State League Two Round 2 Review
Southern Branch rules the State League 2 roost following a second successive victory to start the season, Stanmore Hawks chalked up their first ‘W’, Hurstville FC annihilated Schofields Scorpions 10-zip, and two feisty draws marked the outcome of round two results.
Belmore United 2 (Paul Paras, Pablo Cardozo) Southern Branch 4 (Evan Leedham, Daniel Dawkins, James Eldred, Jordan Haddow)
Western Condors 2 (Elias Navarrete, Gabriel Zihori) Fairfield City Lions 2 (Coskun Tabak, Terukita Ito)
Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Haisam Morhi) Southern Bulls 1 (Zach Chapman)
Stanmore Hawks 4 (Neil Philippou 2, Lachlan Wright, Robert Bruno) Enfield Rovers 1 (Vince Cosentino)
Hurstville FC 10 (Michael Posavac, Dennis Pandza, Stephan Perak, Dario Borovickic, James Galic 2, Jonathan Joannidis 4) Schofields Scorpions 0
Southerners plunder Belmore
They came, they saw, they conquered! Southern Branch soared to the top of the league after beating Belmore United 4-2 at Blick Oval on Sunday afternoon and making it two wins from two outings.
The excellent result was made even better as it came against solid opposition, followed a grade-20 4-0 win, and extinguished any notion the dreaded freeway road trip would be Branch’s undoing this winter.
Only Evan Leedham’s first half strike for the visitors separated the two sides at halftime and the game was still in the balance when Paul Paras showed his skill in turning and scoring despite two defenders hanging off him to level it up at 1-1 moments into the second half.
Daniel Dawkins restored Branch’s lead shortly afterward when he turned his defender inside out in the six-yard box and coolly slotted under a diving Belmore keeper to make it 2-1 just minutes before little James Eldred made the dash from fullback to bob up for a well-taken close-range header that doubled his team’s advantage.
United kept in touch via a Pablo Cardozo penalty with 20 minutes left, but a low Jordan Haddow drive with five minutes to go blasted into the back of the net to seal an outstanding 4-2 victory.
Southern coach Brod Crighton is impressed by what his young charges have displayed so early into their state league campaign.
“We have three kids from our under-16’s last year playing first grade and they just keep getting better every game,” he said. “Our experienced players are organising these young blokes and they’re just coming good each time.”
“We played a decent side in Belmore and they had a few players who were very dangerous and created a lot of opportunities… but we played good structured football, kept our shape, got down the lines and didn’t waste it in front of goals. They just didn’t have the answers in the end.”
“What’s really good is the kids who are stepping up and playing well. They’re starting to mature, and when our new signings get fully match fit it can only get better and sharper – if we can stay injury-free.”
Belmore United 2 (Paul Paras, Pablo Cardozo) Southern Branch 4 (Evan Leedham, Daniel Dawkins, James Eldred, Jordan Haddow)
Minotaurs, Bulls horn-locked
In a game that both sides could’ve won Hurstville City Minotaurs and Southern Bulls finished with 10 men each and a frustrating 1-1 scoreline at Punchbowl Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Hurstville grabbed the ascendancy when Luis Escalante split the Bulls defence with a sublime pass that freed up Haisam Morhi and the sharpshooter didn’t disappoint, cutting through two defenders to finish off nicely in the 38th minute.
Leading 1-0 the Minotaurs chances were further boosted by the dismissal of a Bulls player shortly after the restart, but they wasted numerous chances before a moment of stupidity from Sasho Stevoski, receiving a second yellow card for dissent straight after being cautioned for foul play, saw him marched from the field to restore equal playing numbers.
Sure enough, the Bulls made Hurstville pay when Zach Chapman converted a penalty five minutes out from fulltime to grab a deserved point.
Both coaches felt their side should’ve won, and the fact both sides missed so many opportunities, underlined the game’s competitiveness and poor finishing.
Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis would dearly love to find his players’ on-off switch after a different Hurstville from last week’s win over Stanmore turned up to play against Bulls.
