto a well-taken freekick only to see his effort outrageously saved by the Roosters keeper, but he couldn?t do anything to keep out Gavin Hartge?s injury-time header for Hawkesbury after Vaughan had placed it nicely across the face of goal. The fulltime whistle blew seconds later to end a pulsating match.
?We started well enough but found ourselves 2-0 down behind two absolute quality goals, so I had to make a couple of changes [bringing on Profilio and Andrew Stephenson] to play three up front and thankfully it made the difference,? Lewis said. ?But it would be nice to win one at home.?
?The good thing about our squad is that we do have depth and that showed in the second half with the substitutions coming on and giving us a bit more go-forward. The reserve grade side is also doing well and having that depth gives us a lot of options? and because the boys who?ve come onto the park have done a very good job it makes it harder to pick a squad for Tuesday. It?s a good problem to have.?
Roosters coach Musti Akca was a little disappointed to give away a two-goal lead inside the last few minutes of play. ?I believe we should?ve taken it as we had played pretty well throughout the game,? he said. ?Everything was going great until the last five minutes and then it seemed like all the calls were going against us.?
?We really were in control until the penalty? after that, Hawkesbury were crossing in balls from everywhere and managed to get one in the last minute. We weren?t disappointed with the performance, the real Roosters actually showed, but we should have held on for the result.?
Hawkesbury City 3 (John McCrae 59m Paul Cooper 87m Gavin Hartge 89m) Roosters FC 3 (Sinan Aksu 49m Gurkan Girgin 52m Adem Taslak 65m)
Reserve grade: Hawkesbury City 4 Roosters FC 2
Springwood beat misfiring Bathurst
Springwood United accounted for Bathurst ?75 3-1 at Summerhayes Park on Saturday evening to stay in touch with the front half of the division two competition. It was Springwood?s third victory in a row against Bathurst and atoned for an unlucky one-goal loss to leaders Prospect the week before.
United took a 1-0 halftime lead after Tim O?Connell rose high to meet a Matt Kelly cross and they doubled their advantage moments after the restart when Bryan Campbell was on the end of two speculative headers following a long throw-in to tap it into goal, and Peter Henderson made it 3-0 moments later with a powerdrive through the defensive masses (his fourth goal of the season). Bathurst pulled a goal back through Brent Osbourne?s neat finish midway through the half but the scoreline remained 3-1 at fulltime.
Springwood coach Errol Warwick-Day is enjoying the way the team is playing and hoped the results would follow. ?We?ve been playing quite well, and did well against Prospect where we chances to pull it back and just couldn?t get it in that night,? he said. ?We are still feeling confident and we have to try and temper that because we still have to play a lot of very good teams.?
Warwick-Day lost another player to a long-term injury against Bathurst and is keeping a close eye on the personnel at his disposal. ?There is going to be a lot of football played over the next month and plenty of thought has to go into managing the squad with injuries. It?s something that is starting to be realised across all squads. Bathurst looked a bit thin tonight? I think [the successful teams] will be about who can keep putting a competitive team out there on the park.?
?75 coach Mark Rooke felt a little frustrated with the 3-1 loss to United. ?It was one of those nights,? he said. ?We spoke about it before the game, about being careful of their set pieces, and then they score three from set pieces, so we really shot ourselves in the foot there.?
?We weren?t at our best tonight. They played well. They kept knocking balls in there and they have big, tall guys to meet them; they just played to their strength. With a better bounce of the ball we could have got a couple more goals, but we weren?t up to it.?
Springwood United 3 (Peter Henderson x 2, Tim O??onnell) Bathurst ?75 1 (Brent Osborne)
Reserve grade: Springwood United 1 Bathurst ?75 0
Fairfield fleece Lansvale
Fairfield Wanderers took the points in a titanic 3-2 struggle against neighbours Gazy Lansvale at Cherrybrook Park on Sunday afternoon but the Gazy performance carries connotations that Lansvale is starting to get its act together. The result elevated Fairfield into third position on the ladder while consigning Lansvale to equal-bottom with Hurstville and Nepean.
Gazy have been out of sorts of the past fortnight and their woes continued against Wanderers when stalwart defender Tayfon Turgut injured his knee in a tackle and had to be taken off after just 10 minutes. Lansvale manager Safet Alispahic had to change his format but a couple of defensive lapses moments later cost them dearly, Fairfield scoring twice before Ibrahim Hammed answered back for the home side to make it 2-1. But Wanderers took a 3-1 halftime lead with another goal.
