State League Two Round 4 Review
Red cards, goals galore, a jigsaw puzzle of a ladder – State League 2 round four had more excitement than a kid with keys to the candy store!
Hurstville FC shot to the top of the ladder with a 3-1 win against Enfield Rovers, University of NSW finally kicked a football and came away with a 2-1 win over Southern Bulls, a nil-all deadlock held Hurstville City Minotaurs and Southern Branch together, Western Condors broke through for a first-up victory 1-0 over Belmore, and Fairfield City Lions ravaged Schofields Scorpions 10-1. Stanmore Hawks had the bye, while Hurstville FC beat neighbours Hurstville City Minotaurs 2-1 in their round-three midweek catch-up derby.
On the goalscoring front Hurstville FC’s Jonathan Joannidis leads the way with seven goals, ahead of Lions duo Farres Aoun (4) and Julian Aguirre (3), and Minotaurs ace Haisam Morhi (3).
First grade
University of NSW 2 (Rocco Luca, Michael Karagiannis) Southern Bulls 1 (Troy Eedy)
Enfield Rovers 1 (Steven Bandouvakis) Hurstville FC 3 (Jonathan Joannidis, Paul Gagro, Dario Borovickic)
Belmore United 0 Western Condors 1 (Elias Navarrete)
Schofields Scorpions 1 () Fairfield City Lions (Farres Aoun x4, Julian Aguirre x3, Shahin Matanagh, Josh Tabak, Darko Ubiparipovic)
Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Southern Branch 0
Rd 3 catch-up: Hurstville FC 2 (Jonathan Joannidis x2) Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Haisam Morhi)
Uni pen Bulls
University of NSW finally got their State League campaign going with an impressive 2-1 defeat of early flyers Southern Bulls on a crisp Saturday evening at David Phillips Field.
A tense opening period failed to separate the two quality sides and it took a beautiful Rocco Luca freekick to spark the game into life early in the second half, Michael Karagiannis extending Uni’s lead midway through the term before a strong Bulls finish culminated in Troy Eedy’s goal – Uni hanging on for a tough victory.
The visitors were coming off a hectic schedule involving state league and Waratah Cup commitments (Bulls looking good at 2-1 up in their 3rd-round Cup clash with Nepean on Wednesday night before a couple of close offside calls saw them go down 3-2) but they still looked sharp early on against a match-starved Uni.
A 0-0 halftime score underlined the tense atmosphere at David Phillips but Uni came out of the blocks better in the second half, some nice build-up in the middle of the pitch resulting in a good through-ball to Luca outside the box who unleashed and placed neatly into the corner for a 1-0 lead.
A great combination between Henry Kamleitner and Michael Karagiannis saw the latter finish off well to extend the home side’s advantage midway through the term but the Bulls weren’t done with yet and surged forward time and again, a freekick from outside the box inside the last 10 minutes halving the deficit to make for a thrilling finish, but the south-west Sydney side couldn’t find another breach and Uni held on for a 2-1 win.
Uni coach Jorge Piatta was pleased with the result and just as relieved to start the season in general. “Finally,” he said, “It was a very positive result for us but, to be honest, both teams were very good. [At halftime] I told the players to keep playing their football as it was the only way to create chances, as well as being important to the supporters who come to see fantastic football. Sometimes it is hard to be consistent, but the philosophy has to be to keep the ball on the ground and I think the players did that beautifully.”
“We were against very strong opposition who knew how to play football, and they deserved to score as they were pushing us into our own half for the end of the game. I’m very proud of my boys because this a new team and one for the future – [goalkeeper] Marcus Gabriel is only 17 I think and was very good for his first grade debut, confident and played wonderful.
“We still need to get better because the ambition is to do well this year, tactically in particular, and the boys are capable of improving for the benefit of the team and the club. We respect every opposition in the league, and it looks like being a very competitive year, but we are confident of doing a good job and have to be committed to the project and rebuilding the team after being relegated.”
Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon believed injuries disrupted his side’s momentum. “We were going really well in the first half, dominating for long periods, but we had to make a few changes in the second half and made a few schoolboy errors in defence which cost us the result,” he said.
