Wet weekend dampens round 21 of State League Two
Washed out games involved Northbridge versus Springwood United, Luddenham United against Prospect United, Belmore Hercules versus Hurstville City Minotaurs, and Roosters against Gazy Lansvale. In other news Hawkesbury had a week to remember winning a 5-4 cliffhanger catch-up against Hurstville on Tuesday night, and Prospect kept its top-three position following a 2-1 win over Nepean on Wednesday.
On the goalscoring front, a Paul Cooper hat-trick in Hawkesbury?s victory over Hurstville helped him to outright third place on the goalscorers chart with 13 goals for the season, two strikes behind Ry Hardy (Northbridge) and four behind leader Neil Jablosnki (Hakoah). Haissan Morhi scored for the Minotaurs in that match to take him to equal seventh (10 goals), while Prospect?s Ahmed Chandab midweek brace against Nepean and Rani Rimmer?s Hakoah opener on Sunday welcomed them both into division two?s top-10 strikers.
Wanderers trash Chopin Park
Fairfield Wanderers did their finals hopes a world of good by beating Chopin Park Rams 3-0 at Chopin Park on Sunday afternoon. While most Sydney clubs retreated indoors to get out of the rain, Fairfield and Chopin Park braved the conditions in a one-sided affair that returned Wanderers to the winners circle for the first time in over a month.
Mauricio Sanchez provided a spectacular opener, firing in a 35m missile that left everybody?s jaw on the ground and gave Fairfield a 1-0 halftime scoreline. Diego Arroyo extended his side?s lead with a clever freekick midway through the second half (becoming the competition?s 150th goalscorer in the process), Luis Ascalante netting a third late on for the visitors after he took advantage of the extra space as Chopin Park pushed forward.
The Rams are still in the finals hunt despite their third straight loss but Fairfield?s victory gives them real purpose as they shifted alongside Roosters into fifth place. Wanderers coach Leo Maturana said the win came at a good time. ?We?ve had a bit of a problem with injuries lately? we?ve experienced the low we had to have and hopefully this is the resurgence,? he said. ?Nothing is for sure at the moment and it?s still anybody?s competition.?
Chopin Park Rams 0 Fairfield Wanderers 3 (Mauricio Sanchez 10m Diego Arroyo 69m Luis Escalante 87m)
Reserve grade: Chopin Park Rams 1 Fairfield Wanderers 0
Haokah bring down Hawkesbury
Hakoah stole the division two lead with a tight 2-1 win over Hawkesbury City at Hensley Athletic Field on Sunday afternoon moving it one point clear of washed out leaders Luddenham? at least until the next batch of games. Hawkesbury played their guts out against in-from Hakoah but an interrupted preparation leading into the match hindered their chances in a pretty decent game of football.
City were wonderful in an incredible first half against Hurstville on Tuesday night, leading 5-1 at the break before a Minotaurs revival left them just short of a memorable victory, Hawkesbury prevailing 5-4 in an epic contest (the game went scoreless for the final half-hour). The incessant rain then cancelled their Thursday night training session, leaving City a little undone for the big match-up versus Hakoah.
The home side scored first, Greg Moss dispatching a great ball for Rani Rimmer to head in the opener before Hakoah?s goalkeeper Terry Delbroi also got in on the action, denying a Hawkesbury penalty kick to keep his side in front at halftime.
The lead didn?t last long however with Kyle Trefoni smashing in a nifty Hakan Celik pass to level the scores at 1-1 for Hawkesbury straight after the interval, and City defender Ethan Simone will be kicking himself after missing a sitter from right in front with eight minutes to go as Hakoah went down the other end and scored the match winner through second half substitute Deklan Gilmartin, his delightful looping header drifting over the City keeper and into goal minutes out from fulltime.
Hakoah coach Mark Robertson doesn?t like beating his old mate [Hawkesbury coach] Gary Lewis much, but he loved the way his team delivered in an important match. ?Hawkesbury are not a bad side and played some alright football. It must have been difficult for them after Tuesday night [5-4 versus Hurstville] and then not training? but we just kept going and going until eventually we controlled the match.?
?We all know how tight it is [the competition table] and there?s still a lot of catch up games to be played, which will make it challenging for a lot of teams as you don?t really want to be playing two games every week at this stage of the season. But we can only play what?s in front of us, and it?s going good for us at the moment [Hakoah next play the bottom three teams].?
