Sydney United 58 FC edges Blacktown in seven goal thriller
The result will provide a major confidence boost for United and could potential mark a turning point in their season after recent form has seen the side?s finals ambitions slip.
Ante Tomic?s stunning opener and contender for Goal of the Week just before the half hour mark sparked the match into life before Travis Major hit back from the spot before the interval.
Tomic then cancelled out Major?s header from the spot before Adam Jenner put the visitors back in front once again.
The hosts fought from behind once again via Steve Hayes before Daniel Barac?s dramatic late winner secured all three points for United in what was arguably the match of the season.
United settled into their stride straight from the kick off, asserting pressure on the visiting defence in the opening minutes
Elsid Barkhousir came close to opening the scoring for the hosts from the first corner of the match, coming up just short of connecting with a free header at the far post.
Mirjan Pavlovic, who proved a handful for the Blacktown defence throughout the match, shrugged off his marker soon after and flashed a shot wide of the near post.
Pavlovic came closer with his second attempt soon after, skipping past Ryo Watanabe and powering a shot at Brody Crane which was bravely blocked by the Blacktown shot-stopper.
Mitchell Speer should have opened the scoring from Jared Lum?s ensuing corner, powering his header over from inside the 6-yard box.
United kept knocking on the door as Barkhousir fired a rebounded effort straight at Crane who also recovered to hold Lum?s follow up shot to keep his side on level terms.
Blacktown began to find their feet around the quarter hour mark and began to start carving out opportunities of their own as Jenner fired their first goal scoring chance over the crossbar.
Tomic and Mario Simic combined well on the left flank to set up Pavlovic for a golden opportunity soon after, however the striker?s finish was poor as he skewed his first time shot high and wide of goal.
Barkhousir had the ball in the back of the net midway through the half as he ran onto Tomic?s lobbed through ball and flicked the ball past Crane, however the effort was rightly disallowed for offside as United?s search for an opener continued.
The visitors were gifted a golden chance by United goalkeeper Tomislav Romic as he raced off his line to attempt to head a dangerous ball clear ? the ball fell to Ryuji Miyazawa who drilled his effort straight at Romic who did well to recover from his error.
United finally saw reward for their attacking ambition soon after as Tomic buried one of the goals of the season with a sweetly struck effort from 20-yards, rifled into the top corner to open the scoring.
The goal seemed to spark life into Blacktown as they pressed forward in search of an instant equaliser.
Sean Rooney?s well-timed run saw the striker put through on goal only to be denied by Romic who was quick off his line to clear any danger to his goal.
Romic was called into action soon after as he launched himself over a bundle of players to punch Daniel Bragg?s curled free kick clear.
The visitors found their equaliser soon after as Rooney earned his side a penalty after he was fouled in the box.
Major duly converted the spot kick, slotting the ball to Romic?s right to level the scores.
With momentum now working in Blacktown?s favour Jenner went close to putting his side in the lead as he connected with Major?s well weighted cross only to his finish well held by Romic.
The visitors went close to taking a lead into the break with a swift counter attack late in the half; however Rooney couldn?t keep his finish down as he skied the ball over the crossbar.
Blacktown continued to attack straight from the restart as Ray Miller found himself in the clear with only Romic to beat in the opening minute of the second period.
The host?s custodian stood firm, pulling off a miraculous save to hold Miller?s finish and keep his side level.
Romic was however beaten soon after as Major bagged his second goal of the match, looping a well-weighted header over the keeper and inside the far post to put Blacktown ahead.
The United keeper was then the unfortunate victim of a suspected broken ankle, landing awkwardly after collecting a high ball, meaning substitute keeper Ian Johnson was brought to play the final half hour between the sticks.
Blacktown?s lead was short lived as United struck back from the penalty spot just after the hour mark.
Watanabe was punished for a defensive foul during a United corner and Tomic made no mistake from the spot, confidently driving his penalty low and to Crane?s left to restore parity between the sides.
Blacktown responded accordingly, pushing forward once again in search of the lead which they earned minutes later.
Jenner was the scorer, firing the ball in off the post from the edge of the box after United had failed to clear a Blacktown corner.