“Having said that, we were down two goals and staring at an ugly defeat but we got back into it to give ourselves a chance. We’ve had nearly nine games in the last six weeks and fatigue was evident while uni are fresh. It did effect them in the first 30 minutes – they couldn’t keep up with us – but to their credit they kicked in as the game went on and made the most of it.
“I’m very happy with my squad, there’s not a problem anywhere on the field and player competition is very healthy. Our finishing is effecting us but it’s been more about us giving opportunities away and not making our opposition work hard for them. [From the opening results] The competition looks healthy, I just hope some of the struggling teams don’t paint an ugly picture [for State League 2].”
University of NSW 2 (Rocco Luca, Michael Karagiannis) Southern Bulls 1 (Troy Eedy)
Branch hold Minotaurs
Australia’s wildlife became even more endangered as Hurstville City Minotaurs shot all over the place in a 0-0 stalemate with 10-men Southern Branch at sun-drenched Punchbowl Oval on Sunday afternoon.
In an early top-five stoush Branch did a very good job in gaining something from a match they probably shouldn’t have to remain unbeaten in their debut state league show as Hurstville wasted a glut of chances, none more so than an opening-minute intercepted back-pass that freed up Haisam Morhi with no-one to beat, only to blast over the bar and sum up what lay ahead of the Minotaurs.
Even when Branch stopper Kel Ferguson was red-carded for a brutal challenge just after the interval Hurstville shots went everywhere but on target, and the fulltime whistle drew their agony to an end as the game finished 0-0.
Hurstville general Peter Sarikakis called on the heavens to answer the question that flows from every coach’s lips: “God only knows how they can miss from so close!” he pondered. “They played alright but if you don’t put them away you’re not going to win. I believe we’ve dropped a few points already – we can beat a strong team like Stanmore [in the first round] and don’t put away the other teams; but there’s no excuse because we didn’t put the ball into the net.”
“I’m not panicking, but it is frustrating. We have a good team but they need to turn it on together. If you find out where the switch is let me know; until then, they just have to keep going until they click.”
Branch coach Brod Crighton was delighted with the efforts of his squad. “We were down on numbers [23 players for both teams] and under the pump, [Minotaurs] just couldn’t shoot, so I’m happy to take something away from the match,” he said.
“[Youth grader] Josh Taska was thrown into the thick of it and did very well [his parents had driven him on a five-hour round-trip from Narooma to play] and we had to readjust re-again after the send-off, so I’m pleased with the point. After they missed an open goal after 30 seconds I thought we might have some luck today and we did. I’d say a few koalas and kookaburras will be calling Medicare after the number of [Hurstville’s] shots hit the trees behind goal. There’s still a lot to work on at training, but effort-wise I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Southern Branch 0
Condors ground Belmore
A sweet Elias Navarette freekick lifted Western Condors to their first win of the season, 1-0 over hapless Belmore United at Blick Oval on Sunday afternoon.
United were up against it when John Skufris was dismissed for a reckless challenge midway through the opening term and it didn’t take long for Condors to swoop, Elias Navarette placing a 25m freekick past a diving Belmore keeper moments later to make it 1-0 at halftime.
The home side kept at it and produced many chances despite being a player down but Condors held onto their slender advantage to keep the score unchanged at fulltime and maintain a pulsating record between the two state league rivals – no more than a goal separating the sides in any of their past seven meetings.
Condors coach Barry Zambrano was thrilled but would like his side to make be a bit more ruthless in front of goal. “We couldn’t capitalise, especially in the first half, and the second half was a lot closer,” he said. “Our defence is coming together well, we’ve worked on that the last few weeks and it’s paying off, but I would like a few more goals. We don’t expect to be at our peak until mid-season but we still want to progress every game and get stronger.”
“[State League 2] looks like it will be a very competitive and very tight season, maybe one goal in it in a lot of games, so to take points away from home does a world of good for the team. We started with a loss, got a draw and now a win against Belmore who are always hard to beat at home, so it’s a good direction for us.”
Belmore coach George Lazarou was disappointed not to get something from a match they were well in. “We created the whole game and obviously had to try and consolidate after going a man down. They didn’t trouble us too much,” he said.
