Division One Youth League Round 10 Review
Apart from a few catch-up matches, the tables are a fairly accurate reflection of the various competitions at the moment, although it must be said that the ?surprises? keep on coming. That means that no-one can be sure of the points from week to week and that says a lot about the high standard of the competitions.
Club Championship
Camden Tigers have the top position on this table after they bagged twelve points at home to Hurstville City Minotaurs and Stanmore Hawks are in second spot after they split the points at seven apiece with fourteenth placed Inter Lions.
Gladesville Ryde Magic took ten points from their visit to St George and Mt Druitt Town Rangers returned from their trip to Balmain East Tigers with thirteen of the available points in their collective pockets.
Springwood United collected eight points from their meeting with Southern NSW and Hills Brumbies enjoyed their best day of the season when they grabbed thirteen points from their matches at Nepan.
Northbridge were at home to Hakoah on Sunday with the eastern suburbs outfit pocketing twelve of the points on a day that saw loads of goals scored.
Grade 13
Camden Tigers have taken maximum points from all ten matches so far this season and they are the competition leaders. These results include their 2-1 victory over Hurstville City Minotaurs who are seventh. This clash saw the return to Ron Dine Reserve of former Tigers? club president and Youth League coach Vince Pesa as the coach of Hurstville’s Under 13 squad. Pesa was keen for his Hurstville boys to be the first club to inflict defeat on the young Tigers and his team appeared pumped and ready to play from the opening whistle. The first fifteen minutes saw a patient but exciting brand of football from both clubs with neither side prepared to conceed the first goal. In the eighteenth minute Camden opened the scoring through Corey Debono after a string of passes and then a pin point cross that allowed Debono to slot the ball past the Hurstville keeper. Both sides continued to create chances but the first half ended with Camden holding a 1 – 0 lead. The second half saw Hurstville dominate the early stages but strong defence from Alex Gollan and Mat Bezett saw the Tigers hold firm. In the 42nd minute, Camden were awarded a penalty and Nick Stojic calmly slotted his shot from the spot to double the Tigers lead. To their credit, Hurstville continued to push forward and were rewarded in the 50th minute when A.Sariakis beat a diving Jared Clarkson to bring the game to life. For the last 10 minutes, Camden continued to repel the Hurstville attack and were pleased to hold on for a very important 2 – 1 result.
Southern NSW are in second spot even though the suffered a 2-1 loss to eleventh placed Springwood United while Gladesville Ryde Magic are third following their 1-1 draw with fifth placed St George.
Sixth placed Mt Druitt Town Rangers produced a solid 3-0 victory when they faced fourteenth placed Balmain East Tigers while eighth placed Nepean were beaten 2-0 by Hills Brumbies who are ninth.
Inter Lions are thirteenth after they posted their first win of the season with a 1-0 result over twelfth placed Stanmore Hawks.
On Sunday third placed Hakoah were 5-3 winners when they met twelfth placed Northbridge.
Grade 14
Competition leaders Stanmore Hawks bounced back from the disappointment of last week?s first loss but they had to settle for a scoreless draw with twelfth placed Inter Lions while St George are second following their 3-0 victory over Gladesville Ryde Magic.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers are in third position after they were 2-1 winners over fifth placed Balmain East Tigers and sixth placed Camden Tigers produced a strong 4-0 win over Hurstville City Minotaurs who are eighth. This was a very enjoyable game at Ron Dine Reserve. The Tigers were looking to turn around their form from the previous week and the early period of the match saw them play some excellent team football. Ahmad Alrekabi’s speed and perfect pass saw Oscar Robertsson-Smith open the scoring for Camden in the twelfth minute. The early goal lifted the Tigers and their passing game began to flow and they continued to create goal scoring chances. They were rewarded again in the twentieth minute with a Joshua Clarkson goal and held this lead until the half time break. Camdens dominance continued in the second half and goals to Samuel Hall in the thirty-seventh minute and Ryan Kalatzis in the forty-fourth minute saw Camdens lead jump to four. Despite the score the Hurstville boys continued to compete and created a couple of chances that could have brought them back into the match had they been able to covert them to goals. For the remainder of the second half, both teams continued to play an open attacking style of football that was enjoyable to watch. In the end it was the Tigers who picked up the three points with a 4-0 result.
Southern NSW are seventh following their 2-1 victory over thirteenth placed Springwood United while tenth placed Nepean were held to a 1-1 draw by fourteenth placed Hills Brumbies.
Fourth placed Hakoah acme up with a 4-2 victory over eleventh placed Northbridge when they played on Sunday. The Hakoah boys turned it on in the opening minutes to totally dominate their opposition. After an excellent move down the left Hakoah won a corner in the fifteenth minute. Josh Goodman stepped up to take it and also placed his pin-point cross into the danger area and Simon Rouse showed the required determination to force the ball into the back of the netto give Hakoah the lead. However, instead of going on with the job, there started to be a distinct lack of composure on the ball as passes went astray and Northbridge runners weren?t being marked. In the twentieth minute, Northbridge broke through some panicky Hakoah defence for C. Parsons to equalise. Hakoah didn?t take too kindly to this lapse in concentration as it only took a further four minutes for them to restore the lead. It was a great through ball from Huw Cox that saw Simon Rouse beat the keeper to the ball and, after rounding him, tuck it into the back of the net for a 2-1 half-time lead. In the early stages of the second half Hakoah?s passes went astray, panicky clearances replaced composed possession and loose marking allowed Northbridge to start dominating. With fifteen minutes left on the clock a long-range speculator from H. Howarth sailed over David Booth?s head and the scores had been levelled at 2-2. The changes were rung and substitute Jonathan Solomon was instrumental in winning a penalty for Hakoah with ten minutes remaining. Fellow substitute Mikey Herman stepped up to the mark and slotted the ball into the back of the net, sending the Northbridge ?keeper the wrong way in the process. Hakoah?s Mikey Herman sealed the game with four minutes to go. It was a thunderous shot from all of twenty metres that rocketed into the Northbridge net and left no-one in doubt that, when they want to play, this Hakoah team have the goods. However, if anyone thought that it was all over there was still to be a final twist in the tail. A penalty decision against Hakoah could have caused some further heart palpitations but this time it was David Booth to the rescue as he saved to his left. The final whistle was blown and it is fair to say that, notwithstanding the victory, this was not the best performance that the Hakoahboys have put in.
