State League 2 round 6 Review
Hurstville FC stay top but a string of spectacular round 7 results has thrown the State League 2 ladder into even more chaos.
Stanmore Hawks smashed competition leaders Hurstville 5-1, Fairfield City Lions stay unbeaten with a 6-1 win over Enfield Rovers, Western Condors defeated Hurstville City Minotaurs 2-0, Uni of NSW downed Southern Branch 2-0, and Belmore United beat Schofield Scorpions 3-0.
With all the catch-up games still to play it’s near impossible to say who’s got the early advantage save to say it’s guaranteed only a handful of points will separate the top half of the competition over the next few weeks.
Interestingly, just three draws have resulted from the opening 26 games, and visiting teams have chalked up more victories than the home side (12 to 11). State League 2 also chalked up its 100th goal (at an average of 3.7 per game) and found its 55th scorer just six rounds into the season – excitement plus that continues to grow.
UNSW 2 (Thomas O’Neill, Joel Silvestre) Southern Branch 0
Stanmore Hawks 5 (LachlanvWright, Neil Philippou x2, Ciao Roque x2) Hurstville FC 1 (Dario Borovickic)
Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Western Condors 2 (Christian Alvarez, Mauricio Navarrete)
Enfield Rovers 1 Fairfield City Lions 6
Schofields Scorpions 0 Belmore United 3 (Andrew Lazarou, Pablo Cordozo x2)
Uni break Branch
A couple of opportunistic goals helped UNSW inflict Southern Branch’s first state league loss in a 2-0 shutout at David Phillips Field on Saturday evening.
Both sides were guilty of blowing chances until eastern suburbs junior Tom O’Neill fired a close-range left-footer between the keeper and near-post midway through the second term to lift Uni in front, and another new player – Joel Silvestre (from Spain) – was the recipient of a piece of good fortune in doubling the home side’s advantage with 10 minutes left to play when Southern keeper Adam Arnott cleared the ball straight into Silvestre’s boots and the rebound rocked the net for a 2-0 winning scoreline.
It was Branch’s first loss but they remain two points behind leaders Hurstville (with a game in hand), while Uni sit fourth from bottom (six points from the top but with three games to catch up on).
Uni coach Jorge Piatta was happy his players got a reward for their effort. “I think it’s a good win; the boys did a vey good job. It was a much better performance from last week, we were more organised and disciplined on the field, and I’m very pleased and proud of them,” he said.
“Working with a new program there will always be ups and downs but I believe the boys have the ability and the capacity to do a good job for the club in the years ahead. It was a good victory for us, and good for our confidence.”
Branch coach Brod Crighton wasn’t disappointed with his side’s performance but there was a definite undertone of a lost opportunity. “They were bigger, stronger, faster – simple as that,” he said. “We gave possession away a bit too easy in the first half and they couldn’t score. We had a better second half but were poor in the front third (we just couldn’t find any answers to penetrate). One of their players scored at the near post to get their first goal and the second was a ricochet on a day when I felt our keeper was very good, so, what can you do… they were better than us on the day.”
“We’re a new team still finding our feet. We’ll meet a lot of good sides in this league and will take each game as it comes. We have to work hard at raining and come out against Stanmore next week a bit punchier in the front third.”
UNSW 2 (Thomas O’Neill, Joel Silvestre) Southern Branch 0
Hawks topple Hurstville
Stanmore Hawks brought State League 2 leaders Hurstville FC to a shuddering halt with a comprehensive 5-1 victory at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon, making it eight wins and a draw from the last 12 occasions these two sides have met.
Stanmore speed was simply too good for the Hurstville hulk as Vince Leto put Neil Philippou through on goal midway through the opening half, Philippou cutting inside a defender to blast into the top corner for a 1-0 lead, Lachlan Wright providing the second opportunity for Philippou to go one-on-one with the keeper to double the advantage on the half-hour mark. Wright scored Stanmore’s third goal moments later by curling a freekick over the wall in the 35th minute to make it 3-0 at halftime.
Matters got worse for Hurstville when they had a player sent off in halfway through the second period when Philippou was held back, before the game was delayed for paramedics to treat an horrific ankle injury to Hawks player Carlos Perez.
Stanmore extended their lead after Nick Paradisis found recently arrived Brazilian Ciao Roque on a canter and his beautiful shot around the Hurstville keeper put the matter to bed, the Hawks fifth coming in identical fashion 10 minutes form fulltime. FC potted a consolation when Dario Borovickic banged one in against the post in the last minute of play.
Winning coach George Paradisis was surprised at how comfortable his players made the game look. “They’re lucky they didn’t cop more to be honest. The boys are hitting their straps and I knew if they’d put it together they’d be hard to beat,” he said. “Of course I’m happy. We dominated the game… they had their little spells but we were just too fast for them. I knew the [Hurstville] boys were a bit older and we took advantage of that and killed them for pace; the goals were always going to happen. They seemed a bit complacent at the start and it was too late before they could get back into the game.”
“On a sour note I lose good players in Perez and Evangelos Petratos (overseas), but I believe the 20s will give me the players I need and we should still do well.
“At the moment I think Lions are still the strongest, but Hurstville will learn a lot from this today. They have a lot of experienced players, so I think they’ll come back.
“It’s still early but from what I’ve seen so far I expect us to be in top two at end of year. We really have deserved our last three wins.”
