Graham hat-trick sinks Parramatta Eagles
In the end, the visitors prevailed over the Eagles in what turned out to be a fairly entertaining game of football which saw Fredrick Graham score all three goals against the club he left two years ago.
After the game the effervescent goalkeeper and captain for Bankstown City Lions Zlatko Joseski expressed his delight at the win and, in particular, praised the team?s excellent away from home form.
?There were a lot of chances tonight but the field restricted us a bit at times,? he said. ?We threatened wide too and not just through the middle.
?The coach and all the players are delighted with the result tonight because in the last couple of weeks we ran into some quality opposition.
?We looked at those results, learnt from them and wanted to come here and change things.
?We have picked up all of our three wins away from home with only one draw at home against Bonnyrigg; so it?s not our away trips that we need to worry about. We just need to adapt more to Jensen [Park].?
In the 13? minute Daniel Borg almost opened the scoring for Parramatta when Joseski mistimed a clearance from a back pass but Borg, caught somewhat flatfooted, could only manage to head the ball straight back into Joseski?s grateful arms.
A few minutes later the action moved to the other end of the field when a powerful header from a corner by Shannon Burgin just shaved the upright.
In the 18? minute the deadlock was broken as Graham scored an easy goal for the visitors.
He received a pinpoint accurate cross from the right from Amam Hadid and, as he was totally unmarked, he had no trouble slotting home past a stranded Anthony Costa.
?That was poor defending which allowed the ball to get crossed in and we were not tight enough in the box,? said a disappointed Parramatta coach Brian Dene after the game when asked to comment on the first goal.
Hadid almost doubled the lead moments later from a corner when his header sailed fractionally over the crossbar. At this point it seemed that the momentum may be heading with Bankstown, but it wasn?t the case as both sides had brilliant chances to put more goals on the board.
Parramatta FC almost equalised when a Kutaiba Elrich cross eventually landed at the feet of Chris Camilleri, but his powerful attempt was beautifully blocked by a Bankstown defender who bravely put his body on the line.
In the 38? minute Brody Mooy, the former Newcastle Jets player, almost scored a brilliant own goal when attempting to anticipate a flying Steve Liavas, he poked the ball back with such vigour that it ended up marginally wide.
2? minutes later a wonderful cross from Ben Delicata found Camilleri just inside the box and, as he blasted just over the crossbar, the home side?s supporters were left wondering how close it really was to the equaliser.
An immediate reply came from Bankstown when Lenox Tweneboa?s cross found Burgin racing towards goal, but he pushed his attempt just wide of the intended target.
In the second-half at the 53? minute mark it seemed that Parramatta just couldn?t buy a goal.
A majestic cross from the right by Matthew Osman found Almir Dizdaric at the far post who headed downwards and across the entire face of goal with all and sundry beaten. It was hard to fathom how the ball had seemed to stay out.
Not long afterwards it was Parramatta FC once again causing frustration for their supporters when a brilliant Elrich cross found a diving Camilleri in the box, but his glancing header ended up wide
There was almost an immediate reply when a Bankstown City corner finally ended up at the feet of Graham who volleyed just wide of the mark.
In the 68? minute Hadid could have scored when a through ball fetched him in a precarious position as he charged towards goal, but Costa rushed out to stupendously save his attempt.
A minute later the second goal duly arrived for Bankstown City when a corner was partially cleared by the Parramatta FC defence.
However, it was only cleared as far as an unmarked Graham who this time, unlike earlier in the half when he missed from an almost identical position, shot home with a powerful right drive
In 71? minute Parramatta replied with Fabien Iacovelli who saw his shot saved well by Joseski down low.
Bankstown City?s third though arrived in the 86? minute when a long ball found a galloping Graham who ran through a large hole and placed the ball into the back of the next past an out-coming Costa.
?It?s good to see Freddie scoring a hat-trick and against his old club which I didn?t know until tonight,? said Graham?s captain, Joseski.
On the other side of the fence Brian Dene was clearly a dejected figure.
?1-0 down we had a glorious opportunity to equalise and we didn?t get it. We had other opportunities too which we didn?t take,? he said.
?It?s very disappointing because there were too many individual performances at times out there instead of working as a unit.
?You just got to keep on working at it ? what else can you do? You don?t just throw in the towel.
?Coaching is not an easy gig. We have changed things around and things haven?t worked out and it?s just poor from some people,? he concluded.
Meanwhile, in the Grade-20s Parramatta FC Eagles defeated Bankstown City Lions FC 3-0.
Match Stats
Parramatta FC 0
Bankstown City FC 3 (Graham 18?, 69?, 86?)
Saturday 14th May, 2011
Melita Stadium, Granville
Referee: Andrew Best
Assistant Referees: Adam Coombes and Steven Ellsmore
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Parramatta FC: 21.Anthony Costa; 2.Nicholas McInerney, 3.Daniel Borg (8.Bryan Soane 66?), 5.George Strogylos, 6.Thomas Wilson, 9.Kutaiba Elrich, 10.Chris Camilleri (14.Fabien Iacovelli 66?), 17.Matthew Osman, 15.Ben Delicata, 18.Almir Dizdaric, 19.Brody Mooy (11.Peter Crevani 75?).
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Evangelos Petratos, 23. Tomislav Romic,
Yellow Cards: Elrich 15?, Dizdaric 21?, Mooy 75?
Red Cards: Nil
Bankstown City FC: 1.Zlatko Joseski; 4.S. Bozinovski, 5.David Gardiner, 7.Steve Liavas (2.Omar Saadi 88?), 8.Peter Peralta, 9.Shannon Burgin, 10.Amam Hadid, 11.Frederick Graham (3.Chris Petrovski 88?), 12.D. Zeleny, 16.Lenox Tweneboa, 19.Daniel Slaveski (14.Nathan Ristevski 84?).
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Jordan Nikolovski, Steven Krsteski
Yellow Cards: Liavas 70?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Fredrick Graham (BC)
2 – Shannon Burgin (BC)
1 – Ben Delicata (PFC)
-By Joe Russo
