Round Six Review: State League One
The goals just keep on coming in State League One, with no less than 30 goals in this week’s round of six matches, with all teams bar one finding the back of the net. Matthew Licata was the only keeper in the league not to concede as Dulwich Hill picked up another three points at Northbridge, Nepean, Balmain and Western NSW all had 4-2 victories on the road, whilst Camden picked up their first point of the season at Prospect.
Our match of the round was at The Crest Athletic Field, where second bottom Inter Lions hosted the visit of second placed Hawkesbury City on Sunday evening.
Inter Lions 3 – 3 Hawkesbury City SC
A see sawing game at The Crest Athletic Centre on Sunday night finished in parity, with Inter Lions and Hawkesbury City sharing a six goal thriller, in a game that also had three penalties and a red card.
The Lions were the first to break the deadlock, on 11 minutes, a swerving shot from the edge of the penalty area by Ali Al Waeli curling over Hawkesbury goal keeper, Craig Morley, after a great square pass by Aaron Cimitile.
Inter enjoyed the lead for all of four minutes, with experienced campaigner, Todd Macrae, drawing a foul from Inter’s Bradley Ryan to earn the Hawks a penalty. Rhys Alchin converted low to the right of Inter’s goal keeper, Andrew Biernat, and it was all square once more.
The passes were swift and the intensity high as both teams tried to open up the opposition, but both defences held firm, allowing the occasional long distance effort.
Once such effort came on 22 minutes from Nathan Cooper, the Hawks’ midfielder letting fly with a half volley that clipped the top of Biernat’s cross bar on the way through.
A counter attack by Inter on 28 minutes almost produced another goal, with Steve Biviano latching onto Nicky Ruoco’s through ball. Bivianio shot early and shot low, but the onrushing Hawks keeper, Craig Morley, cleared the danger with his legs to keep the score at 1-1.
The score remained at 1-1 until a minute after the break, when it was Biviano again in the thick of it, pouncing on to a loose ball inside the Hawkesbury penalty area and blasting a shot goalwards.
Ryan Wilson was adjudged to have deflected the ball with the use of his arm, and was promptly red carded, with Inter awarded a penalty kick. Aaron Cimitile smacked his shot low to the left of Morley to give Inter the lead once more.
Despite now playing with ten men, Hawkesbury equalized within ten minutes when Todd Macrae once again drew a foul from an Inter defender, and the Hawks had their second spot kick.
Rhys Alchin once again stepped up, and once again converted confidently to draw the Hawks level.
Hawkesbury had their tails up at this point, and Andrew Stevenson almost gave them the lead on 63 minutes, miscuing his attempted volley from an Alchin free kick when faced with only the Inter goalkeeper, Andrew Biernat, to beat.
It was a sign of things to come for the visitors, and on 70 minutes it was Macrae at his goal poaching best, nipping in to take advantage of a mix up between Biernat and Simon Di Natale, squeezing the ball under the Inter goal keeper to give Hawkesbury the lead.
Inter Lions were stunned, to say the least, and came forward with a vengeance to try and salvage something from the match.
Cimitile almost drew the Lions level in the 73rd minute, curling a wicked shot inches past the upright after some great build up play from Al Waeli.
Five minutes later and the energetic Al Waeli got himself onto the end of a through ball by substitute Miguel Martinez, clashing with the onrushing Hawks keeper, Craig Morley, as the ball trickled towards the goal line. Alas, for Inter, the ball was cleared by James Chircop’s desperate lunge on the line.
Inter kept at it, and were rewarded right on ninety minutes, when Nicky Ruoco’s lobbed cross was headed home by substitute, Kachi Enyi, to send the home team’s fans into raptures, and give the teams a share of the points.
Match Stats
Inter Lions 3 (Al Waeli 11’, Cimitile pen 47’, Enyi 90’)
Hawkesbury City 3 (Alchin pen 15’, pen 57’, MaCrae 70’)
Sunday, May 12, 2013
The Crest Athletic Centre,Georges Hall
Referee: Mr A Denzel
Assistant Referees: Mr T Goodhew and Mr J Lalic
Bench: J. Woods, Z. Elrich, W. Angel, V. Rigoli, I. Johnson.INTER LIONS:
1.A.Biernat, 12.A.Al Waeli, 9.S.Biviano (14.M.Martinez 64’), 10.A.Cimitile, 4.S.Di Natale (15.K.Enyi 80’), 6.D.Espejel (13.S.Roda 86’), 11.N.Fragassi, 3.A.Poniris, 8.N.Ruoco (capt), 5.B.Ryan, 2.M.Sidoti.
