Tigers shock Eagles
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers stunned Bonnyrigg White Eagles on Wednesday night to secure a spot in its second consecutive Waratah Cup Final.
The Bonnyrigg White Eagles hosted APIA-Leichardt Tigers on a bitterly cold evening and it was the Tigers that shocked the home faithful with a 4-2 extra time win.
The Tigers got us off and we were almost treated to a goal inside the first minute. Bradley Bartels whipped in a teasing cross to the far post that eluded the Bonnyrigg defence. Paul Galimi met the ball on the full and volleyed toward the Bonnyrigg goal but Matthew Nash reacted well as he got down to his left to hold the ball.
Shortly after, Bartels received the ball on the edge of the box, made himself some space with a deft touch and slammed the ball toward the top left corner. Nash reacted well and somehow tipped the ball over the bar.
Bonnyrigg who struggled to create much in the opening quarter of an hour attempted a move with Tynan Diaz and Aaron Peterson but the APIA defence stood firm.
The White Eagles slowly started getting into the game and just after the quarter hour mark Mitchell Long went on a trademark dazing run, cut inside and dribbled passed three players. His shot though didn’t match his run and was easy picking for former Eagles’ goalkeeper Andrew Bazi.
In the 18’ minute APIA had a shout for a penalty waved away as Jason Oswell went down following a challenge.
Bonnyrigg then zipped the ball around the middle of the park, left to right and back again. David Gullo received the ball down the left wing and played in a dangerous ball looking for Peterson. Thankfully for APIA the defence was aware and any danger was cleared well away from the goal.
Bartels was in the thick of it again, this time dribbling in from the left and laying the ball off for the on rushing Stephen Kayes who powerful effort went wide.
There were 34’ minutes on the clock when APIA hit the lead. Bartels, who seemed to be everywhere, picked up the ball from inside his own half and dribbled all the way into the Bonnyrigg box. His cut back was missed by one team mate but made its way to Kiwi international Aaron Clapham who made no mistake with his finish giving the outstretched Nash no chance.
APIA almost made it two, minutes later, as Bartels played a great ball across the face of the goal. Joshua Symons came in from the left but was late by a millisecond as the ball flashed passed him for the fortunate Bonnyrigg defence.
Any Bonnyrigg attack was repelled as Adel El Jamal commanded with his defence and was as solid as a rock at the back.
The Tigers went into half-time 1-0 up and looking good value for their lead.
The White Eagles came out brighter for the second-half and a Howard Fondyke strike just flashed wide of the right hand post.
Sean Symons then whipped in a testing cross to the far post as Oswell rose highest. His looping header sailed over Nash but not the Crossbar as the ball rebounded off it.
The White Eagles were looking sloppy and disorganised in the back line as the Tigers tried to exploit that.
On the hour mark, Bonnyrigg found its equaliser. Diaz swung in a flat ball to the far post which beat all the APIA defenders and found the head of Long. Long’s diving header looped over Bazi and into the side netting for an intriguing final half hour.
With the home sides tempo lifting, they starting looking more threatening and moving forward with more intent.
7’ minutes later and the Eagles had overturned the half-time deficit. Fondyke received a short pass on the edge of the area catching the APIA defence unaware leaving him one on one with Bazi. Bazi got a hand to the shot as the ball squirmed under him and slowly bobbled over the line for the lead.
Bonnyrigg looked to extend their lead as Steven Hesketh played a ball through to Alex Canak. Canak touched the ball on to Long who attempted to take on his defender but Brendan Reilly was upto the task with a great sliding challenge.
APIA was now chasing the game and with 10’ minutes to go almost had an equaliser. An excellent one-two between Clapham and Sean Symons saw Symons whip in a dangerous cross toward the far post. The ball rebounded out to El Jamal who rifled in a half volley that sailed high over the southern grandstand at Bonnyrigg Sports Ground.
2’ minutes later and the Tigers had their goal. The amazing Bartels once again got the better of Jordan Crighton for the umpteenth time after great build up play with Reilly. He then whipped in a great cross for Jason Oswell whose downward header beat the scrambling Nash.
