Sharks bite Spartans

Sutherland Sharks continued its fine run of form with a well-deserved 3-1 defeat of Blacktown Spartans at home on Saturday evening.
A pleasantly mild evening at Seymour Shaw Park saw a thrilling contest take place between home side Sutherland Sharks and the visiting Blacktown Spartans who were fresh off making club history by winning their third straight game at this level last weekend.
The opening minutes began at feverish pace as each sought to out manoeuvre the other to gain the upper hand in the early exchanges, perhaps more due to what was at stake than according to the game plan.
Sutherland were the more patient in approaching the match with Blacktown looking the more excitable, although the home side did need to up the tempo in order to stem the onrushing visitors who were making headway without creating any meaningful or clear cut opportunities.
By the same token, Carlos Saliadarre wasn’t worried at the other either with the play condensed mainly in the middle third of the park.
Greg Kondek made a darting run through the middle and latched onto a long punt from midfield before laying it off to Daniel Wilkinson who had to hurry to get a shot away in the 10′ minute for Blacktown that squirmed wide of the upright as the visitors pushed hard up field.
Nathan Elasi replied for the home side when attempting to slip Nick Olsen in but the ball was ushered out for a corner by Luka Dukic that was cleared with ease by the Spartans defence.
It wasn’t long before the Sharks did hit the lead when Olsen returned the favour and Elasi lashed the ball home in the 16′ minute, the Spartans defence leaving Saliadarre glaringly exposed.
Saliadarre needed to be at his sharpest to prevent Elasi and the Sharks again moments later when beating away another fine effort and it was the same player who fired straight at the Spartans stopper in the 20′ minute as the home side really had their tails up.
To their credit it was the Spartans who rallied and again took the match to Sutherland, forcing Denham to react quickly and coming close when from a corner in the 24′ minute former Sharks player Tyson Rhodes and Luka Dukic rose together and combined to head the ball narrowly over the bar with Denham stranded.
Wilkinson unleashed a 20-yard blockbuster for the Spartans in the 30′ minute that dipped and swirled as it sped toward goal that had Denham sprawling to keep out at full stretch to thwart a certain goal to restore parity once more.
Panni Nikas gave Sutherland a little extra breathing space when played in by Elasi and thumping home a shot from the edge of the box in the 38′ minute to double the home side’s lead.
The score line was somewhat flattering to Sutherland as Blacktown had made most of the first-half running with the exception being the home side took advantage of their opportunities when in position whilst the Spartans hadn’t and although hurried for much of the opening 45′ minutes the Sharks never looked stretched.
Blacktown were perhaps at their most dangerous from set-pieces with the tall timber of Rhodes, Dukic and Nathan Millgate making themselves busy in the box forcing Denham to come through traffic and punch clear on a couple of occasions.
Sutherland, as they are capable of doing, soaked up the pressure, controlled the play and hit with pace and efficiency on the break, taking their chances and were worth their lead at the break, albeit hard fought, with Blacktown wondering how they had had that much possession yet found themselves two goals down.
Sutherland came out of the traps quickly on the resumption with Brad Boardman going close before Elasi added his second and the Sharks third of the evening in the 47′ minute with another unstoppable drive after the Spartans defence had again gone awol.
Blacktown were caught cold after the break with Saliadarre called into action shortly after to deny any further increase to the score by beating away another Sharks effort as the home side turned the screws and applied enough pressure to secure the points with some exquisite free-flowing passing football.
Nick Tsattalios centred a delightful ball for Boardman that Saliadarre managed to reach in the 59′ minute to stop the Sharks’ striker reaching with his head and who was again denied by the athletic shot-stopper seconds later from a rasping shot heading inside the near post with the goalkeeper, not for the first time, left carelessly exposed as the visitors pushed on trying to reduce the deficit.
Saliadarre was making a habit of denying Boardman and tipped over a stinging effort in the 69′ minute with the resulting corner bundled away from the area.
Kondek had a decent chance in the 71′ minute to add a goal for the Spartans but his shot went horribly wide of the mark in one of Blacktown’s better opportunities.
At the other end, Sutherland could have extended their lead further when Olsen flashed a centre across the box that no-one was able to get a foot to.
Chris Naumoff was sent on his way from fellow Sharks substitute Jamie McMaster but was harried out wide before the corner was batted down and away from Saliadarre once more who, in a losing side, was having a tremendous match.
Greg Kondek did manage a consolation goal in the 83′ minute when finding the net for Blacktown but it was too little too late on the night.
Blacktown will certainly win more than they should lose with the style of football they are playing but on this occasion they came up against the masters of art.
Sharks coach Robbie Stanton stated after the final whistle:
“Blacktown got the game going with the high press up field and what that did was to get us into a quick mode and from there we just absorbed the pressure and for the first 15′ minutes I thought they did extremely well.
“I think we scored about that time and it took the wind out of their sails and then of course we got another goal and absorbed the pressure yet again before hitting them up once more and adding the third.
“In the final 10′ or 15′ minutes we took the foot off the peddle and perhaps became a little complacent and let them in for one but in the last week or so we’ve had a heavy workload so that possibly just showed up a bit but overall it’s a win and another step forward for us."
Ben De Haan replied for the Spartans by adding:
“I have to be honest and say hats off to Sutherland tonight, they scored some fantastic goals, they really did. They were class finishes, they had purpose and everything you want from your own team. The sad point is that it was against us so that’s a pity but you have to suck that up.
“We are trying to play good attacking and attractive football and the final ball option may be slightly lacking at the moment but we remain positive and hopefully we’ll get the breaks we deserve we’ll hopefully start picking up the points for our efforts, especially if we can take a leaf out of the Sharks book and play the way they did tonight I am sure it will happen.
“It would be hard to stop a team like Sutherland to be honest. They are well drilled, have some great players and well coached with a terrific structure and for me they are probably the best side we have played this season.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 3 (Elasi 16′, 47′ Nikas 38′)
Blacktown Spartans 1 (Kondek 85′)
Saturday 11th May, 2013
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Referee: Kevin Peddie
Assistant Referees: Valerio Bertuccioli & James Tesoriero
Fourth Official: Brett Lorimer
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.Nick Littler, 6.Matthew Gordon, 7.Nathan Elasi, 8.Nick Olsen, 9.Brad Boardman (19.Chris Naumoff 76′), 13.Reo Morinaga, 14.Nick Stavroulakis (C), 15.Perry Moustakas, 23.Panni Nikas (10.Jamie McMaster 70′), 33.Nick Tsattalios
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Michael Stuart, 4.James McKenzie, 22.Andrew Depta
Yellow Cards: Gordon 26′, Denham 90’+1′
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown Spartans: 1.Carlos Saliadarre (C); 2.Luke Austin (17.Damir Prodanovic 64′), 3.Nathan Millgate, 4.Luka Dukic, 5.Daniel Wilkinson (9.Jun Kato 59′), 6.Greg Kondek, 10.Bryan Soane, 11.Tyson Rhodes (14.Luke Jenner 75′), 15.Andre Carle, 25.Corey Biczo, 38.Zac Freeburn
Substitutes Not Used: 19.Simon Zahra, 20.Luke Turnbull
Yellow Cards: Biczo 88′
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Natan Elasi (SS)
2 – Nicholas Olsen (SS)
1 – Greg Kondek (BS)
 -By Micky Brock