State League Two Round 18 Review
But the movers of the week were new teams Northbridge and Chopin Park, with respective 6-0 and 2-1 wins over Gazy and Bathurst pushing them to a top-five position pending the postponed result between Roosters and Wanderers. Springwood smashed Hurstville 4-0 to give themselves a glimmer of finals hope, but both sides need more wins to figure in the championship race.
Individually, Ry Hardy scored twice this week to move the Northbridge ace to 13 goals, two behind Hakoah?s Neil Jablonski. And four goals to Eliott King (Northbridge) and a brace to Gustavo Orcajo (Prospect) lifted them alongside Huso Merdanovic (Luddenham) and Adem Taslak (Roosters) on 10 strikes for the year, Ercan Topal (Roosters) close behind on nine, and Paul Paras (Belmore), Paul Cooper (Hawkesbury), Grant Odei (Luddenham), Bryan Campbell (Springwood) and Peter Henderson (Springwood) with eight each.
Luddenham defeat Hawkesbury
Luddenham United steadied the ship at the front of the armada as they saw off Hawkesbury City 2-1 at Luddenham Oval on Sunday afternoon. Hawkesbury?s away form has been a league leader and they grabbed the lead through some brilliant work from Zac Watters, who ran through perfectly onto a great pass from midfield to bury the first-half opener.
Luddenham weren?t to be outplayed and Glen Davies caught the City defence napping only to see his shot ricochet off both posts and into the path of Pasquale Corso, who made no mistake from a few metres out to tie proceedings up at 1-1 at halftime. The second half see-sawed until United substitute Grant Odei touched the ball to Huso Merdanovic who laid a great ball onto a running Davies to finish off, Luddenham winning their fourth straight over Hawkesbury to go four points clear at the top of the table.
United coach Andrew Montgomery said it was a good win considering his side?s injury toll, and praised the way new signing, former Parramatta Power NSL player Luke Tomich has fit in. ?We completely dominated them and gifted them a goal,? he said. ?We spoke about bouncing back [after two losses], but I still believe Roosters are the best team in the league. They?ll go through the rest of the season undefeated because they?re a class side. Prospect are also a good side and will be there in the end also.?
Hawkesbury coach Gary Lewis wanted his team to take more of their opportunities. ?We had some chances but once again didn?t take them, and too many turnovers at opportune times meant we couldn?t sustain enough pressure on them,? he said. ?A draw would have been a fair result? we?ll keep trying.?
Luddenham United 2 (Pasquale Corso 30m Glen Davis 71m) Hawkesbury City 1 (Zachary Watters 24m)
Reserve grade: Luddenham United 0 Hawkesbury City 1
Prospect outmuscle Hercules
Prospect United consolidated their top-three position with a resounding 4-0 win over Belmore Hercules at Blick Oval on Sunday afternoon. Ahmed Chanab put the visitors in front early after he capitalised on some good work from Paul Curjak but it was a pretty even affair up until halftime.
And that?s the scoreline stayed until in-form United goalscorer Gus Orcajo nailed a freekick and he finished off a neat one-two inside the penalty area (his tenth of the year) to make it 3-0 in the blink of an eye. The fourth goal was almost identical but with Joe Beslic the beneficiary as Prospect completed a comprehensive victory, their fourth in a row. It was Belmore?s seventh draw of the year, a league-high and a good reason as to why they are still languishing near the bottom of the table.
United coach Tony Caruso was pleased with the manner of play. ?It was quite convincing towards the end but Belmore never gave up and played some good football? and we had to be on our toes for the whole game. 4-0 is not a true reflection of the full 90 minutes of football,? he said. ?To score many goals is great but when you don?t concede goals I think it sends off a better message to those around us. Our defence is doing okay, it can do better, but we will go a long way to winning football matches with a sound defence.?
Belmore Hercules 0 Prospect United 4 (Ahmed Chandab 2m Gustavo Orcajo 84/86m Joseph Beslic 92m)
Reserve grade: Belmore Hercules 2 Prospect United 1
Northbridge razzle-dazzle Gazy
Northbridge finally cracked it for a top-five spot in their debut state league season after a sizzling 6-0 win over Gazy Lansvale at Cherrybrook Park on Sunday afternoon (3pm). The lads from north of Sydney left it late in a 3-3 come-from-behind draw with Nepean midweek and it took until nearly halftime to find an edge against Lansvale, but when they did the floodgates opened and Elliot King scored four, Max Zanders a penalty, and Ry Hardy another (his 12th of the year) to lift Northbridge to a 6-0 victory.
Northbridge coach Joe Haywood was thrilled to see his side elevate into a top-five position. ?It was pretty easy, Gazy just crumbled after the first goal,? he said. ?It was tougher against Nepean as we had a few players missing and had to change it around a little bit. I was surprised that they dropped back so deep after they went up by two goals and we kept having chance after chance until we got back into it. It?s definitely going to be a great finish to the year.?
Gazy Lansvale 0 Northbridge 6 (Max Zanders, Ry Hardy, Elliot King x 4)
Reserve grade: Gazy Lansvale 3 Northbridge 1
Springwood smash Hurstville
A second-half onslaught saw Springwood United defeat Hurstville City 4-0 at Punchbowl Oval on Sunday afternoon before the game was called off with minutes remaining to attend to an injured Minotaurs player. The game ebbed and flowed until Springwood leading scorer Peter Henderson was brought down inside the penalty area on the half-hour mark, and the burly forward dusted himself off to nail home the spot-kick and lift the visitors to a 1-0 lead.