Grade 15
Southern NSW are leading the way on the competition table and they were held to a scoreless draw this week by eleventh placed Springwood United while Camden Tigers are fifth after they came up with a 2-0 victory over Hurstville City Minotaurs who are eighth. With their Coach away on business overseas, Camden’s stand-in coach, Trevor Davis was keen to keep the Tigers on a roll and had the boys really looking up for this match. This early commitment was rewarded in the seventh minute when Tigers striker, Tony Daoud’s snap shot gave the Hurstville keeper no chance and Camden had grabbed a 1-0 lead. It appeared from this point that Camden were now prepared to defend this lead and they continually held out a very positive Hurstville attack for the remainder of the first half. Nothing much changed in the first 15 minutes of the second half as Hurstville continued to attack and Camden continued to defend. Somewhat against the run of play, a super strike from Campbell Green in the fifty-first minute gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. From this point on the Tigers were even more determined in defence and held on for a very solid and pleasing win.
Third placed Stanmore Hawks were 1-0 winners when they met fourteenth placed Inter Lions and Gladesville Ryde Magic are fourth after they produced a 3-0 victory over sixth placed St George.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers are in second spot thanks to their 3-0 success over Balmain East Tigers and Hills Brumbies are thirteenth after they registered their first win of the season, a 4-1 result over twelfth placed Nepean.
On Sunday ninth placed Hakoah produced a 4-1 victory over thirteenth placed Northbridge.
Grade 16
Stanmore Hawks suffered their second loss in as many weeks when they went down by the odd goal in seven to tenth placed Inter Lions and that forced the Hawks back to second spot while Hakoah moved to the top of the table when they met fourteenth placed Northbridge on Sunday and won 5-1.
Hurstville City Minotaurs are in third position after they were 2-0 winners over seventh placed Camden Tigers . A very impressive Hurstville outplayed a somewhat dissapointing Camden in this match. The Tigers were coming off two recent victories and confidence should have been high but on the day, they were completly outplayed by a fast moving and well drilled Hurstville outfit. It took Hurstville eleven minutes to open the scoring through A.Nariman, following some extended pressure on the Camden goal. Camden’s keeper, Jacob Croman was keeping a lacklustre Tigers in the game with some solid work in goal and despite their dominance, Hurstville only led by one at the break. The second half was only twelve minutes old when Hurstville’s M.Grintzley was able to beat Croman for the second time and this 2-0 lead was never going to be threatened. Tigers were off their game but Hurstville’s form would have been to good for most opponents as the comfortably ran out 2-0 winners.
Gladesville Ryde Magic are placed fourth following their 1-0 victory over sixth placed St George.
Fifth placed Springwood United battled out a 1-1 draw with Southern NSW who are eleventh while Hills Brumbies are positioned at eighth following their 5-0 success over twelfth placed Nepean.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers are ninth after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Balmain East Tigers who are thirteenth.
Grade 18
Unbeaten Hills Brumbies are the table frontrunners after they were 4-2 winners over tenth placed Nepean while Gladesville Ryde Magic are holding down second spot following their 3-1 victory over fifth placed St George.
Camden Tigers are in third position thanks to they 2-1 success over seventh placed Hurstville City Minotaurs. Camden’s form the previous week was described as “white hot” and they appeared to be in this form again on Saturday. Jordan Hooke opened the scoring for Camden in the twelfth minute when he placed the ball into an open net after some great build up work and passing by the Tigers completly confused the Hurstville defence. In the 17th minute Camden jumped to a 2-0 lead after along range shot from John McPhillips beat the keeper and many at the ground thought that the Tigers might run away with the game. In the twenty-third minute, Hurstville’s Oscar stunned Camden with a goal. The shot took a savage deflection that wrong footed Camden’s Andrew Haim in goals and it was 2-1 to the Tigers. From this point, the game became very defensive and Hurstville’s somewhat physical tactics began to frustrate and put the Tigers off their game. Despite the best efforts from both teams, there would be no more goals and in the end, Camden was just good enough to hold off a fast finishing Hurstville.
Fourth placed Stanmore Hawks produced a very solid 5-0 win over Inter Lions while Mt Druitt Town Rangers are sixth following their 6-3 triumph over thirteenth placed Balmain East Tigers.
Springwood United are tenth thanks to their 3-0 win over fourteenth placed Southern NSW while on Sunday eighth placed Northbridge accounted for tenth placed Hakoah with a 3-1 scoreline.
-By Barry Davis