“It’s a funny game. One week they’re in party mode and the next game they’re just walking around the field like they’re in the park somewhere,” he said. “We didn’t play to our best. Last Sunday they really wanted it and today I had to talk to them from the sideline to encourage them… I shouldn’t have to do that; they are better than that.” Asked if the heat had anything to do with it, Sarikakis offered: “If it was too hot I’ll change the weather for them next week!”
“Oh well, we had our chances and didn’t take them, and should’ve finished the game off when we were up 1-0 with a player advantage. To [the Bulls] credit they had their own chances. It’s just good to get some points and not have to play catch-up over the season.”
Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon believed his side wasted a glut of possession by not taking the opportunities that came their way.
“It was one of those games we just couldn’t finish them off. It was like being in a boxing match where someone’s taking all the punches and isn’t falling over. We hit the post, the crossbar, had plenty of corners, but just as we’re thinking it’s not going to happen for them either they punish us on the counter attack,” he said.
“The players came in at halftime a little upset but all the positive signs were there with possession and fitness. Credit to Hurstville for plugging away and pulling something out of the hat, but we see it as two points lost and not one point gained.”
Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Haisam Morhi) Southern Bulls 1 (Zach Chapman)
Lions, Condors stalemate
Two late goals helped Western Condors to a nerve-wracking 2-2 draw with neighbours Fairfield City Lions at Valentine Park on Sunday afternoon.
Coskun Tabak’s 30th minute strike gave Fairfield a 1-0 halftime lead and they were looking the goods when Terukita Ito doubled the advantage 10 minutes into the second term.
But the Condors soared as the Lions wilted in the afternoon heat and an 85th-minute Elias Navarrete penalty narrowed the deficit before a Gabriel Zihori made the most of a beautiful pass up the middle to squeeze between two defenders and drive an equaliser into the right corner just minutes out from fulltime.
Lions coach Tony Basha believed his side would’ve wrapped up the points if a few decisions had gone their way, but he was more disappointed with the way his players didn’t kill the game off anyway.
“We outplayed them and should’ve scored a few more. They had very few chances until late in the game,” he said. “The boys played well so I’m not upset with them at all. The hot conditions played a factor as we got tired at the back-end of the game and they started pumping long balls to take advantage of that. But, you know, teams making the most of their chances is the beauty of football.”
“We should’ve done the job… but competitions aren’t won in the first round, so we’ll take the draw and prepare for next week. We’re still confident of a good season.”
Condors coach Barry Zambrano didn’t have much hair left as he waited patiently for his team’s second half resurrection, but he always believed it was coming.
“They did tire, and I knew we would come in good in the second half – the same sort of thing happened last week against Branch. We changed our formation at halftime to counteract what they were doing and that gave us a bit more go forward,” he said.
“We’re still finding our rhythm. We had five players out this weekend due to one of them getting married and that provided the opportunity for some of the 20s to push through. Matthew Putanac played at right back and cemented his spot with a great performance. I’m quietly confident it’s all coming together well.”
Western Condors 2 (Elias Navarrete, Gabriel Zihori) Fairfield City Lions 2 (Coskun Tabak, Terukita Ito)
Hawks peck Rovers
Stanmore Hawks erased last week’s opening round loss to Minotaurs from obscurity with an impressive 4-1 win over debutants Enfield Rovers at Pratten Park on Sunday afternoon.
The game was two minutes old when Neil Philippou latched onto a Lachlan Wright cross to volley home Stanmore’s opener only for Enfield’s Vince Cosentino to pounce on a poor back-pass and level the scores at 1-1 moments later.
A 10th-minute penalty miss by Philippou hardly mattered when he won a long-ball header and struck the back of the net to put Hawks back in front on the quarter-hour.
Wright extended the lead when he beat two players, crossed into goal and had the ball headed back to him by the defence. The Futsalroo showed his gratitude by smashing the ball back into goal to make it 3-1 at halftime.
