Sutherland power past ten-man Spartans
Matt Bailey?s early opener was cancelled out by Simon Zahra?s converted penalty in the opening minutes; however Zahra?s dismissal for handling Chris Price?s goal bound header on the hour mark proved to be the catalyst as Sutherland ran away with the match.
Panni Nikas? double either side of Price?s opportunistic goal sealed the win for the visitors as Spartans played damage control for the final half hour.
Both sides set out to attack right from the kick off in what proved to be an open and end-to-end ninety minutes of football.
Sutherland was rewarded for their early ambition with the opening goal on 5? minutes; Bailey ran in behind the Spartans? backline and caught Carlos Saliadarre in no man?s land, calmly stroking past the goalkeeper to grab the early advantage.
The visitors barely had time to finish celebrating before they conceded a penalty to hand Spartans the opportunity to level the scores.
Greg Kondek was felled in the box with by a mistimed challenge and Zahra coolly slotted the ensuing penalty straight down the centre to restore parity after an extraordinary opening period.
Bailey had a couple of chances to restore his Sutherland?s advantage after the quarter hour mark yet was unable to capitalise, first knocking the ball following Klim Gjorseski?s cross before drawing a stunning save from Saliadarre with his latter opportunity.
Despite the free-flowing nature of the match, chances soon became few and far between as both defences comfortably dealt with a continual stream of long balls.
The most impressive defensive intervention of the match came late in the half when Paul Cotte produced a crunching last-ditch challenge to deny Steven Veleski as he darted into the Sutherland box late in the half as the sides went carried the level score line into the interval.
The break worked wonders for Sutherland as they soon found their feet in the second-half and looked to more likely to move ahead.
Saliadarre had to be strong in the air to intercept Yianni Fragogianis? dangerous cross shortly after the restart before Price fired wide just before the hour mark.
The visitors were ahead soon after; earning a penalty of their own after Price?s goal bound header struck the arm of Zahra, resulting in an unfortunate straight red card for Spartans? goal scorer and a spot kick for Sutherland which was duly dispatched into the bottom right corner by Nikas.
With their numerical advantage Sutherland sought to put the game to bed with another goal, with Price dragging an effort wide from Nikas? layoff before having a low long range drive well saved by Saliadarre soon after.
Price finally grabbed the goal he deserved on 72? minutes, getting on the end of Gjorseski?s brilliant low cross to stab the ball past Saliadarre despite the custodian?s best efforts to get his body in the path of the ball.
Spartans came within inches of pulling a goal back soon after as Sean Mitchell?s rasping drive from the edge of the box was tipped onto the crossbar by Nathan Denham; only desperate defending then cleared the ball after Spartans tried for force the ball home from the ensuing goalmouth scramble.
Saliadarre managed to keep his side in with a chance with perfect positioning to make a couple of smart saves to deny Bailey and Price, however there was little he could do to deny Nikas a second goal as the midfielder rose to powerfully head home Price?s cross to secure his brace and wrap up the scoring.
Sutherland Sharks coach Robbie Stanton was pleased with the result and performance of his team after they took control of the match in the second-half:
?We came here to play football and were surprised by their long ball game which was obviously their plan knowing we?d stay high and wide,? said Stanton.
?We made the adjustment at half-time and it worked well in the end ? it really could have six or seven goals with the chances we missed ? but we were happy to put four away.
?Tonight?s execution was good, we created plenty, and in the end we go the result so I?m very happy.?
With a solid win after a solid performance, Stanton explained that his goal for the season is to focus on further developing the style of football his side produce rather than setting targets on the table:
?We?ve only lost one game in six so far,? said Stanton.
?We haven?t started badly ? performance has been good ? but when you?re drawing you don?t get the points.
?Tonight was good because we executed well, which is the part we?ve been looking for, and we did that really well.
?To be honest we don?t have any targets as to where we want to finish so we?ll just keep plodding along with what we?re doing.
?We?ve already mapped out what we want to achieve football-wise this year and that?s been our focus ? getting the right balance between performance and results.
?We want to play a certain style of football and if we don?t do that then we?re not satisfied so that?s what we?re trying to achieve here,? Stanton concluded.
Blacktown Spartans coach Ben DeHaan was understandably disappointed by the result having watched his side fight a tough battle with ten men in the second-half:
?We are disappointed by the result but after the send-off what do you do?? said DeHaan.
?We gave them their goals but that?s football and that?s why we are where we are.
?We?ve just got to soldier on.
?We get a few players back this week so we can regroup ? players returning from suspensions and injuries.
?Every week we can go out to try and do our best but when something like that happens you just have to keep plugging away,? DeHaan added.
Match Stats
Blacktown Spartans 1 (Simon Zahra 8? (pen) )
Sutherland Sharks 4 (Matt Bailey 5?, Panni Nikas 62? (pen), 81?, Chris Price 72?)
Saturday, May 5th, 2011
Blacktown Football Park, Rooty Hill
Referee: Adam Weir
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Gareth Williams
Blacktown Spartans: 1.Carlos Saliadarre; 3.Nathan Millgate, 4.Daniel Wells, 5.Luke Boyd (33.Lord Darkoh 76?), 6.Greg Kondek (27.Jacob Ott 57?), 9.Christopher Bedzo, 10.Christopher Gomez, 11.Steven Veleski, 17.Peter Hubbard (36.Tomislav Herceg 84?), 19.Simon Zahra, 20.Sean Mitchell
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Michael Khoury, 40.Jesse Shewan
Yellow Cards: Luke Boyd 68?, Peter Hubbard 84?
Red Cards: Simon Zahra 61?
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 4.Yianni Fragogianis (12.Hayden Morton 63?), 5.Paul Cotte, 8.Chris Price, 9.Hussein Salameh (11.Todd Halloran 82?), 10.Matt Bailey, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 16.Klim Gjorseski (29.Chris Naumoff 88?), 18.Michael Stuart, 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Tyson Rhodes, 22.Simon Jaeger
Yellow Cards: Chris Price 38?, Klim Gjorseski 38?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Chris Price (SS)
2 ? Klim Gjorseski (SS)
1 ? Luke Boyd (BS)
-By Michael Shoolman
