Blacktown City FC grinds out gutsy win over South Coast Wolves
It certainly wasn’t Blacktown City FC’s most polished performance, but they did just enough to snare all three points on offer against an impressive South Coast Wolves outfit at Hooka Creek Park in their Round 13 IGA National Premier Leagues Mens 1 clash.
With their regular home ground of John Crehan Park out of action over the next few rounds, the Wolves were hoping that a change in venue would signify a change in fortune for the thus far hapless South Coast-based side, and they didn’t disappoint during the opening exchanges.
The healthy crowd who braved the chilly conditions at the southern Berkeley ground were treated to some entertaining football from both sides early on with end-to-end entertainment, and it wasn’t too long before star Wolves forward Ricky Zucco had the red and white faithful in a lather.
After pouncing on a nice through-ball from the Wolves midfield at the 5’ minute mark, Zucco had the Blacktown City defence in a spin as he danced around a number of players before firing off a thunderbolt shot from just outside the box. The ball barely left the ground, had Blacktown City keeper Brody Crane beat, but slammed hard into the right post to deny what would have been a dream start for the home side.
Zucco was again in the mix some 5’ minutes later when a repeat performance – this time down the right side of the field – as he mesmerised the Blacktown City defence with his magical footwork to pull off a chip shot that painstakingly sailed just shy of the left post.
Blacktown City were not to be outdone in the initial encounter too as Sean Rooney led from the front with a number of raids down the middle as he linked up with Harris Gaitatzis to ensure that his side remained in the hunt throughout the opening stanza.
The 24’ minute mark provided the Wolves with their best chance of the first-half when Zucco’s brilliance again came to the forefront. The imposing Zucco, whose fleet-footedness was at its creative best throughout the opening half, swept around a number of would-be Blacktown City defenders and smartly delivered the ball into the middle of the box.
New signing Steve Hayes, who played solid all night, was unmarked and on the spot and only needed to tap the ball in to open the score sheet for his side, but somehow managed to spray it horribly over the crossbar.
In an eerily familiar twist of fate that has seemingly haunted the Wolves all season long; a potential two or three goal lead somehow mysteriously transpires into a one goal deficit – and tonight was certainly no different.
With the crowd still agonising over Hayes’ missed opportunity, a Gaitstzis cross a minute later from the left side into the box appeared to be well covered by the Wolves troops who had mustered strongly in defence to cover a sole Blacktown City attacker in Rooney who was lurking dangerously in the box. Somehow Rooney managed to get in between two Wolves defenders and with all three leaping for the header, the slightest of deflections from the cleanly shaven head of Rooney saw the ball skew into the back of the Wolves net.
The setback appeared to have taken the wind out of the Wolves sail as the ever-present Kearyn Baccus provided the lead up work which could have doubled his side’s lead in the 32’ minute when his well-executed through-ball found Mat Mayora unmarked. Mayora’s shot sailed wide of the right post but the alarm bells were well and truly ringing for the home side.
Zucco, Hayes and Mitchell Del Turco combined well as they attempted to lift their side during the dying stages of the first half, and it was a nicely lofted ball from Hayes in the 39’ minute into the six yard box that found a high-flying Del Turco whose potential equaliser was quickly defused by an outstretched Crane on the goal line.
A crucial 40’ minute error could have been disastrous for the home side when the normally reliable Michael Robinson passed an errant ball back into the middle straight to an awaiting Mayora, and with just the goalkeeper to beat, the Blacktown City forward’s routine shot was all but in. However, Wolves keeper Thomas Hamilton, who was outstanding all night long, somehow managed to get a fingertip to push the ball ever-so-slightly wide to ensure his side remained just the one goal down as the teams headed to the halftime break.
The Wolves started the second-half similar to the first and again dominated upon the resumption of play.
The 53’ minute signified yet another Hayes-Zucco combination where a nicely lofted ball from Hayes out on the right found the chest of Zucco who angled the ball back to the feet of Jacob Timpano – playing more of a screening role in the second-half – where the inspirational captain’s powerful shot drifted wide of the right post.
Within a minute the ball was delivered down to the other end of the field to ensure that the end-to-end themed entertainment continued throughout the second-half. The Wolves defenders allowed the always lurking Rooney to drift across the edge of the penalty area, and with the ball at his feet the sole goal scorer from the first-half almost had a double when his rocket shot was denied by Hamilton. The splendid save from the Wolves keeper ricocheted back into the field of play where Gaitatzis’ follow-up shot was again brilliantly denied by Hamilton’s cat-like reflexes to keep his side in the contest.
