SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2 – Round 2 Review

The Northern Tigers and Bankstown City FC are firmly entrenched atop of the SUPA IGA National Premier League Mens 2 competition ladder following the conclusion of Round 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Last week’s opening round saw half of the six games played out end in draws confirming to many, that with a whole host of sides unable to be split at the conclusion of the allotted 90 minutes so early on in the season, that the competitive closeness of the this year’s teams should ensure a congested ladder all season long.
Round 2 however, provided no such headaches in terms of drawn results after Bankstown Berries and Mounties Wanderers FC joined the Northern Tigers and Bankstown City FC in this week’s victor circle and the bragging rights to being the only undefeated teams in the 2013 SUPA IGA National Premier League Mens 2 competition.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
Bankstown Berries 5 v Sydney University FC 1
Veteran referee James Barnes might have garnered all the limelight leading into the Bankstown Berries/Sydney University clash at The Crest on Saturday evening with all of the hype surrounding his two-thousandth game in charge in a career that has spanned more than 42 years, but a solid 5-1 win to the Berries ensured that the home side ended the evening with all of the accolades.
The Berries never really looked in doubt after skipping away to a 2-nil lead after the first 20 minutes of the game, but the inflated scoreline failed to show the impressiveness of Sydney University’s entertaining passing style game that could have provided a much different result if their front line had managed to put away at least a couple of the dozen or so chances presented to them during the opening stanza.
Sydney University’s nerves may have got the better of them as they faced their more formidable opponents, and it was right-back Nathan Amore who must have given his coach Mark McCormick heart palpitations in the opening minute when he crossed the ball from his defensive corner back into his own goal mouth much to the delight of the Berries’ attacker Kodjo Adjassou who was unlucky not to have his first of the night after pushing it wide of the post.
The near miss must have awoken University from their slumber as the ensuing ten minutes bore witness to some classy play from the south-eastern Sydney side as momentum swung in their favour. Stylish striker Daisuke Kataoka, who has speed to burn, had a number of opportunities including a rocket-like shot that appeared certain to find the back of the net but for an accidental ricochet from a Berries defender who was attempting to get out of the way.
Excellent lead-up work from University’s tireless Joel Ainscomb delivered a neat ball through to left-flanker Aaron Kidd who, like Kataoka, looked certain to open his team’s account only to be denied by a copybook tackle by Berries’ enforcer Gary Hill.
From what appeared to be innocuous cross from out wide, and certainly against the run of play, the Berries appeared to catch University’s defensive line napping and a resultant crunch make-or-break tackle between left-back Anthony Villazon and the Berries’ right-forward Adjassou, saw the ball sit up perfectly for the latter who slipped it past an outstretched Julian Harders to open up the scoring for the home side in the 12’ minute.
Despite the goal against the run of play, University were quick to regroup and an ensuing number of classy raids were only denied by some strong defence from the Berries, but a telling blow for the visiting side came in the form of a trademark Berries long ball delivery which caught the University defence up high where the elusive Dimitri Zakilas pounced on a perfectly weighted ball to draw the keeper. A super-human effort from University youngster Harry Ascroft who made a desperate attempt from literally nowhere to execute a brilliant ball-and-all tackle from behind provided his side with a momentary stay of proceedings, but a quick thinking Zakilas recovered quickly to slot the ball past the committed Harders to increase his side’s lead by two goals after just 20 minutes of play.
With a handy lead so early on in the game, the attacking flamboyance of the Berries came to the forefront as the brilliance of distributor Peter Zorbas nearly snared a third for his side after a freakish lofted ball from a free-kick found the head of Hill who rose above the pack to fire just shy of the crossbar.
The Berries physical game dominated the remainder of the first-half and despite University’s front-third failing to capitalise on opportunities created, coach McCormick would have been pleased with his side’s gutsy opening 45 minutes of play – particularly his tireless midfield and defensive lines – to trudge into the sheds at 2-nil down.
