NSW Premier League Grade 20 Round 17 Review

Top of the table Sutherland’s difficulties continued as they went down to Blacktown Spartans in a thrilling match on Saturday night, whilst second placed Blacktown City conceded a late equaliser to Parramatta FC on Sunday afternoon. 
This weekend’s results leaves the final make-up of the competition table very much open with five rounds remaining.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
BLACKTOWN CITY 2-2 PARRAMATTA FC
Blacktown City and Parramatta FC played out a thrilling 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon, goals from Dolor Edosomwan and a Martin Vasquez own goal, as well as goals from Aaron Peterson and Mitchell Richard enough to ensure a share of the spoils, in what was a rollicking encounter played out over an exciting 90 minutes. 
It was Parramatta FC who started the brightest at Lily Homes Stadium, as the clouds parted to bathe the pitch in gorgeous Sunday afternoon sunshine. The visiting side were looking to test young goalkeeper Julian Harders, who was deputising for Luke Turnbull who was on first grade duties. 
Blacktown City’s defence looked uncharacteristically shaky under the early pressure from Parramatta, their cause not helped when they lost Patrick Gatt to an injury in the third minute. Jake Potter was his replacement.
High balls into the area were causing the most problems for the Blacktown City back four and goalkeeper and Parramatta could sense the chance to take an early lead.
However, their early pressure was spoiled in the tenth minute when some poor defending gifted Blacktown City a scarcely deserved opener. Dillon Vorster delivered a cross from the left and under little pressure, Parramatta defender Martin Vasquez diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper, Michael Sakowicz. 
It was unfortunate for Parramatta, who had made all the early running and it seemed to take a while for them to regain their momentum, as Blacktown City began to show flashes of their best with Dolor Edosomwan looking threatening in the final third. 
Parramatta though regained their composure and began to threaten once more, in particular their numbers 7 and 9, Bryan Sloane and Aaron Peterson were causing a number of problems for the Blacktown City defence. 
Some lax defending from the visiting side though gave Blacktown City the chance to add a second goal in the 25th minute, courtesy of Edosomwan. 
A ball from the left found its way to the feet of the Blacktown number 30 and although his shot lacked conviction, it hit the legs of Sakowicz and looped over him and into the goal. 
Blacktown should have taken the opportunity to settle on their lead, but instead they let Parramatta straight back into the game. It was a stunning finish from Aaron Peterson just a minute after Edosomwan’s goal that made the score 2-1. 
A cross from the right from Bryan Soane was beautifully stood up to the back post, where Peterson showed fantastic composure and technique to allow the ball to drop low enough for him to smash a stunning volley high past Harders and into the far top corner. It was a sensational goal to bring Parramatta back into the contest. 
Soane and Peterson combined again in the 37th minute to create an opportunity that looked certain to lead to a goal, but just when it seemed that Peterson’s header was to find the back of the net, Luke Clifford arrived with precision timing to head the ball over for a corner kick.
Moments before half time, Parramatta had a four-on-two opportunity, but Bruno Privato’s attempted finish was slid wide under pressure from Harders.
Parramatta started the second half strongly, just as they did in the first. A well struck shot from Peterson was straight at Harders, whilst they also looked increasingly threatening from set pieces.
Balcktown were at times clinging on for dear life, and their cause wasn’t helped when midfielder Yianni Perkatis was sent off in the 56th minute for a challenge on Parramatta’s Patrick Dixon. It was late and reckless and Perkatis was deservedly dismissed from the field of play. 
On the hour mark Blacktown nearly scored against the run of play, Harry Brown releasing Luke Clifford down the left hand side, but he saw his shot well blocked by Parramatta’s goalkeeper Sakowicz. The Parramatta goalkeeper regathered the loose ball and unfurled a forty yard throw to release Patrick Dixon on the counter attack, where he was fouled, leading to a free kick that was wasted.
Akiyoshi Saito forced a good save from Blacktown’s Julian Harders in the 63rd minute, the young goalkeeper diving low to his left to hold the well struck shot. 
Substitutions soon followed, Mark Strachan adjusting from the dismissal of Perkatis by sending on Shervin Adeli for Dolor Edosomwan, whilst Paul De Lucca replaced the threatening Aaron Peterson and Bruno Privato with Mitchell Richard and Marko Micevski.
In the 73rd minute Blacktown City substitute Josh Basara forced an excellent save from Michael Sakowicz, the Parramatta shot stopper flying high to his right to beat clear Basara’s left footed direct free kick. 
With Parramatta’s season on the line, they attacked with great gusto in the final ten minutes, knowing that they needed to find two quick goals to keep their season alive. Without the substituted Peterson and Privato however, they lacked cutting edge in the final third.
Harry Brown forced another fine save from Sakowicz in the 83rd minute. Cutting in from the right, the Blacktown City captain fired a shot that Sakowicz did well to react to and fingertip over the bar. Parramatta’s goalkeeper had played very impressively in the second half. 