An enthralling arm wrestle continued throughout the middle sector of the half as Blacktown City settled in after repelling the opening onslaught that the Wolves threw at them with neither side really managing to gain the ascendency.
The final 15’ minutes of the game was tipped ever-so-slightly in favour of the home side as they tried valiantly to claw back a much-deserved equaliser. Del Turco was again in the mix in the 74’ minute when he found – a much more subdued in the second-half – Zucco, whose wayward shot reverberated off the side of the net.
Perhaps the Wolves best chance of the second-half came in the form of substitute Matthew Floro whose skill and speed caused concern for a tiring Blacktown City outfit. A would-be equaliser almost came when Floro managed to drift across the front of City’s box, avoiding defenders at ease (and despite the suggestion of some shirt pulling), Floro fired off a realistic chance that was well saved by a well-positioned Crane to guarantee that his side came away with the win.
“The Wolves came out of the box really well and brought the game to us here tonight,” admitted Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden to Football NSW shortly after Saturday evening’s game.
“I just mentioned to [Wolves coach] Richard [Lloyd] that they should have been up by two or three goals after the first 10’ minutes. [Ricky] Zucco as we know is very powerful and hard to contain and with Hayesy [Steve Hayes] now in the middle of the park they have a big engine in there.
“We knew that we couldn’t underestimate the Wolves down here, and on the big pitch at this ground we thought that it might suit us, but in reality it suited them much better than what it did for us.
“We were ugly, we played ugly, but sometimes you win ugly and we did so we’ll take the three points and run, but that’s taking nothing away from the Wolves as they were very good … teams can’t expect to come down here and just pick up points as this Wolves side is a very good team and they’ll win plenty [of games] down here as the season goes on.”
Richard Lloyd agreed with Crittenden’s summation, but admitted that his team does need to find the back of the net if they want to win games:
“We play the ball really well but just don’t value the ball enough in our front third and turn it over way too quick,” conceded Lloyd when questioned as to where he felt the game was lost.
“We had a number of great opportunities in the opening part of the game, we certainly played some good football tonight, but it’s our cheap turnovers that eventually lead to us playing from behind – we’re getting very good at it, but we’re not quite getting over the line.
“These boys of mine are a rare breed and I’m extremely proud of them, they just turn up despite the run of results we’ve had of late and they just keep putting in week after week which as a coach is very pleasing to be around.”
Next weekend’s round sees the South Coast Wolves travel to the recently renovated Sydney United Sports Centre where they take on Mark Rudan’s Sydney United 58 FC outfit on Sunday afternoon, while Blacktown City FC play host to Sydney Olympic FC at Lily Homes Stadium next Sunday at 3pm where both teams will be desperate to walk away with the full three points in an effort to consolidate a spot in the Top 5 of the IGA National Premier Leagues Mens 1 ladder.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 0
Blacktown City FC1 (Sean Rooney 25’)
Saturday 8th of June, 2013
Hooka Creek Park, Berkeley Vale
Referee: Christopher Young
Assistant Referees: Lachlan Daniel and Andrej Glev
Fourth Official: Craig Fisher
South Coast Wolves: 1.Thomas Hamilton; 2.Jack Keating, 3. Sam Chapple, 4.Michael Robinson, 6.Chris Nathaniel (15.Matthew Floro 85’), 8.Steve Hayes, 10.Ricky Zucco, 14.Mitchell Del Turco, 17.Zac Mackenzie, 21.Sam Matthews, 26.Jacob Timpano
Substitutes Not Used: 5.James Baldacchino 7.Dusan Kolonja, 12.Joseph Lavalle, 20.Daniel Collison
Yellow Cards: Sam Matthews 60’, Ricky Zucco 85’
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brady Crane; 3.Andrea Del Brocco, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis (18.Osadolor Edosomwan 76’), 5.Patrick Gatt, 6.Matthew Lewis, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 11.Sean Rooney, 12.Kearyn Baccus, 15.Matthew Mayora (16.Luke Clifford 45’), 19.Zach Cairncross
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford, 14. Daniel Araujo, 17. Jessie Curran,
Yellow Cards: Sean Rooney 83’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Gary McDonald
