Dour draw between Reds and Eagles in Edensor Park
Assistant manager Mike Gibson has taken the reins at Edensor Park for the rest of the season, with the coach confirming that De Marigny had stood down from his role with the first team to concentrate on the club?s youth sides in a technical director role.
But Sydney United lacked the bounce that teams often get when there?s a change of coach.
Neither side deserved three points although the United fans may feel like they were they deserved the win after a Michael Cindric header in the 86? minute put the ball in the back of the net, only to be disallowed by the assistant?s flag.
The rain-soaked pitch looked a worse for wear, particularly on the western end that was under the shadow of the grand stand.
Two of Parramatta?s latest signings started up front, with Luke Grima returning to his old club from Marconi and Joel Wood making the move from Olympic, although the club?s leading goal scorer Kwabena Appiah-Kubi was rested.
Grima?s run up the left flank in the 8? minute was easily snuffed out by snuffed out by United defender Mitchell Stamatellis.
Parramatta midfielder Daniel Rezo put in a solid performance against his old club. In the 13? minute his free-kick from 35-yards grazed the crossbar, although United keeper Vedran Janjetovic looked to have it covered.
Parramatta striker Joel Wood sent the ball across the face of goal in the 21? minute. 4? minutes later it was United?s Daniel Barac who looked to have broken free of Parramatta?s defensive line, but he lost control of the ball.
Rezo sent a volley into the arms of Janjetovic in the 27? minute after United?s defence struggled under a Parramatta long ball.
Stamatellis? afternoon ended in the 38? minute when the United defender was subbed off with an injury, while Graziano Trimboli soldiered on for Parramatta after copping a boot to the shin moments later.
Both sides looked a bit more lively in the second-half. Ante Tomic put in a lovely ball for Mirjan Pavlovic in the 54? but the United attacker was a little too slow and the Parramatta defence sent it down the other end.
Parramatta began to counter and had four players on two defenders but were hesitant and their execution lacking.
Sydney United?s Jared Lum missed a golden opportunity to put the home side up 1-0 after Barac put in a perfect pass for the young midfielder in the 55? minute.
Parramatta FC winger Bryan Soane was making a promising run up the right flank but he seemed to be put off by a blast of the air horn from Sydney United fans, when he sent his cross went sideways.
Sydney United substitute Elsid Barkhousir saw his 30-yard strike go wide in the 73? minute.
Moments later Barac and Mario Simic linked up well for United. Barac passed the ball to Simic on the left and the winger did well to squeeze a cross past two Parramatta defenders into the box, but Barac couldn?t control his momentum and he carried himself and the ball over the line.
Daniel Rezo was substituted by Daniel Gullo in the 75? minute and he received applause from the home side?s fans, after putting in a solid effort against his old club.
Parramatta midfielder Akiyoshi Saito troubled the United defence in the 82? minute when his attacking run and perfect pass to the left found Joel Wood, but he sent the ball straight to the goalkeeper.
Parramatta coach Lee Sterrey was sent to the stands in the 85′ after the referee finally had enough of his vocal protests.
The game?s only real flashpoint came in the 86? when a Stephen Hayes free-kick from 45-yards out found the head of Michael Cindric who sent the ball into the goal, but the assistant ruled that Cindric was offside.
The match ended with the score line reflecting the performances of both sides. Neither side created too many clear goal-scoring chances, although the quality of the match was decent, with both sides passing the ball well and resisting the urge to start smashing long balls.
Sydney United caretaker coach Mike Gibson said he was a little bit disappointed with the result:
?At the end of the day we?ll probably take a point with the way we?ve been going and move on from there.??
Gibson confirmed that he will remain in charge of the side for the rest of the season:
?I?ve found myself in the spot, we?re going to keep working and build on what JP started and take things from there.
?We?re not going to change things too much. We?ve got a pretty good squad we?re just down on a bit of confidence.
“We?ve still got a good chance of making the finals.??
Gibson praised Daniel Barac after the game, tipping the striker for a big future.
Parramatta coach Lee Sterrey said his side did well to hold on for the draw but thought they should have done more with their chances:
?Daniel Rezo should have done a bit better with some of his chances, against his old club it would have been good for him.
?We?ve brought in a couple of new faces which will put on a bit of pressure for the rest of the squad and we?ve got to push hard in this second half of the season.??
Sterrey said his two new signings did well but that there?s plenty of room for improvement:
?I thought Grima was a little bit flat, he hasn?t played for a few weeks and has struggled for game time but overall I thought he did OK.
?Joel Wood was great considering it was his first hit-out.
?We changed the system a bit tonight, even though we were at Edensor Park, but overall I thought we did well and if anyone deserved it I think it was us.??
Match Stats
Sydney United 0
Parramatta FC 0
Sunday 17th June, 2012
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: K.Yaghi
Assistant Referees: N.Backo and D. Finlay
Fourth Official: G Williams
Sydney United 58 FC: 1.Vedran Janjetovic; 2.Mitchell Speer, 4.Michael Cindric, 6.Mitchell Stamatellis (19.Mitchell Thompson 38?), 7.Mirjan Pavlovic (9.Elsid Barkhousir 55?), 8.Jared Lum, 10.Stephen Hayes, 18.Mario Simic, 21.Ante Tomic (16.Stjepan Paric 68?), 22.Daniel Barac, 23.Ivo Bosnar
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Kyle Ewart, 30.Robert Kolak
Parramatta FC: 1. Matthew Nash; 3.Andy Matloub, 5.Mark O?Reilly, 6.Graziano Trimboli, 8.Bryan Soane (7.Pat Dixon 83?), 10.Akiyoshi Saito, 13.Joel Wood, 15.Masaki Nomoto, 19.Daniel Rezo (16.Daniel Gullo 75?), 17.Luke Grima (11.Bruno Pivato 68?)
Substitutes Not Used: Aaron Peterson, 23. M Sakowicz
-By Alex Zerafa