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric dipped his hat to his counterpart. “They’re a really good side, clinical, and they played to their strengths,” he said. “We had some good chances but their direct passage on goal caught us out. We’ll be careful of that in the future, but I want the boys to keep their heads up. We went down to 10 men and still wanted to play our style of football. I have to say the Stanmore goalkeeper didn’t stuff up anything, his distribution was spot on and he had a big influence on the result.”
“[Regarding the target as number one side] You have to be up for it each game; consistency is the number one factor to win the competition, it doesn’t matter where you are on the ladder.”
Stanmore Hawks 5 (Lachlan Wright, Neil Philippou x2, Ciao Roque x2) Hurstville FC 1 (Dario Borovickic)
Condors down Minotaurs
Western Condors soared into the top-three with a chiseled 2-0 win over Hurstville City Minotaurs at Punchbowl Oval on Sunday afternoon, the result stemming from an early goal and late penalty.
The visitors put their noses in front when Christian Alvarez tucked home after a defender had cleared Alex Hezari’s header off the line midway through the first term and Elias Navarrete converted his own penalty just minutes from the end, a player being sent off not having any impact on the two goal differential.
Condors are now two points from the competition lead (with a game in hand) as Minotaurs sink to an unusual third-from-bottom position without a win since their opening 3-1 victory over Stanmore.
Western coach Barry Zambrano said the team’s second clean sheet in two games was due to training hard. “We’ve been working on our defence and making sure we all pitch in to keep a clean sheet and it’s all coming together well. I thought going forward we’ve always had good options, it was just a matter of keeping the opposition out,” he said. “Hurstville were always in it and they were throwing the kitchen sink at us in the second half… but we put bodies on the line and handled it all quite well.”
“[About the topsy-turvy results Zambrano said] I knew this would be a comp of near misses and you certainly can’t let your guard down in any game. You have to maintain your discipline to maintain a good run.”
Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis missed the game but, despite missing a host of key players, refused to take any credit away from Condors. “I heard we copped goal an early goal and couldn’t make the most of our chances,” he said. “We had a lot of boys out but no excuses, we lost because we didn’t score. We’ve lost every time we’ve played against 10 men; but you can’t keep missing chances and expect to win games.”
Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Western Condors 2 (Christian Alvarez, Mauricio Navarrete)
Lions corner Rovers
Fairfield City Lions are the only unbeaten State League 2 side following a solid 6-1 win over Enfield Rovers at Pratten Park on Sunday afternoon, but they were made to work hard for their victory.
Enfield came out firing and missed a host of chances before they finally landed one to take a deserved 1-0 lead.
The Lions pounced with a Josh Tabak brace and goals to Mojtaba Mohebbee, Teruki Ito, Mustafa Akca and coach Tony Basha turned the tide for a firm 6-1 victory.
Basha applauded Enfield’s tenacity, and also his team’s patience. “It was pretty comfortable in the end but they were all over us from the kickoff and only poor finishing stopped them from taking a bigger lead,” he said. “Some good football finally got them but Enfield will beat some teams this year, they just lost concentration from time to time.”
“Structurally we were a bit off early and at halftime [1-1] I had to tell the boys to pull their heads in and just do what we do at training. We scored five goals in the second half and could’ve had more. We’re taking it week by week and trying to enjoy our football.”
Rovers football manager Joe Piazza was disappointed his side couldn’t make more of a blistering start. “I told them today was the time to step up and they went out there all guns blazing and created a lot of opportunities; we should’ve been 2-3 up and then we make one mistake and they score for 1-1 at halftime.”
“It was still winnable when they scored their second goal and we pushed numbers forward to go for it and that’s how they got their last three goals. I’m pleased we looked a bit more dangerous in the attacking third and created plenty of chances.”
“[On playing well without getting results Piazza said] I think it’s more to do with the mentality. We miss and they score at the other end and that effects the players too much. We have to learn to play for a full 90 minutes, not just 30-minute spurts.”
Enfield Rovers 1 Fairfield City Lions 6
Belmore beat Schofields
The scoreline was tighter but it was more of the same as Belmore United defeated Schofields Scorpions 3-0 at the CSI Ground on Sunday afternoon.
Andrew Lazarou and a Pablo Cordozo first-half double (the second from the penalty spot) gave Belmore a Hercules-like grip at halftime, a grittier second-half Schofields, great goalkeeping and plenty of good fortune keeping the scores unchanged at fulltime.
The three goal loss was still a move in the right direction as Schofields look to get back into the state league game but it must be a concern that Scorpions have had to forfeit their second straight grade 20s match (they’ve fielded youth grade just once this season).
Belmore coach George Lazarou wondered how Schofields would recover to play out a full state league season and could only state the obvious in regard to the game. “They probably had two shots the whole game; their goalkeeper was the only player that stood out for them,” he said. “We dominated from the word go, missed some terrible sitters and then took foot off pedal… I think some of my players went for glory a bit too much.”
Lazarou also paid tribute to the contribution from 16-year-old Aliusne Grant who’s living in Sydney with his aunty after migrating from Sierra Leone.
“He came on in the second half and just ran riot. I can see such a bright future for this kid.”
Schofields Scorpions 0 Belmore United 3 (Andrew Lazarou, Pablo Cordozo x2)
Next week’s games
State League 2 round 7 is an all-Sunday affair (3pm first grade kickoff) when Fairfield City Lions face University of NSW at Rydalmere Park, Southern Branch host Stanmore Hawks at Ison Park, Hurstville FC meet Southern Bulls at Hurstville Oval, Belmore United play Hurstville City Minotaurs at Blick Oval and Western Condors tackle Enfield Rovers at Calabria Sports Ground. Schofields Scorpions have the bye.
-By Dan De Nardi