Diaz then had two great opportunities in quick succession. First his waisted free-kick from 25-metres out went both high and wide. Then, in the last minute, some great work by Hesketh to find Diaz on the left side of the box allowed him to cut in and take on El Jamal only for his blistering effort to shave the left hand post.
That was all she wrote for normal time as both sides prepared for extra time. The tigers only last week beat the Mariners 4-3 in the quarter finals in another extra time affair.
It took only 5’ minutes inside extra time for APIA to take the lead for the second time in the match. A long ball from the back toward Oswell was flicked on to Bartels. Bartels calmly volleyed the ball passed Nash and put the icing on the cake of a man of the match performance.
Bonnyrigg’s defence looked to get worse as the game went on with Hesketh the only shining light as Alex Mansuetto and co couldn’t keep pace.
Just like the first half of extra time, the second started much the same as APIA grabbed their fourth for a commanding 4-2 lead. Bartels was in the mix again playing a one two and lobbing the ball toward Oswell. Oswell grabbed his brace as he placed the ball passed Nash for good night.
Bonnyrigg tried to come up with something after that but to no avail. Diaz blasted an effort over the bar and Bo Hyun Chun did the same shortly after.
Oswell could’ve had his hat-trick but his effort just before the final whistle sailed over the bar.
A disappointed Brian Brown gave credit to his opponents:
“The best team on the night won.”
On his defence he said:
“We were leaking goals badly, we obviously missed Nikola Zonjic, Ben Spruce and Chris Tadrose at the back. We were trying out guys through the game and we had a few suspensions looming and we needed them right for Saturday.”
“We played Rockdale here and we were really hungry chasing balls down but we didn’t do that tonight.”
He did find positives from the loss though:
“Got to give the boys credit though, we weren’t really in the game in the first half but we came back in the second-half and did what we spoke about and for 40 minutes looked like a Bonnyrigg team.”
A happy Billy McColl had this to say after the game:
“”It’s a great win, the boys played really well in a very tough game. They showed a lot of character and commitment at 2-1 to take it to extra time and win it there.
“We were the better team. I thought we played good football, I thought we were up for the game and deserved to win.
“We’ve been working on shape the last couple of weeks and it’s starting to come through.
“We shouldn’t be where we are on the competition ladder but the table doesn’t lie and the boys are going to finish on a high note.
“Looking forward to taking on the shire, it is 90 minutes and we’ll see what happens.”
After their second consecutive extra time victory, the Tigers move onto the final of the Waratah Cup where they will face the Sutherland Sharks
Match Stats
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2 (Long 60’, Fondyke 69’)
APIA-Leichardt Tigers 4 (Clapham 34’, Oswell 82’, 109’, Bartels 96’)
Wednesday 19th of June, 2013
Bonnyrigg Sports Ground, Bonnyrigg
Referee: Adam Susz
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1.Matthew Nash; 2.Alex Mansueto, 15.Steven Hesketh, 7.Tynan Diaz, 14.Jordan Crighton, 16.Howard Fondyke, 23.David Gullo, 19.Aaron Peterson, 10.Mitchell Long, 21.Bo Hyun Chun, 8.Alexander Canak.
Substitutes: 33.Nikodin Matic, 13.Nikola Stanojevic, 3.Masakatsu Tanaka, 12.Vuko Tomasevic, 9.Robert Younis.
Yellow Cards: Alexander Canak 97’, Alex Mansueto 98’.
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichardt Tigers: 21.Andrew Bazi; 3.Adel El Jamal, 4.Brendan Reilly, 7.Stephen Kayes, 8.Keith Shevlin, 9.Jason Oswell, 14.Aaron Clapham, 15.Bradley Bartels, 16.Sean Symons, 19. Paul Galimi, 20. Joshua Symons.
Substitutes: 1. Simon Jaeger, 11. Marko Micevski, 18. J Basara, 10. Franco Parisi
Yellow Cards: Paul Galimi 113’.
Red Cards: Nil
-By Nikola Pozder