Alispahic pleaded for more from his side at the break and they responded with a second-half tirade, substitute Mohamad Al Rekabi scoring with a spectacular diving header from just his third touch of the ball to bring the narrow the deficit to 3-2. Gazy came close on several more occasions but the equaliser never came and Fairfield held onto their slender lead to take the win.
?Again in the first half we make a few mistakes and they score the goals,? Alispahic said. ?I was unhappy and angry [at halftime] and really asked for a better performance and the guys started to play well in the second half. At 3-2 down we pushed and tried everything, but the ball doesn?t go into the net and that?s it. I can?t expect more from my boys. Congratulations to Wanderers, but if the score was the other way around it would not be undeserved.?
?Truly it was one of the best games I?ve seen in this year?s competition. There were 200-300 people here, it was good weather and good entertainment. We came away from the game empty-handed but I told the boys to keep this attitude for Tuesday and we will try again. In football you can play terrible and win the game and sometimes you play so well and don?t get any points, and that?s what?s happening today.?
Gazy Lansvale 2 (Ibrahim Hammed, Mohamad Al Rekabi) Fairfield Wanderers 3
Hakoah hammer Hurstville
Hakoah took Hurstville City Minotaurs to the cleaners in a 7-2 whitewash at Hensley Athletic Field on Sunday night, lifting last year?s wooden-spooners into the competition?s top five while leaving last year?s grand finalists Hurstville in equal-last place. The game wasn?t even a minute old when Rani Rimmer scored Hakoah?s first and a superlative Simon Weiss volley 10 minutes later put the home side firmly in control.
Minotaurs midfielder Nick Andreou pulled one back for the visitors before halftime but Hakoah were in no mood to argue and scored straight from the second-half kickoff to make it 3-1. Four more goals followed ? Neil Jablonski scoring a hat-trick and Rimmer adding another ? and the fulltime whistle couldn?t come soon enough for Hurstville with the scoreline showing them 7-2 in arrears.
Hakoah coach Mark Robertson said the opening-minute goal deflated Hurstville and a victory wasn?t hard to grind out from there. ?Even when we were a few goals in front they still had a go, but we weren?t really tested,? he said. ?The biggest concern is that we have five players out and face Hawkesbury on Tuesday. We?ll see how we go but it should make for a good game.?
Hakoah FC 7 (Neil Jablonski x 3, Rani Rimmer x 2, Simon Weiss) Hurstville 2 (Nick Andreou)
Northbridge Oval not ready yet
The highly-anticipated Friday evening extravaganza between competition leaders Prospect United and Northbridge FC at a newly renovated Northbridge Oval had to be postponed.
Round 7 scores
Chopin Park Rams 2 (Henry Martinez 22m Nima Nikfarjam 47m) Luddenham United 4 (Pasquale Corso 30/34m Huso Merdanovic 51/79m)
Hawkesbury City 3 (John McCrea 59m Paul Cooper 87m Gavin Hartge 89m) Roosters FC 3 (Sinan Aksu 49m Gurkan Girgin 52m Adem Taslak 65m)
Springwood United 3 (Peter Henderson x 2, Tim O??onnell) Bathurst ?75 1 (Brent Osborne)
Belmore Hercules 1 (Paul Paras 13m) Nepean FC 1 (Michael McLintoch 68m)
Gazy Lansvale 2 (Ibrahim Hammed, Mohamad Al Rekabi) Fairfield Wanderers 3
Hakoah FC 7 (Neil Jablonski x 3, Rani Rimmer x 2, Simon Weiss) Hurstville 2 (Nick Andreou)
Northbridge FC Prospect United postponed
Reserve grade:
Chopin Park Rams 1 Luddenham United 0
Hawkesbury City 4 Roosters FC 2
Springwood United 1 Bathurst ?75 0
Belmore Hercules 4 Nepean FC 0
Northbridge FC 6 Prospect United 3
Midweek round eight
There will be a midweek round eight in NSW division two with all teams playing on Tuesday, April 26, starting with afternoon games between Luddenham and Prospect at Luddenham Oval, Wanderers and Chopin Park at Knight Park, Roosters and Gazy Lansvale at Hills Sports High, Northbridge and Springwood at Northbridge Oval, and Belmore and Hurstville at Blick Oval (first grade from 3pm). On Tuesday evening (5pm kickoff), Hawkesbury play Hakoah at Benson Lane Field while Bathurst take on Nepean at Alec Lamberton Field. Round nine will be played this weekend.
-By Dan De Nardi