But it wasn?t until halfway through the second period that United finally got on top when Bryan Campbell finished off a fine sweeping team movement, and Tim O?Connell made it 3-0 minutes later following a great piece of football. Springwood went 4-0 up after substitute Matt Schensual headed home at the far post, but the game was called off with less than 10 minutes to go following a nasty accidental head clash.
Errol Warwick-Day agreed it was hard work being a coach, watching United rip Hurstville apart after enduring several weeks of narrow defeats. ?That?s why I?m always ripping my hair out,? he said. ?We haven?t been training regularly with all the rain and this week we managed to get on the park and stretch our legs. We played our usual game, exciting and direct, and broke through for some goals. We?re not going to change much, maybe give a few of our 20 year olds a go in first grade and see what sort of results we can get.?
Hurstville City 0 Springwood United 4 (Peter Henderson 32m Bryan Campbell 70m Tim O??onnell 80m Matthew Schensual 82m)
Reserve grade: Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Springwood United 0
Chopin Park beat Bathurst
Chopin Park Rams had a joyful journey back from Bathurst after nailing ?75 2-1 at Alec Lamberton Field on Sunday afternoon. The home side were on top early and an unmarked Luke Sullivan drilled in the opener after 10 minutes, but Chopin Park were also in the mood and Nima Nikfarjam responded minutes later to restore parity before halftime.
The Rams should have taken the lead shortly after play restarted but a missed penalty allowed Bathurst to stay in the game, before a great piece of play from Ben Lam put the visitors ahead, the Rams star turning one defender before driving towards the box and unleashing a ground-hugging missile that found the back of the net for the winner.
Chopin Park coach Radek Czerwinski commended his team?s effort on a tough road trip over the mountains. ?Once again the boys put in a lot of heart and effort and got the result in Bathurst,? he said. ?We knew we needed to step up as Bathurst were on a winning streak? you can say that we?re happy with where we?re at.?
?75 chief Mark Rooke was at a loss. ?We were a bit disappointing today. I thought we?d done enough to get at least a draw out of the match? we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot,? he said. ?We probably didn?t keep good possession in good areas of the park, which didn?t help? we just have to try and keep winning as many matches as we can from here.?
Bathurst ?75 1 (Luke Sullivan 11m) Chopin Park Rams 2 (Nima Nikfarjam 13m Ben Lam 76m)
Reserve grade: Bathurst ?75 0 Chopin Park Rams 1
Hakoah slide past Nepean
Hakoah slid past Nepean 1-0 at Hensley Athletic Field on Sunday night to end a terrific run from the western-Sydney outfit and snare second place in the process. Nepean were unbeaten in June ? including Wednesday night?s 3-3 draw with Northbridge ? and they were doing well to match it with their more fancied rivals Hakoah, the Nepean goalkeeper in mesmerising form to keep his side in it.
Even when the visitors had a player sent off early in the second half for a clumsy challenge they refused to buckle and in the end it was an unfortunate handball towards the closing stages of the match that gifted Hakoah a penalty, new signing veteran Joe Vrkic (of Parramatta Power and Sydney United fame) slotting home the spot-kick to lift Hakoah to a slim 1-0 victory.
Hakoah mentor Mark Robertson was almost sure it would be a bad night until Vrkic stole an ugly result. ?It was one of those games where we had chance after chance and it seemed it might not have been our night? their keeper was superb,? he said. ?Nepean has improved since the first time we played them, but we played our normal football and had too many chances to count on one hand.?
Hakoah 1 (Joe Vrkic) Nepean 0
Round 18 scores
Hurstville City 0 Springwood United 4 (Peter Henderson 32m Bryan Campbell 70m Tim O??onnell 80m Matthew Schensual 82m)
Belmore Hercules 0 Prospect United 4 (Ahmed Chandab 2m Gustavo Orcajo 84/86m Joseph Beslic 92m)
Gazy Lansvale 0 Northbridge 6 (Max Zanders, Ry Hardy, Elliot King x 4)
Luddenham United 2 (Pasquale Corso 30m Glen Davis 71m) Hawkesbury City 1 (Zachary Watters 24m)
Bathurst ?75 1 (Luke Sullivan 11m) Chopin Park Rams 2 (Nima Nikfarjam 13m Ben Lam 76m)
Hakoah 1 (Joe Vrkic) Nepean 0
Rescheduled round 6: Springwood United 1 (Bryan Campbell 7m) Belmore Hercules 1 (Paul Paras 47m)
Rescheduled round 9: Nepean 3 (Nathaniel Harnett 3m Matthew Fitzpatrick 31m Sargon Okaro 65m) Northbridge 3 (Ry Hardy 12m Elias Khzouz 86m Daniel Hillege 93m)
Reserve grade:
Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Springwood United 0
Belmore Hercules 2 Prospect United 1
Gazy Lansvale 3 Northbridge 1
Fairfield Wanderers 3 Roosters 2
Luddenham United 0 Hawkesbury City 1
Bathurst ?75 0 Chopin Park Rams 1
Rescheduled round 9: Nepean 1 Northbridge 4
Next week?s games
Round 19 of NSW division two kicks off with two Saturday evening games, Bathurst versus Prospect at William Lawson Reserve, and Wanderers against Hawkesbury at Bensons Lane Field (first grade kicks-off 5pm), before Nepean host Hurstville City Minotaurs at Cook Park, St Marys, on Saturday night (7pm). On Sunday afternoon, Springwood meet Belmore at Blick Oval, Luddenham face Gazy Lansvale at Cherrybrook Park, and Hakoah take on Roosters at Hills Sports High (first grade kick-offs at 3pm), followed by a Sunday night fixture between Northbridge and the Rams at Chopin Park (7.50pm).
-By Daniel De Nardi
