Superb Blacktown City steamroll Wolves
Faced with the possibility of missing out on a top-five finish following a poor run of results, the former champions scored four unanswered goals at home on Sunday. Travis Major and Sean Rooney grabbed a brace each as Daniel Bragg, Ryuji Miyazawa and Yuchi Yamauchi ran the Wolves midfielders ragged.
The home side, hit with a long list of injuries and suspensions, were forced to field a make-shift central defensive pairing of Ryo Watanabe and Luke Roodenburg. The Blacktown City captain played a true captain?s knock, out of position, to lead his side closer to confirming its presence in the top-five.
A very timid opening saw both sides struggle to maintain possession in the middle of the park, though the supporters did not have to wait long for the first piece of real action.
On 4? minutes, Major?s tremendous through ball sent Sean Rooney one-on-one with Daniel Collison. The former A-League striker took the ball around the goalkeeper, however was brought to ground in the process leaving the referee with no choice but to award the home side a penalty.
Collison, somewhat fortuitously, escaped with only a yellow card.
Major, the orchestrator of the chance, calmly stepped up to the spot to slot home in the bottom left-hand corner to break the deadlock.
South Coast looked to respond quickly with Sasho Petrovski getting on the ball in the middle of the park. The experienced campaigner looked to release Chris Nathaniel to his left on two occasions though the Blacktown City defence was quick to thwart the left-sided midfielder.
On 15? minutes, the home side played a tremendous series of passes to create a second goalscoring opportunity. Daniel Bragg?s pin-point through ball sent Matt Lewis clear on the left. The young winger hit his first-time cross into the penalty-area to perfection, picking out the head of Major who sent his header agonisingly wide of the mark.
Bragg continued his fine start to the match with some tremendous poise on the ball in the middle of the park. The midfielder moved the ball around the park neatly, switching play and turning defence into attack with ease in the opening 20? minutes.
The Wolves got their first look-in on 18? minutes as Ricky Zucco powered his way into the penalty-area. As the striker was running out of room, headed for the byline, Zucco cleverly cut the ball back across goal before jumping over the surrounding fence as the momentum had him headed for a collision.
The striker?s cross however failed to pick out a teammate.
Zucco was at it again in the 26? minute with a spectacular bicycle kick attempt. The striker propped the ball up nicely before unleashing a powerful attempt directly at Brody Crane who claimed the ball comfortably.
At the other end, Blacktown City?s fine ball movement paid dividends with the home side doubling its lead in the 28? minute. Rooney, who really looked up for this encounter, scored with a sensational drive from distance, finishing in off Collison?s right-hand post, much to the delight of the home supporters.
In the 30? minute, Bragg again showed his class with an exceptional one-two interchange with Rooney. The latter returned the ball to Bragg inside the penalty-area, however the midfielder?s first-time shot failed to beat Collison at his near post.
Japanese duo Miyazawa and Yamauchi enjoyed some space in the front third throughout the opening half, even though the Wolves defenders looked to limit their time on the ball.
In the 39? minute, Yamauchi played a delicate through ball into the path of James Monie. The burly striker used his strength to shield his marker before unleashing a shot on goal, denied only by a routine Daniel Collison save down to his right.
Following the interval, Nick Littler called Crane into action when his cross-turn-shot in the opening minute of the half forced the goalkeeper to make a claim.
Rooney burst in behind the Wolves defence at the other end in the 48? minute, creating a yard of space before driving his diagonal effort across the face of goal.
In the 50? minute, Collison produced a world class save to keep the deficit at two off Miyazawa?s long-range drive. The Japanese import picked his time before driving on goal, denied only by the strong right arm of Collison in full flight.
The home side continued to press in the attacking third and in the 53? minute found its third goal of the afternoon. Yamauchi?s sensationally timed ball in behind the defence sent Bragg to the byline. The midfielder delivered a world class cross directly to the head of Rooney who powerfully diverted his glancing header into the back of the net.
Rooney nearly had his hat-trick in the 56? minute via a set-piece. The striker curled his attempt over the wall, with the goalkeeper routed to the spot, however was denied by the post much to the disbelief of the Blacktown City faithful.