“I’m happy with all of my boys; they held their shape the whole game and created chances even with a player down. In the end we have to cop the loss – I would’ve liked three points today as now we have to chase a bit, so we’ll see how we go. Belmore are never out of it.”
Belmore United 0 Western Condors 1 (Elias Navarrete)
Hurstville defeat Enfield
Hurstville FC shot to the top of the leaderboard with a hard-fought Sunday afternoon win against Enfield Rovers at Pratten Park, second-half goals to Dario Borovickic and Paul Gagro dismantling a solid showing from an improving Rovers.
The visitors had two clear-cut chances before Jonathan Joannidis finally broke through on the half-hour mark, but Enfield stuck in it with a goalmouth scramble equaliser to tough midfielder Steven Bandouvakis a minute before halftime. Hurstville snuck back in front when Dario Borovickic was brought down inside the box and converted his own second-half penalty and FC made sure of the result when Paul Gagro made the most of a swift counter-attack with 10 minutes to go.
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric was delighted with his team’s response following a tough 2-1 win over Minotaurs in a midweek catch-up. “Our keeper was sent off a minute before halftime [against Minotaurs] and they equalised from the ensuing penalty [Joannidis scoring the match-winner with 20 minutes to go], and the boys did very well to win with a player down,” he said.
“I knew today’s game would come down to fitness and on a hot day the boys backed up really well. We controlled the game for the most part but didn’t punish them and missed quite a few chances… but Enfield had a real go, they didn’t sit back at all and really tested us. It took a lot of effort from our boys to get the win and I’d say [Rovers] have been the best organised side so far. If they keep improving they’ll cause plenty of teams trouble.”
Enfield football manager Joe Piazza said the game could’ve been closer and was happy with his side’s progress. “We dominated patches today and the game was definitely winnable, even at 2-1 down we were playing very good football… but they took the chances to deserve their win,” he said.
“The play we’re developing is to be positive in attack; we’re trying to play to a certain style and the players are getting there. I’m very happy with the effort – we tried to create opportunities and you don’t win matches otherwise.”
Enfield Rovers 1 (Steven Bandouvakis) Hurstville FC 3 (Jonathan Joannidis, Dario Borovickic, Paul Gagro)
Lions demolish Scorpions
Fairfield City Lions enjoyed a Sunday afternoon feast on Schofields Scorpions 10-1 at the CSI Ground, leaving the historic Sydney club staring down the barrel of a long, cold, bare winter.
Fairfield 20’s got the ball rolling with a 18-0 rout, first grade coach Tony Basha winding back the clock to net six, and the mane Lions notched up a 10-1 victory in just as mechanical a fashion to stake a top-five spot – Farres Aoun bagged four, Julian Aguirre a hat-trick and goals to Shahin Matanagh, Josh Tabak and Darko Ubiparipovic rounded out the shellacking.
Lions coach Tony Basha dipped his hat to an opposition that toiled hard in the heat and against the odds, but he also praised the football played by his charges. “I felt a bit for Schofields as they really tried and had players backing up, but our boys kept the ball well and didn’t give them anything,” he said.
“Football is a week-to-week process so we’ll take the three points and run. This result’s now behind us and we have to get ready to face some tough competition ahead. I just hope Schofields can pick up a few more players because that’s all they need for a decent squad.”
Schofields Scorpions 1 () Fairfield City Lions (Farres Aoun x4, Julian Aguirre x3, Shahin Matanagh, Josh Tabak, Darko Ubiparipovic)
Next week’s games
State League 2 round five matches kick-off with Southern Bulls at home to Stanmore Hawks at Ernie Smith Reserve on Saturday afternoon (3pm). Sunday afternoon games (3pm) include Fairfield City Lions hosting Hurstville City Minotaurs at Rydalmere Park, Enfield Rovers travelling down the freeway to play Southern Branch at Ison Park, leaders Hurstville FC welcoming University of NSW to Hurstville Oval, and Western Condors meeting Schofields Scorpions. Belmore United have the bye.
-By Dan De Nardi
