Clinical Blacktown City hand Manly United a heavy loss
A clinical Blacktown City FC outclassed Manly United FC 3-0 on Saturday night at Cromer Park.
The away side got out of the blocks in emphatic fashion, with pint-sized marksman Ryuji Miyazawa opening the scoring after just 45’’ seconds.
Moments later Matt Sim, fresh from scoring a goal against the Socceroos midweek, should have squared proceedings for the home side.
In the 6’ minute Blacktown striker Matthew Mayora found himself with only Dylan Mitchell to beat, but the United gloveman capitalised on a poor first touch from Mayora and the chance went begging.
A foul from David Cain saw the Manly midfielder cautioned, but what happened next was even more significant.
Harris Gaitatzis stepped up and bent the ball into the bottom right corner from 20-yards, leaving the local supporters at Cromer Park in a state of shock.
Minutes later Sean Rooney almost gave Blacktown a three goal cushion, only to see his bullet header from the edge of the box flash inches wide.
United felt they were back in the contest on 15’ minutes when skipper Graeme Forbes was tumbled in the box.
Much to their dismay, referee Ryan Shepheard was having none of it, waving play on.
Midway through the first-half Rooney secured a win on the road with a sublime finish.
Mitchell raced off his line in an attempt to put off the striker, but the one-time Newcastle Jets goal poacher skipped past him and slotted home from an acute angle.
Brendan Cholakian went close for Manly on 34’ minutes, only to find Brody Crane up to the task in goal.
Manly made their intentions clear after the break when attacking dynamo Scott Balderson replaced Josh Ward.
52’ minutes in Cholakian should have pegged one back, but he lacked composure at the pivotal moment.
15’ minutes later a Sean Seavill free kick fell into the path of Cain, who directed his header into the grateful arms of Crane.
Forbes went close with a sharp half volley after 70’ minutes and Rooney then fired over the bar in an end to end sequence of play.
With 14’ minutes to go Travis Major almost grabbed a fourth, with his delightful effort after cutting in on his left foot smacking the crossbar and rocketing out to safety.
Forbes then saw red with an ugly challenge in the last 10’ minutes following a needless challenge.
It was uncharacteristic and the last thing United need, given the size of their skinny squad.
Substitute Ray Miller had the chance to rubber stamp the result deep into injury time, but his well struck effort was parried away by Mitchell.
Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden was chuffed with the intensity from his squad:
“We tend to start very well, and that was definitely the case tonight,’’ he said.
“The boys are clinical in front of goal and what pleased me was how we went on with things.
“The second-half fizzled out to be fair, but when you are leading 3-0 that tends to happen sometimes.
“I also knew Manly would keep coming at us, they always play to the final whistle.
“Credit to them, they fashioned a few chances, but in the end we had the lead and the clean sheet was nice, that was our focus.”
Manly assistant coach Marc Richards conceded his team were poor in a number of areas:
“We gifted them two soft goals and from that moment on it was an uphill battle,’’ he said.
“Blacktown City FC are a good side, they don’t need a second invitation.
“We competed better in the second-half, but we need to be better in many different areas.”
Match Stats
Manly United FC 0
Blacktown City FC 3 (Ryuji Miyazawa 1’, Harris Gaitatzis 10’, Sean Rooney 26’)
Saturday 25th May, 2013
Cromer Park
Referee: Ryan Shepheard
Assistant Referees: Thomas Lee and Daniel Stack
Fourth Official: Mitchell Clark
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 14.David Cain, 12.Brendan Cholakian, 4.Graeme Forbes, 3.Roberto Hamad, (2.Leigh Egger 58’) 10.Colin Iley, 5.Josh Lawson, 15.Jimmy Oates, 11.Matt Sim, 16.Josh Ward, (7.Scott Balderson 45’) 8.Sean Seavill
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Tonu Liiband, 6.Danny Grant, 32.Michael McGinley
Yellow Cards: Cain 6’
Red Cards: Forbes 80’
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 12.Kearyn Baccus, (3.Andrea Del Brocco 83’) 19.Zac Cairncross, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 10.Harris Gaitatzis (8.Ray Miller 61’) 5.Patrick Gatt, 6.Matt Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 15.Matthew Mayora, (18.Osadolor Edosomwan 78’) 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 11.Sean Rooney
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Major 82’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Sean Rooney (BCFC)
2 – Brody Crane (BCFC)
1 – Matthew Mayora (BCFC)
-By Andrew Prentice