The Blacktown City onslaught continued on the hour as Major netted his second of the afternoon following a swift counterattack. Somewhat unexpectedly, a Wolves defensive clearance fell into the path of Monie who took the ball to the byline before crossing for Major to convert with the easiest of headers.
The subdued Wolves did look to get back into the match as John Martinoski and Joseph Lavalle were thrown into the mix. Striker Mark Picciolini took it upon himself to find a goal to re-open the encounter on 65? minutes as he turned his marker inside the area before rifling a violent drive wide of goal off the outside of the post.
Nathaniel followed in Picciolini?s footsteps, chasing down what seemed a lost cause down the left moments later. The left sided midfielder managed to come up with possession on the byline, however his lunging effort to centre for a teammate was thwarted by Crane.
The Wolves? frustrating afternoon was capped off in the 79? minute when Picciolini?s attempt from the edge of the six-yard box took a heavy deflection off a trailing Blacktown City leg, making Crane?s save a very easy one off a golden scoring chance.
Roodenburg, who played a phenomenal match marshalling the backline, squandered a goal scoring chance up at the other end from a corner in the 82? minute. A loose ball fell to the captain at the back post as he sliced his first-time effort wide of the target.
In the end, Blacktown City was a class above the Wolves on the day, deservedly clinching three-points that almost certainly guarantee the side a spot in the finals series this season.
Coach Mark Crittenden was very pleased with his troops:
?Very happy, obviously,? commented Crittenden.
?We made some tactical changes today and all the boys were up for the challenge of facing a strong side like the Wolves. Something clicked and we managed to play some of the best football we have played this season.
?I can?t single out any player in particular for the showing today, everyone who took to the field had a role and everyone executed the role very very well.?
Crittenden?s tactical changes saw the positioning of Ryuji Miyazawa and Yuchi Yamauchi tinkered with slightly, though the biggest surprise was the decision to play captain Luke Roodenburg in the centre of the back four, in place of Zac Cairncross:
?We were a bit short in defence, especially without Cairncross, so we decided to play our captain there and, as is always the case, Luke did a tremendous job for us ? his performance was first class.?
Looking at the final fortnight of the regular season, Crittenden maintains that Blacktown City will be looking at only Blacktown City:
?The Rockdale loss yesterday certainly helped us as we have opened up a bit of a gap on sixth-spot, though our concern is to look at our own team, our last two matches without worrying what the teams around us are doing. We?ll take each match as it comes,? ended Crittenden.
South Coast Wolves coach Trevor Morgan was visibly disappointed with his side?s showing:
?Extremely disappointed with the result, with the performance there is no doubt about this,? explained Morgan.
?Blacktown City were hungrier, they showed more desperation to win the match and their transition was quicker than ours, it is as simple as that.
?To be fair, they fully deserved the win and three points today.?
?Every team has its time where it goes through a bad run of results, maybe the past few weeks it hasn?t been the best for us and, yes, going into the final part of the season with losses under our belts doesn?t do much for confidence, though we still have two matches to come where we will have the opportunity to hit back, get a result and get back into a winning mentality,? concluded Morgan.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 4 (Travis Major 5? (pen), 61?, Sean Rooney 28?, 53?)
South Coast Wolves 0
Sunday 19th August, 2012
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Adam Susz
Assistant Referees: Adam Coombes and James Tesoriero
Fourth Official: Samuel Grasso
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Ryo Watanabe, 4.Travis Major (14.Adam Jenner 69?), 6.Matt Lewis, 7.Luke Roodenburg (C), 8.Daniel Bragg, 18.Keiren Paull, 11.Yuchi Yamauchi, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 17.Sean Rooney (15.Daniel Vellonio 87?), 10.James Monie (12.David Cain 75?)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Julian Harders, 16.Yianni Perkatis
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Daniel Collison (20.Hayden Durose 78?); 2.Jack Keating, 4.Michael Robinson, 26.Jacob Timpano (C), 5.Samuel Jacob, 8.Chris Nathaniel, 9.Mark Picciolini, 10.Sasho Petrovski (15.Joseph Lavalle 59?), 6.Nick Littler, 13.Peter Simonoski (11.John Martinoski 59?), 17.Ricky Zucco
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Fabian Iacovelli, 7.Cameron Littler
Yellow Cards: Daniel Collison 4?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joseph Carlucci