When referee Barnes blew his whistle to commence his two-thousandth second-half, the Berries picked up exactly where they had left off just ten minutes prior, and it was the elegant Nick Paras who provided them with their first opportunity following the break when he had the chance to extend his side’s lead, but a quick thinking University defender in Amore, who blocked the shot with no thought of self-preservation allowed his keeper an easy save that ensured his team’s start to the second stanza was a positive one.
Momentum stayed with the Berries, but the graceful short-game passing from the younger University side showed that as the season grows so will their confidence as they continued to take the fight up to their more experienced counterparts, but the skill and poise of their opposition eventually proved too much as the sustained pressure through to the midway point of the second-half paid dividends.
A set play free-kick in the 57’ minute was impeccably delivered by the Berries’ Paras, which found the ever-aware Alex Becerra who spun on a dime and slotted home a healthy ‘left-footer’ from the six-yard line to extend the Berries’ lead by a formidable score of 3-nil.
The Berries continued their long-ball raids with great success, but it was a long range goal from the exciting Chris Gaitatzis who fired off a long range shot to riffle it past an outstretched University keeper to all but signal the end of the night for the visitors.
The youthfulness of the young University side showed resilient maturity beyond their years and their never-say-die attitude was continually applauded by the small but parochial crowd who had braved the frisk evening to support their respective teams. University were eventually rewarded for their perseverance when a clumsy tackle by the Berries’ Kyle Ewart in the 74’ minute within his own 18-yard box brought down Kidd where referee Barnes correctly pointed to the spot.
A cool, calm and collected University captain Peter Crevani made no mistake to open up his side’s account and provided his team with a sniff of hope despite the 4-1 deficit.
The visiting side again came close throughout the dying stages of the match only to be repelled by some solid defence from the home side, but it was the Berries who had the last laugh with an 86’ minute sweeter when replacement John Tsironis, who had only been on the field for a matter of minutes, slotted home a fifth for his side to collect all three points for the Bankstown Berries.
“I think that the 5-1 scoreline probably flattered us a little bit,” admitted Berries coach John Calleja when he spoke to Football NSW shortly after the conclusion of the game.
“”In saying that though there could have been periods where we could have scored more. I was impressed with ‘Uni’ – they played well as they knocked the ball around well. Our possession probably wasn’t as good as what I would have liked it to be – certainly early on, but when we got our defensive structure right which we did in the second-half we started to control the game and that’s perhaps where our experience showed.
“At 2-nil at halftime you’d think we would be pretty comfortable, but that wasn’t the feeling we had as we knew that we always needed that third goal to wrap it up … overall I’m happy with the performance that the boys put in – you’re not going to say that you’re displeased with that result, but we’ve still got a lot of improvement within us.”
Sydney University coach Mark McCormick was praising in his analysis and was in agreement when questioned as to whether the 5-1 scoreline didn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the game.
“I couldn’t agree with you more. Anyone that was here would say that and I’ve just told my players that I’m extremely proud of them,” remarked McCormick.
“Anyone that looks at the 5-1 score in the papers or on the Football NSW website in the morning will think that we got a bit of a working over, but that’s not how it happened as I’m proud of how we played because the philosophy here should be how you can get a ball down and play it and move it, and I think that we did that really well at times here tonight.
“We had a fantastic playing surface to play on tonight and that’s a credit to the Bankstown Berries club who has provided it … we knocked the ball around really well, we have a very young team and perhaps our experience in our final third may have been the telling factor, but for my young team to come here to learn and to dominate possession like we did is a valuable acquisition – we’ve just got to learn to be clinical with it too.”
Perhaps the last word should go to referee James Barnes – whose performance was pristine in his milestone game – when questioned as to whether there were any yellow cards issued all those years ago in his first-ever game (given none were issued in this his two-thousandth game of officialdom)…
“No there weren’t,” quipped the ageless Barnes.
“And I wouldn’t expected to have issued any given the young age of the players at the time – nor would have expected to have given any here tonight as they are all very talented and mature players,” Barnes said with a wry smile.