A more tempered second half was broken by Robbie Bruno’s 30m shot thunderbolt to stamp a 4-1 victory for Stanmore.
Hawks coach George Paradisis couldn’t have been happier. “From the first to the 90th minute we fully dominated,” he said. “The players controlled the ball, created a lot of opportunities, and it could’ve been a lot worst for Enfield as they didn’t trouble us much at all. I really hope they get some decent results but it’s going a tough first-year for them.”
“I have to be happy after the performance the players put in, but they have to consolidate on this and keep putting in. I had a lot of young boys playing today, including three 18-year-olds, and they really played well and fit in well, and that puts good pressure on the older players. It’ll certainly make them turn up to training and put in a better effort to try and keep their spots.”
Paradisis said next week’s match against Uni of NSW would be a better indication of where they stood in the competition. “It’s going to be a big test against Uni as I think they’re the favourites; the way they played against us in a 3-1 trial win was impressive,” he said. “It’s a long season and not every game will go our way but the players looked good to me today.”
Rovers football manager Joe Piazza has had better days but wasn’t about to let one result dismiss his side’s positive notes. “It was tough and we’ve been copping the state league one teams first up but [with Uni of NSW in Tuesday night’s catch-up match and then Southern Bulls next weekend] it doesn’t get any easier,” he said.
“Stanmore dominated possession today, we scored off our one chance, and it was just one-way traffic. But it’s a building year for us, everything is brand new, the players knew it wouldn’t be easy and we can only get better. We got a football lesson today but the boys can still hold their heads up; it’s just about fixing the problems.”
Stanmore Hawks 4 (Neil Philippou 2, Lachlan Wright, Robert Bruno) Enfield Rovers 1 (Vince Cosentino)
Hurstville smash Schofields
Hurstville FC filled the onion bag with a 10-goal blitz against an under-prepared Schofields Scorpions at the CSI Ground on Sunday afternoon, Jonathan Joannidis snaring four to top the scoring charts.
James Galic added a double while Michael Posavac, Dennis Pandza, Stephan Perak and Dario Borovickic also netted to round out a dominant scoreline, despite the send-off of attacking midfielder Paul Gagro after just 30 minutes.
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric didn’t mince his words. “We put them to the sword, went on with it for the full 90 and it was certainly a positive reaction to last week’s disappointing loss [1-0 to Belmore],” he said.
“You could tell the boys were fired up and just took the game by the scruff of the neck with some very good football. I’m just really happy with the performance today, especially in the heat. Even at 5-0 up at halftime we just stuck to the same game plan, took off a few older players to give the signings a go and they all did well.
“It’s a sense of relief to get off the mark, really, and it certainly boosts the confidence ahead of next week’s game against Minotaurs.”
Schofields football general manager Alex Soncini summed it up succinctly. “It was a heck of the day. It was our first game together and the scoreline didn’t really reflect the effort from the players, most of who had to double up [16 players available for both grades]. I even played goalkeeper because we just ran out of puff and I wanted to help out.”
“Realistically we’re a month behind. We will definitely be a different Scorpions in a month’s time when we have players into their proper positions and a few more players on the bench.
Hurstville FC 10 (Michael Posavac, Dennis Pandza, Stephan Perak, Dario Borovickic, James Galic 2, Jonathan Joannidis 4) Schofields Scorpions 0
Next week’s games
State League 2 round 3 pits Fairfield City Lions against Belmore United at Norford Park, Southern Branch versus Schofields Scorpions at Ison Park, Southern Bulls tackle Enfield Rovers at Ernie Smith Reserve, Stanmore Hawks host Uni of NSW at Arlington Oval, while the battle of Hurstville between FC and Minotaurs takes place at Hurstville Oval. All first grade kick offs are at 3pm on Sunday (April 21). Western Condors have the bye. Some games may be rescheduled to not clash with Sunday’s A-League grand final between Western Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners at the Sydney Football Stadium.
-By Dan De Nardi