The hosts fought back and equalised once again as Hayes fired home Pavlovic?s layoff to take the scoring to three goals a piece.
Mark Crittenden?s men pushed forward instantly and were denied by Ivo Bosnar?s courageous block as the United captain threw himself in front of Major?s shot to deny Blacktown the lead and Major a hat-trick.
A nervous miscommunication nearly undid the host?s hard work soon after as Mitchell Stamatellis looked to head back to Johnson, who had come off his line to clear the ball.
The blunder was fortunately unpunished as Stamatellis was forced to sprint onto and clear his own defensive header to avoid an embarrassing own goal.
With the match appearing to be headed for a draw there was time for one final twist in the match as substitute Barac pulled off one of the turns of the season to bamboozle his way past Luke Austin and Matt Lewis and create space to fire the winning goal inside the near post and send the vocal home supporters into a frenzy.
The visitors pushed forward in numbers in search of an equaliser but it was not to be as United held on for a hard-earned victory in what was one of the NSW Premier League?s most entertaining clashes of the season, and a potential turning point for United?s fortunes.
After coming away from the match with a win and a personal brace, Ante Tomic was delighted with the victory and rallied his team to maintain focus for their next clash:
?It was just the greatest feeling,? said Tomic.
?To get that result ? especially at home ? showed that the boys have a lot of character and we will hopefully get our season back on track.
?We can?t get ourselves too caught up in it because we had a hard game to beat APIA to win 2-1 then the next week we got beaten 3-0.
?So we have to learn from that and take that into our next game.?
Tomic modestly played down his role in the win, stating that today?s result came down to the effort his fellow players put in on the pitch:
?I took my chances today,? said Tomic.
?I was confident today and I?m just glad we won.
?It?s not an individual effort, the boys all played well.
?Blacktown are a team that just run all game and they are really hard workers so all the boys and our supporters and very happy with our result.?
Having watched his side lose grip on the match after twice holding the lead, Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden was gutted by the final result:
?We?re disappointed obviously,? said Crittenden.
?We got ourselves in front a couple of times and just didn?t play smart enough to grind out a result.
?Unfortunately we probably rode our luck early on, we?ve scored late goals earlier this season but that?s not going to happen continually.
?To have got ourselves in front twice and let it slip and then get beaten just isn?t good enough.?
Crittenden and his squad will look to move on quickly from this afternoon?s result as they look to keep their finals ambitions on track:
?We need to bounce back,? said Crittenden.
?The table is tight and has closed right up, and some teams have games in hand.
?We need to get back on track as there is a chance we could slip out of the top five which would not be good.
?We?re good enough to be in amongst it but we?ve got to start performing better than we have been.
?The last couple of weeks have not been good at all to be honest,? Crittenden added.
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 4 (Ante Tomic 29?, 62? (pen), Steve Hayes 75?, Daniel Barac 86?)
Blacktown City FC 3 (Travis Major 38? (pen), 49?, Adam Jenner 70?)
Sunday July 1st, 2012
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Michael Robertson and Craig Fisher
Fourth Official: James Meechan
Sydney United 58 FC: 1.Tomislav Romic (20.Ian Johnson 55?); 2.Mitchell Speer, 6.Mitchell Stamatellis, 8.Jared Lum, 9.Elsid Barkhousir, 7.Mirjan Pavlovic, 10.Stephen Hayes (16. Stjepan Paric 90?), 18.Mario Simic, 19.Mitchell Thompson (22.Daniel Barac 63?), 21.Ante Tomic, 23.Ivo Bosnar
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Petar Markovic, 25.Mitchell Osmond
Yellow Cards: Daniel Barac 90?+1?
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Ryo Watanabe, 4.Travis Major, 6.Matt Lewis, 14.Adam Jenner, 8.Daniel Bragg, 7.Luke Roodenburg, 15.Ray Miller (10.James Monie 84?), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 17.Sean Rooney (11.Yuchi Yamauchi 80?), 16.Luke Austin
Substitutes Not Used: 12.David Cain, 20.Luke Turnbull
Yellow Cards: Ryo Watanabe 61?, Ray Miller 81?, Daniel Bragg 88?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Michael Shoolman