Bankstown Berries 5 (Kodjo Adjassou 12’, Dimitri Zakilas 18’, Alex Becerra 57’, Chris Gaitatzis 68’, John Tsironis 86’) v Sydney University FC 1 (Peter Crevani pen 75’)
Saturday 30 March 2013
at The Crest
Referee: James Barnes
Assistants: Jian Xu and Valerio Bertucciolo
Bankstown Berries: 1. George Bouropoulos; 2. Adam Savetta, 4. Alex Becerra, 5. Liam McKenna, 6. Gary Hill, 7. Chris Gaitatzis (16. Brad Gibson 75’), 9. Kodjo Adjassou, 13. Kyle Ewart, 14. Nick Paras, 19. Dimitri Zakilas (10. John Tsironis 81’), 22. Peter Zorbas (8. Ante Deur 72’),
Subs not used: 12. Yianni Tsattalios, 40. Nestor Tsioustas,
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney University: 1. Julian Harders; 2. Jonathan Hurtado Pacheo (9. Jason Garrido 53’), 3. Nathan Sansom, 4. Daisuke Kataoka, 5. Harry Ascroft, 6. Peter Crevani, 7. Anthony Villazon (8. Daniel Sotelo 75’), 11. Aaron Kidd, 17. Nathan Amore, 18. Adrian Porcu (13. Alexander Sopina 65’), 20. Joel Ainscomb,
Subs not used: 14. John Chime, 31. Riley Keayes
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Mounties Wanderers FC 3 v Spirit FC 1
For the second-straight week Mounties Wanderers coaches Glenn Lockhart and Aidan Desmond were resigned to finishing the game with less than 11 men, but to their side’s credit are yet to record a loss in the opening two rounds of the season despite the dismissals.
Both the Wanderers and Spirit finished the game with a man short after firstly a Spirit defender was sent from the field after a last-man handball, and then the Wanderers, when young Jake Ingle was given his marching orders after controversially receiving a second yellow card after firstly committing a foul and then retaliating after a Spirit player kicked the ball into him
The Wanderers opened their account early in the first-half when in the 6’ minute Fijian-native Alvin Singh showed amazing ‘hang-time’ to head home a perfectly-timed cross delivered to the back post to give the home side a 1-nil advantage. The Spirit hit back soon after with a penalty of their own in the 18’ minute which was converted by Matthew Clowes to lock the scores up at one-a-piece.
Tragedy struck five minutes later for Spirit when a controversial penalty was awarded when a defender was deemed to have blocked the ball with his arm in the box and given his marching orders. Mark Symington put the Wanderers back in front after making no mistake with the resultant penalty shot before Klime Sekutkoski put the game beyond doubt for the home side in the 30’ minute where the scores remained to the final whistle.
Macarthur Rams 3 v St George FC 2
Throughout the past two seasons St George have had the wood on cross-town rivals Macarthur, but it was the boys from Sydney’s south-west who turned the tables on their nemesis to take the spoils on a brisk Saturday evening at Lynwood Park with an impressive hard-fought 3-2 win.
Macarthur went 1-nil up after Peter Halstead headed home a perfectly timed cross to lead his side into the halftime break before an equaliser to St George’s David Dascal early in the second half brought back horror memories from a week earlier for Macarthur where they squandered a one goal lead at the turn against Bankstown City FC that transpired into a disappointing 2-1 loss at fulltime. However, Macarthur were determined to erase the hoodoo of recent times against St George and fired back with two quick goals through gun forwards Almir Dizdaric and Shannon Hankin, where both scored from crosses after some fine lead up work by the Macarthur midfield and outside backs.
“It was an all round good team effort from all of my boys against a very good St George side,” Rams coach Claudio Canosa told Football NSW after his team’s win.
“We knew that it had to be a team effort and not just one or two individuals standing out and that is how it was, sure Peter Halstead was very solid at the back, but the team as a whole stuck to our game plan and they all did their jobs very well.
“When the scores were locked-up at 1-all our strikers showed a lot character through hard work, they created spaces and then it paid off when they scored our two quick goals.”
Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC 2 v Bankstown City FC 3
Bankstown City FC were the only ‘away team’ to record a win on the road during Round 2 of the SUPA IGA National Premier League Mens 2 competition and in doing so nabbed joint-top spot on the ladder.
The hungry Bankstown outfit, hot on the heels of their one-goal come-from-behind win against Macarthur Rams in Round 1 last week, did just enough throughout Sunday’s game against Mount Druitt Town Rangers to grind out a gutsy 3-2 victory at Popondetta Park.
Goals to former Socceroo star Sash Petrovski, the lively Rueben Lagos and goalscoring machine Gosue Sama earned George Nohra’s side the three valuable points.
The now winless Rangers have only conceded a total of two goals throughout the opening two rounds of the season but will need to improve their attacking prowess as they strive for their maiden win of the season.  
Hills Brumbies 2 v Parramatta FC 1
Hills Brumbies were beneficiaries of a first-half penalty where a Parramatta defender brought down a Brumbies player from behind which was converted by young Ryan Gibson on debut. Gibson, with nerves of steel, calmly slotted the ball passed an outstretched keeper into the bottom left-hand corner to land a decisive goal to guarantee that his team would be playing from the front.
Parramatta received a penalty of their own minutes later, but failed to capitalise on the opportunity when Brumbies’ keeper Nenad Vekic dived to his right at full stretch to pull off a brilliant save to ensure that side held the lead at the break.
The South Granville-based side came out with all cylinders firing in the second-half and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the home side, and the sustained pressure paid off deep into the game when Parramatta delivered the equaliser with just ten minutes remaining on the clock.
The 87’ minute provided the defining factor in the game when Brumbies’ hero Keunike Maralit delivered the fatal blow to Parramatta when he bent a beautiful ball around the keeper to sneak it inside the far post to snare the game 2-1 for the Brumbies.
Northern Tigers 1 v Fraser Park FC 0
In what was billed as the match-up of the round, heavyweights Northern Tigers and Fraser Park FC went toe-to-toe in humid conditions at Mills Park where a lone goal to the Tigers’ Stefan de Jesus proved to be the difference in a low scoring affair.
The Tigers earned a split decision heading into the half-time break courtesy of the de Jesus’s goal in the 25’ minute following a piece of individual brilliance where he executed a perfectly weighted shot that curled sweetly into the top right corner. A resurgent Fraser Park exited the sheds with renewed vigour to take the fight up to the home side, but in the end the solitary goal was enough for the home side to secure all three points on offer.
“It certainly was a hard-fought win and I’m sure all of the boys were pretty tired there back in the sheds after the game,” admitted Tigers coach Jason Eager to Football NSW after his side’s victory.
“Stefan [de Jesus] had a very strong game today, but Fraser Park has some real strike power up front so I’ve got to give credit for the win to our entire back four and our keeper Pagey [Stuart Page] for keeping it strong and tight, but in reality the entire team is to be commended on their defensive effort.”

Scores: 2013 SUPA IGA National Premier League NSW Mens 2 – ROUND 2:

MACARTHUR RAMS 3 (A. Dizdaric 1, P. Halstead 1, S. HANKIN 1) ST GEORGE FC 2 (D. DASCAL 1), BANKSTOWN BERRIES 5 (C. Gaitatzis 1, J. TSIRONIS 1, Alex Becerra 1, D. Adjassou 1, K. ADJASSOU 1) SYDNEY UNIVERSITY SFC 1 (P. CREVANI 1), MOUNTIES WANDERERS FC 3 (K. SEKUTKOSKI 1, A. Singh 1, M. SYMINGTON 1) SPIRIT FC 1 (M. CLOWES 1), MT DRUITT TOWN RANGERS FC 2 BANKSTOWN CITY FC 3, NORTHERN TIGERS 1 (S. De Jesus 1) FRASER PARK FC 0, HILLS BRUMBIES 2 PARRAMATTA FC 1

-By Gary McDonald