Substitutes Not Used: 21.A.Gabrielli, 7.D.Chiandotto.
Yellow Cards: 12.A.Al Waeli 31’.
Red Cards: Nil
HAWKESBURY CITY:
Bench: J. Woods, Z. Elrich, W. Angel, V. Rigoli, I. Johnson.24.C.Morley, 6.R.Alchin, 15.J.Chircop, 7.N.Cooper (11.J.McCrea 60’), 13.P.Cooper, 27.E.Daglis, 28.G.Hartge (capt) (19.P.Sharma 66’), 39.T.Macrae (9.M.McCrory 74’), 14.E.Simone, 4.A.Stevenson, 8.R.Wilson.
Substitutes Not Used:1.A.Jay, 32.K.Simone.
Yellow Cards: 4.A.Stevenson.
Red Cards: Nil
*****
ROUND SIX REVIEW
Round Six commenced with the solitary encounter on Saturday afternoon, and it looked like it was going to be a rudimentary three points for Prospect United as they welcomed bottom placed Camden Tigers.
And it was all going according to predictions when skipper, Gustavo Orcajo, scored early for the home side, before Ben Lam doubled the advantage just before the break.
But Camden have been closing in on a result of late with some real desperation in their performances, and it finally paid off at William Lawson Park, with Blake Armstrong scoring a second half brace to earn the Tigers their maiden point of the season.
Dulwich Hill SC keep on, keeping on, with a workmanlike 2-0 away victory over Northbridge FC to remain at the summit of the State League One competition.
Striker Jin Kim was the star for Dully, scoring two first half goals, including a bicycle kick, to give Dully a commanding half time lead.
Northbridge came out firing after the break, although they couldn’t convert their domination into goals on the scoreboard. A red card to Jay Wynter didn’t help Northbridge’s cause, nor did Dully keeper, Matthew Licata, who pulled off two brilliant saves from direct free kicks to keep his goal intact.
Nepean FC made it three consecutive league victories with a 4-2 triumph at Garside Park against Granville Rage.
The Rage were depleted given injuries sustained in Wednesday night’s 2-1 away victory against Port Kembla in the Waratah Cup, with players from their U/20s making up their bench and one starting, plus they had central defender, Manut Yel, out suspended following last week’s red card.
But Nepean themselves were backing up after a Cup match on Wednesday – a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Parramatta – and had their own central defender missing, with Marc Gane out.
Despite the Rage taking the initiative early in the match, Nepean increasingly came into the battle more and more towards half time, with Anton Karla almost scoring, shooting wide after an excellent cut back.
After 20 minutes or so, Nepean defender, Andrew Walker, was brought down in the box after an overlapping run, and Terry Pannowitz converted to give the visitors the lead.
Minutes later and it was all square once more, with Leon Pirrello scoring direct from a free kick for the Rage, but parity did not last long, as Nepean edged back in front when Nikola Pozder netted from a corner.
Pozder was in the thick of it once again just before the break, playing in Terry Pannowitz, who rounded Granville keeper, Carl McMahon, to make it 3-1 at half time.
Substitute Miki Awad then stretched Nepean’s lead to 4-1 early in the second half, beating a defender inside the penalty area before slotting in at the far post.
Nenos Bobo, Calum Hedge and Zac Watters kept the Nepean defence on their toes during a frenetic second half, and even though Bobo pulled a goal back from close range, it was too little, too late and Nepean took the spoils.
The Western NSW Mariners FC made the long journey to Magdala Reserve on a bright sunny Mothers Day, and were rewarded for their effort and toil by claiming all three competition points on offer against the home side, Gladesville Ryde Magic.
The game opened with a lacklustre first half in which both teams struggled to maintain possession. It was not until the 33rd minute that the game came to life when Gladesville’s Scott Tonkin played a long, diagonal ball behind the Mariners defence for Yavuz Ekinci to chase. Ekinci and the on-rushing Mariners’ keeper, young Nicholas Barber, met the ball simultaneously with the re-bound falling into the path of Ekinci, who calmly dribbled the ball forward and stroked it into the open goal.
The Mariner’s custodian was a busy man in the opening half, making a number of timely saves throughout that would keep the Gladesville attack at bay. On two occasions just before half-time the Magic attack was thwarted by some finger-tip saves from an out-stretched Barber launching himself at shots from Ekinci, again, and also Mitchell Smith from just inside the box.
