Manly’s Winning Streak Shattered by Rampant Eagles
It took time for both sides to master the bumpy conditions, particularly in the centre of the park. In the opening minutes before both settled down to play their part with an early corner to Manly spooned harmlessly over the bar with 2? minutes on the clock. This was followed closely by terrific work down the right flank from Jimmy Oates saw Colin Iley try his luck from distance that wasn?t far off target as the visitors took the game to the Eagles.
Iley then put a chip into the area for Seung Soo Lee but his acrobatic attempt was more disaster than dramatic and in their first real attack the Eagles went up the other end and scored via Almir Dizdaric. The striker rounded a defender and slotted home with some aplomb to give the home side the lead after weathering the early onslaught before Matthew Osman put Parramatta further ahead after 14? minutes to put the Eagles 2-0 up when netting from close range.
Michael Daly almost halved the deficit on 16? minutes only to see his shot slip narrowly past the post in the drifting mist and then another attempt well saved by Anthony Costa who got down well to his right to parry the ball as the game became more and more end to end.
It wasn?t all one-way traffic yet as Iley, a burly, bustling old-fashioned type of centre-forward, was making himself busy for Manly although had the final ball been better on a couple of occasions it was the Eagles who could have been four up as they flooded the opposition box with players and attacked at pace particularly down the flanks and battled hard to win the midfield.
Jimmy Oates, Manly?s right back, showed maturity and chose his moments well to overlap down the right to support the attack and get some telling crosses in that were not converted.
On 28? minutes Osman weaved a path through the centre to give himself another opportunity but he was leaning too far back when trying to curl the ball into the top right corner in this thoroughly absorbing and entertaining encounter. On 30? minutes, Craig Midgley ? player coach for Manly ? came on to replace Lee and it added a little more experience to his side when they needed a calming influence to slow things down a bit. Midgley wasn?t far off when his shot was deflected for a corner just 2? minutes later that came to nought.
Kutaiba Elrich set up Dizdaric but a well timed tackle from Robbie Cattanach inside the box cleared the danger as the Eagles replied in kind although Elrich could have been on the score sheet had his shot had the power and direction after turning the defence and another shot straight at the goalkeeper Kang Ho Lee.
Graeme Forbes sent a looping header into the netting on top of the stanchion on the half-time whistle as Manly kept plugging away to get on the scoreboard but they went to the break still down by two as the Eagles shaded a hotly contested opening 45? minutes in a spirited half that had many witty comments from the crowd as they enjoyed the unfolding drama on the field.
Nicholas McInerney gave away a needless penalty in the 49? minute when felling the impressive Iley in the box and was lucky to receive just a caution but Cattanach sent the spot-kick wide of the ?keepers left hand upright and the chance to get back into the game was gone. The miss was almost compounded immediately when Dizdaric guided his header into the ground when rising above the defence for Parramatta as the game remained with a two goal lead for the home side.
Cattanach came close again on 55? minutes when volleying straight at Costa from an acute angle and it wasn?t for the lack of effort they were not on the board but Parramatta rose to the challenge with their effort and commitment just as industrious as that of the visitors and may have added to their tally as Manly pushed forward and left gaps with Oates turning out at left-back as Midgley rang the changes before replacing himself, after coming on as a sub, with Jordan Edwards in the 63? minute.
Joseph Gibbs had a terrific shot on the turn that Costa held comfortably for the Eagles as the pace began to tell and the game eventually started to slow a little as further chances were squandered with Manly no doubt ruing the injury to Foti up front.
Bryan Soane and Elrich combined sweetly on the right and when the latter pulled the ball back it was Sloane who side-stepped a defender and slotted home the third for Parramatta to make sure of the win in accomplished fashion but Manly were not quite finished and had a goal disallowed for pushing in the box.