As usual Lewis refused to throw in the towel after a draining week of football. ?We had to make changes to our starting line-up five minutes before game when [one of our main players] just simply didn?t turn up, so that made it hard from the start. We competed well but the week really took its toll against a Hakoah side that has a lot of experience and enthusiasm,? he said. ?I?m proud of the boys, we played well, we were just beaten by a better team who has a great chance of winning the minor premiership.?
?It?s all or nothing for us now. It will be a hard task [to make the finals] but hopefully we?ll lift for Gazy next week.? While Hawkesbury have won just won game in seven weeks they only have to play one more top-five side [Prospect], which will keep them well and truly in the running.
Hakoah 2 (Rani Rimmer, Deklan Gilmartin) Hawkesbury City 1 (Kyle Trefoni)
Reserve grade: Hakoah 1 Hawkesbury City 2
Bathurst smack Nepean
Bathurst ?75 finally clicked in a 4-0 rout of Nepean at Alec Lamberton Field on Sunday afternoon. Nepean were struggling to get numbers over the mountains and it showed against a Bathurst side that was pumped from the start, new signing Gerard Ouffoue turning a defender and then chipping the keeper from 20m out to establish a 1-0 lead at the half-hour mark.
The next three goals were examples of brilliant delivery as Ouffoue first headed home team-mate Luke Sullivan?s cross to make it 2-0 before halftime, then he nudged in a John Holden pass to make it 3-0 just after the break, and finally tapping in following Hayden Porter?s good work to make it 4-0 10 minutes our from the final whistle. Ouffoue is now just two goals shy of Sullivan?s mark as Bathurst?s leading scorer ? and he has only played four games.
It was unfortunate for Nepean, who played well in a 2-1 midweek loss to frontrunners Prospect, but the four-goal victory was great tonic for a poor Bathurst season. ?We said before the game it was all about the service and that was what showed today with some great deliveries into the box,? coach Mark Rooke said. ?We?ve been run down in three of our recent matches because we switched off, and today we played a full 90 minutes. It was a great effort from everyone.?
Nepean 0 Bathurst ?75 4 (Gerard Ouffoue 32/34/49/77m)
Round 21 scores
Chopin Park Rams 0 Fairfield Wanderers 3 (Mauricio Sanchez 10m Diego Arroyo 69m Luis Escalante 87m)
Hakoah 2 (Rani Rimmer, Deklan Gilmartin) Hawkesbury City 1 (Kyle Trefoni)
Nepean 0 Bathurst ?75 4 (Gerard Ouffoue 32/34/49/77m)
Northbridge versus Springwood United washed out
Luddenham United versus Prospect United washed out
Belmore Hercules versus Hurstville City Minotaurs washed out
Roosters versus Gazy Lansvale washed out
Rescheduled round 14: Hawkesbury City 5 (Paul Cooper 7/13/40m Michael McCrory 18m Zac Watters 44m) Hurstville City Minotaurs 4 (Alex Obeid 24/51m Haissan Morhi 49m John Kyriazopoulos 56m)
Rescheduled round 16: Nepean 1 (Emmanuel Azzopardi) Prospect United 2 (Ahmed Chandab x2)
Reserve grade:
Chopin Park Rams 1 Fairfield Wanderers 0
Hakoah 1 Hawkesbury City 2
Nepean FC Bathurst ?75 washed out
Northbridge versus Springwood United washed out
Luddenham United versus Prospect United washed out
Belmore Hercules versus Hurstville City Minotaurs washed out
Roosters versus Gazy Lansvale washed out
Rescheduled round 9: Springwood United 4 Luddenham United 2
Rescheduled round 14: Hawkesbury City vs Hurstville City Minotaurs washed out
Rescheduled round 16: Nepean 1 Prospect United 3
Next week?s games
Round 22 of NSW State League division two starts with two Saturday evening games (5pm kick-off), Gazy Lansvale versus Hawkesbury at Bensons Lane Field and Hurstville against Bathurst at Alec Lamberton Field. On Sunday afternoon (3pm kick-offs), Prospect United take on Fairfield Wanderers at Knight Park, Springwood United and Luddenham United meet at Luddenham Oval, Chopin Park Rams play Roosters at Hills Sports High, Hakoah and Belmore Hercules clash at Blick Oval, while Nepean faces Northbridge at Northbridge Oval (3.30pm).
– Daniel De Nardi