Within 2 minutes of Gladesville scoring the visitors were back on level terms with a well taken goal. Corey Adair made an incisive run down the left wing before driving a low hard cross into the 6-yard box. The experienced Adam Scimone beat the retreating defence to the ball and finished confidently from right in front to restore parity.
If Gladesville had dominated territorially in the first half it was the Mariners turn in the second as they went about a more settled display of possession football. Gladesville did attack on the break, however, with Mitchell Smith creating two good opportunities for himself in the 50th and 55th minutes, only to be thwarted by some brave goalkeeping by Barber.
It was the Mariners who would trouble the scorers next, however, when live-wire striker James Christie finished a good passing movement down the right wing, dummying his way past two defenders before drilling a left-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
Shortly after coming on as a substitute, the Mariners Nicholas Rutherford was played through on goal by Corey Adair with a long ball down the left channel. Rutherford calmly lobbed the bouncing ball over the advancing Gladesville keeper, Kyriakos Tohouroglou, to put the Mariners 3-1 up.
Gladesville looked to hit back but struggled to conjure clear chances through a crowded Mariners back third. Eventually in the 80th minute Aaron Khan made an incisive pass to striker, Scott Tonkin, on the edge of the box. Tonkin turned his defender well before releasing a left foot shot that rebounded off the right-hand upright and into the goal, and it was game on again.
With 10 minutes to go and the score at 3-2 it was either team’s match to win and both sides lifted the tempo to meet the challenge. With Gladesville pushing forward in numbers a long clearance from deep in the Mariner’s half found the willing legs of striker Christie. Despite landing heavily after an aerial contest with young defender Cameron Newton, Christie quickly regained his feet to chip the ball over Magic custodian, Tohouroglou, and into the net.
The victory, coming off a midweek visit to Sydney, and subsequent loss to Bonnyrigg White Eagles in the Cup, means that the Western NSW Mariners have now climbed to 10 points and equal third on the ladder.
Balmain Tigers have maintained their excellent start to the season, and kept their undefeated record intact, with a resounding 4-2 away victory over Hakoah Sydney City East at Hensley Athletic Field.
The Tigers were missing some of their artillery, but boasted new signings, Jacob and Domenic Di Mento, transferred midweek from Inter Lions, and the brothers took their place on the bench for their club debuts.
Another player making his debut for Balmain was 16 year old goal keeper, Lachlan Kerr, and he had a debut full of incident as his team worked their way to victory.
The opening goal came on 13 minutes, with Balmain’s Rosario Occhipinti sneaking behind the Hakaoh defence, before controlling the ball and placing it into the back of the net to put the Tigers into the lead.
The score remained 1-1 until the break, at which point Balmain made 2 substitutions, bringing on the Di Mento brothers to try and consolidate their lead.
Within the opening sixty seconds, Domenic Di Mento made an immediate impact, creating space out wide and cutting back in towards the goal, with his angled shot narrowly missing the mark.
Hakoah equalized in the 54th minute via Michael Randall, before Balmain were awarded a penalty ten minutes later for an infringement inside the box. Rosario Occhipinti converted to give Balmain a 2-1 lead.
Just five minutes later and Rosario Occhipinti had his hatrick, netting after finding himself in a one-on-one with the Hakoah goalkeeper, Terry Dal Broi, after a decisive through ball from defender Denny Noor.
With time ticking away, Domenic Di Mento made it a debut to remember, stealing the ball off an Hakoah defender before slotting past Dal Broi, giving Balmain an unassailable 4-1 lead.
The Tigers have become familiar with playing with ten men in recent weeks, and that became reality once more in this match when Balmain defender, Josh Karpes, received his second caution with approximately ten minutes remaining, leaving Balmain to play with a man short for the 4th consecutive game in a row.
On 82 minutes there was an unfortunate collision between debutant keeper, Lachlan Kerr, and an Hakoah attacker, with both players injured and a penalty awarded to Hakoah.
Balmain Tigers had used all of their replacements at that point, and given Kerr could not continue, they were left to complete the match with nine men . Three goal hero, Rosario Occhipinti, donned the gloves until full time, but was unable to stop Bradley Walker scoring from the spot to reduce the deficit for Hakoah.
The victory has given Balmain another three points to take the Tigers to 11 points, and outright second on the ladder, with a game in hand on Wednesday night against Camden Tigers still to come.
-By Frank Speranza
