IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 Round 8 Review

Bonnyrigg White Eagles remain the only unbeaten side in the competition following Sydney United 58 FC’s loss at Blacktown City on Saturday.
The White Eagles’ impressive run continued with a 4-1 win on the South Coast, meanwhile Rockdale City Suns handed Sydney Olympic a big lesson.
Blacktown Spartans continued its run up the ladder with its third consecutive win over the past three weeks, meanwhile Sutherland too scored some vital points away from home.
Sydney Olympic 0 Rockdale City Suns 4
Rockdale City Suns handed Sydney Olympic an emphatic 4-0 hiding at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday evening, further highlighting the fine work carried out at by Branko Culina and his players this season.
The triumph carried the name of Richard Cardozo who bagged three goals on the night, with Seiya Kawamura netting his side’s opening goal, from a Cardozo corner, midway through the first-half.
Sydney Olympic had a difficult week with a number of players unavailable for training – the biggest names being those of Brett Studman and Phil Makrys, both starting the match with little preparation.
The Suns survived an early scare when goalkeeper Diego Barcena parried an unfortunate Brendan Gan deflection behind for a corner, before Studman saw his looping header come back off the crossbar.
It was all Rockdale from there with Cardozo making it 2-0 in first-half injury time with a fabulous striker’s finish after a tantalising pass by youngster Roberto Speranza – the Suns’ number 20 filled the midfield holding role to perfection in his first starting role for the first team before leaving the field on 62’ minutes with an ankle injury.
Following the break, all hopes of a Blues comeback were dashed when Alec Urosevski won his side a penalty on the hour mark. Cardozo, as calm as ever, converted past Paul Henderson to make it 3-0.
With all the possession with the visitors, substitute Tom Gollins played a neat pass into the penalty-area from the left byline, as Husseyin Jasli forced Henderson into a point-blank save, though the rebound fell to Cardozo who had the easiest of finishes from only one-metre.
South Coast Wolves 1 Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4
The White Eagles’ impressive run of results on the South Coast continued with a dominant 4-1 defeat of the Wolves at John Crehan Park.
Robbie Younis had the visitors ahead in only the 7’ minute, driving home from close-range following some fabulous lead-up play by Aleksander Canak.
Mitchell Long, who was in sensational form throughout the encounter, doubled his side’s lead in the 31’ minute with a fine individual effort. The Bonnyrigg number 10 weaved his way past multiple markers before blasting an unstoppable shot into the back of the net.
Canak got his name onto the scorer’s sheet midway through the second-half when he combined with Tynan Diaz before slotting home from an acute angle, just prior to Younis making it 4-0 with another goal poacher’s effort.
The Wolves, second best for the entire 90’ minutes, did manage to find a consolation goal in the closing stages and it arrived via Chris Nathaniel. The youngster combined well with Michael Robinson before slotting past Matthew Nash.
Blacktown City FC 3 Sydney United 58 FC 1
Blacktown City FC recorded a very important win against fellow title contender Sydney United 58 FC with a 3-1 win at Lily Homes Stadium on Saturday. The home side had the greater share of possession throughout the encounter after going ahead in only the 2’ minute of play. Harris Gaitatzis received a neat pass from Sean Rooney before drilling the ball home past Liam Reddy in the Reds goal.
Ryuji Miyazawa doubled Blacktown City’s lead when he received a neat cross from Andrea Del Brocco before drilling home.
The visitors re-opened the contest via Robbie Mileski in the 27’ minute as he converted from close-range following a square ball from Chris Triantis, though it was the home side that continued to press for more goals.
In the 76’ minute, Blacktown City put the result beyond the reach of Sydney United 58 FC via Miyazawa. A fine turn by the attacking midfielder released Gaitatzis – the striker driving an effort on goal as Reddy parried the ball back into the path of the Japanese import to slot home for 3-1.
The loss is Sydney United 58 FC’s first of the season, meanwhile the win keeps Blacktown City in touch with the top teams on the league ladder.
Blacktown Spartans 4 Central Coast Mariners Academy 0
Blacktown Spartans made it three wins on the trot with a convincing 4-0 defeat of the competition’s ‘new boys’.
The encounter seemed to be evenly matched throughout the first period of play, though a second yellow card to Mariners’ Brady Smith, where a penalty was awarded to the Spartans, proved to be the visitors undoing.
Luke Austin converted from the spot making it 1-0 to Blacktown at the break.
Following the interval Andre Carle made the most of Greg Kondek’s assist by netting once more the Spartans – the midfielder is in a real rich vein of form.
Kondek got his name on the score sheet shortly after with a well-taken goal before Bryan Soane added a fourth 15’ minutes from the end to secure a fabulous win for Ben De Haan’s men.
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 1 Manly United FC 1
A last-ditch moment of magic from Nikola Taneski secured APIA-Leichhardt a share of the spoils against Manly United FC at Lambert Park after the Northern Beaches side seemed destined to secure the three-points.
Matthew Sim had given the visitors the lead early in the second-half, on hand to tap home Scott Balderson’s cross, and it seemed that the Tigers’ chances had gone completely out of the window when Mark Byrnes was given a red card for an uncharacteristic challenge.
In injury-time, Taneski showed his class and composure as he netted past Dylan Mitchell to ensure his side scored a point from the weekend’s match.
Marconi Stallions 1 Sutherland Sharks 2
Sutherland Sharks picked up a massive three-points on the road at Marconi Stallions following its 2-1 win on Sunday evening.
Brad Boardman capitalised on an early defensive error to open the scoring before Panni Nikas squandered a golden chance to double his side’s lead. Panni Nikas missed a big chance from the spot, denied by a brilliant James Chronopoulos save.
Sutherland did double its lead and it was Nikas who made amends for his earlier miss. The striker, once more from the penalty-spot after Brad Boardman was brought down, held his nerve to beat Chronopoulos.
Nahuel Arrarte and Jared Lum combined to set-up Milorad Simonovic on 55’ minutes – Simonovic stroking the ball past Denham to re-open the contest however it was not going to be enough to get Marconi anything from the match as the Sharks administered proceedings to grind out the result.
Milorad Simonovic pulled a goal back for Marconi soon after the restart yet the hosts were unable to forge an equaliser as Sutherland held on to grind out the win. 
-By Joseph Carlucci