A fourth was added on 81? minutes by substitute Fabian Iacovelli as Manly pushed for a consolation which they duly got with 4? minutes left on the clock when Gibbs put the ball away and came very close to adding a second through Jordan Edwards that Costa was made to force over the bar. Then, another sub, Evangelos Petratos, added a headed fifth for the home side on this showing the Eagles were well worth the three points on the night.
?That result has been coming for a while ,? a jubilant Eagles coach Brian Dene said afterwards before continuing:
? I think we were pretty good for our win tonight, it?s been a long time coming and we took our chances tonight, we took them early to put us up 2-nil but they could have got back into the game themselves with the penalty but they didn?t get it but it I have to say it didn?t phase us any and we continued on with it which was good.
?We had two substitutes scoring tonight in Soane and Petratos with the ball going out wide particularly the last goal with a beautiful clip into the box with Petratos coming on to it and I thought we created some good chances tonight and Manly did too, they didn?t go without their opportunities but the difference is that we were clinical in the way we put ours away.
?It?s been coming and it?s down to hard work, discipline and we are still finding our feet in the NSW Premier League and we changed our shape a little from a 4-4-3 formation to a 4-4-2 and it has paid dividends and it is obviously working well and the boys are working hard at it.
?This win will give us a lot of confidence for the coming weeks and we have a few games coming up (Sydney FC and St. George in the Waratah Cup) and it?s a great day for the club because it?s been very tough being out of the top flight for 5-6 years so we?re still learning and want to go forward from here.?
Manly United supremo Craig Midgley was in reflective mood when saying:
?It?s hard to see the positives when you?ve just been done 5-one especially when we started so well in the opening 5? minutes when we were well on top and I thought this could be a good night but if you go anywhere and defend like we did tonight you?re not going to win anything so we just have to put this one down to experience like you said and pick ourselves up for the next match.
?I?ve told the boys that football is a funny game and you win two on the trot that, with no disrespect to Parramatta, are better sides and we come here but don?t turn up with only maybe two or three lads that played well and the rest not doing themselves any justice compared to what they have been doing in previous games recently.
?Credit to them, they are fighting for their lives and their first win and they score five goals so I just want to put this result behind us, move on and get back to training on Friday.
?When you concede that many and miss a penalty that was crucial at that point when you are just the two down and the game is different and we had to push on and stretch ourselves at the back and were caught out but Parramatta played well and deserved the points tonight.?
In the Grade-20 encounter, Parramatta Eagles and Manly United FC finished all-square at 1-1.
Match Stats
Parramtta FC 5 (Dizdaric 10?, Osman 14?, Soane 75?, Iacovelli 81?, Petratos 90?+1?)
Manly United FC 1 (Gibbs 86?)
Wednesday 18th May, 2011
Melita Stadium, South Granville
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Alex Long
Fourth Official: Jamie Gavin
Parramatta FC: 21.Anthony Costa; 2.Nicholas McInerney, 3.Daniel Borg, 5.George Strogylos, 6.Thomas Wilson, 8.Bryan Soane, 9.Kutaiba Elrich,11.Peter Crevani,15.Ben Delicata (c) (4.Daniel Fogarty 63?), 17.Matthew Osman (20.Evangelos Petratos 81?),18.Almir Dizdaric (14.Fabien Iacovelli 75?)
Substitutes Not Used: 10.Chris Camilleri, 23.Tomislav Romic
Yellow Cards: McInerney 49, Fogarty 74
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United FC: 1.Kang Ho Lee; 2.Jimmy Oates, 4.Graham Forbes, 5.Marc Richards (C), 6.Mick Daly, 8.David Dodd, 9.Robbie Cattanach,14.Seung Soo Lee (23.Craig Midgley 30?) (26.Daniel Grant 65?), 17.Matthew Simm (25.Jordan Edwards 53?), 18.Colin Iley, 21.Joseph Gibbs
Substitutes Not Used: 40.Dylan Mitchell, 16.Will Mellor
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Almir Dizdaric (PFC)
2 ? Matthew Osman (PFC)
1 ? Colin Iley (MUFC)
– Micky Brock