Both coaches, Mark Strachan and Paul De Lucca were off their benches and animated on the sideline as the match reached an increasingly frenetic conclusion.
The 86th minute was Julian Harders’ time to shine, the Blacktown goalkeeper making a stop to rival Sakowicz’s, as he showed lightning quick reactions to get a touch to Martin Vasquez’s drilled shot. 
From the resulting corner, however, Parramatta scored late equaliser. A header from the substitute Mitchell Richard looked like it had been cleared off the line by the desperately lunging Luke Clifford, but the linesman on the far side flagged immediately for the goal, giving the visiting side hope that they could find an even later winner and rescue their hopes of reaching the top five.
Their efforts were in vain though, as Blacktown grimly hung on to claim a 2-2 draw, a point each the fair result on the balance of play. 
Parramatta coach Paul De Lucca was left to rue the chance missed by his side, saying that although Blacktown had the better of the first twenty minutes, Parramatta had enough chances to win the match.
His Blacktown City counterpart Mark Strachan was happy enough with the performance of his side, although conceded that perhaps they were somewhat naive in the way they played in the closing stages whilst trying to protect a 2-1 lead. 
MATCH STATS
BLACKTOWN CITY FC 2 (Vasquez OG 5′, Edosomwan 25′)
PARRAMATTA FC 2 (Peterson 26′, Richard 87′)
BLACKTOWN CITY FC: 40. J. Harders, 5. P. Gatt (26. J. Potter 3′), 22. D. Vorster (32. D. Vellonio 46′), 23. H. Brown, 24. Y. Perkatis, 25. L. Clifford, 27. D. Adjassou, 29. N. Sansom, 30. D Edosomwan (34. S. Adeli 65′), 31. L. Jenner, 35. A. Schroeder (28. J. Basara 71′).  
Unused substitute: 20. M. Seager.
Booked: 29. N. Sansom.
Sent off: 24. Y. Perkatis.
PARRAMATTA FC: 40. M. Sakowicz, 2. A. Altee, 3. M. Musa, 4. A. Isman, 5. M. Vasquez, 6. T. Porter, 7. B. Soane, 8. A. Saito (16. A. Cocaro 73′), 9. A. Peterson (18. M. Richard 65′), 10. B. Privato (19. Micevski 65′), 11. P. Dixon (15. J. Boutoubia 73′).
Unused substitute: 17. F. Aoun.
Booked: 4. A. Isman.
Sent off: Nil.
ROUND REVIEW
SATURDAY
MANLY UNITED 0-1 ROCKDALE CITY SUNS, AT CROMER PARK
Third placed Manly United went down to Rockdale City Suns on Saturday evening at Cromer Park.
Rockdale were professional in doing the job required away from home, with Alan Kovacevic scoring the only goal of the match to claim victory for Justin Bucciarelli’s team. 
SOUTH COAST WOLVES 2-2 MARCONI STALLIONS, AT JOHN CREHAN PARK
South Coast Wolves drew 2-2 with Marconi Stallions at home, despite holding a 2-0 lead until the final four minutes.
Fabian Iacovelli scored twice for the home side, and coach Richard Lloyd was happy to praise the team’s performance as their best of the season, despite not getting the result they deserved.
SUTHERLAND SHARKS 3-4 BLACKTOWN SPARTANS, AT SEYMOUR SHAW PARK
League leaders Sutherland Sharks were toppled again on Saturday night, this time by Mark Zecchin’s Blacktown Spartans. 
Another hattrick from Shiyar Cakel and a goal from Steven Ugarkovic saw the visiting side snatch the three points. Despite seeing their 3-0 reduced to 3-3, Spartans were able to take the victory thanks to Cakel’s third goal, the match winner scored in the 88th minute.
SUNDAY
BONNYRIGG WHITE EAGLES 0-1 SYDNEY UNITED 58, AT BONNYRIGG SPORTS CLUB
Sydney United 58 defeated their fierce rivals Bonnyrigg White Eagles on Sunday at Bonnyrigg Sports Club.
Bottom of the table Sydney United delivered what could be a fatal blow to Bonnyrigg’s hopes of making the top five, with Brayden Sorge scoring the only goal of a tight, tense encounter.
SYDNEY OLYMPIC 2-3 APIA LEICHHARDT TIGERS, AT LAMBERT PARK
APIA Leichhardt Tigers were 3-2 winners over Sydney Olympic in the match moved from Belmore Sports Ground to Lambert Park.
Nick Taneski scored twice and Andy Bevin also got on the scoresheet for Rod Williams’ side. The score was 2-2 until the final thirty seconds, when Taneski struck his second goal to win the match. Williams was once again pleased with the performance of his side and said that the win was just reward for the way that their commitment to playing possession based football.
Sydney Olympic weren’t quite good enough on the day, despite a brace of goals from John Triantis. 
-By Matthew Connellan