State League Two Round 13 Review
State League 2 clubs might be better off spending their weekends building an ark if the constant Sydney deluge fails to plug its gaping leak after yet another round marked by wash outs.
Hurstville FC managed to find a moment to beat Schofields Scorpions 2-0 to jump to second on the ladder but Stanmore versus Enfield, Bulls versus Minotaurs, Branch versus Belmore and Lions versus Condors were all called off due to the rain. Uni of NSW had the bye.
This leaves 14 postponed matches to be played in the remaining two months of the season, Uni to feature in five of them and Belmore four.
Hurstville edge Schofields
Hurstville FC ground their way to a 2-0 win against a new-look Schofields Scorpions at Hills Sports High on Sunday afternoon, lifting FC above three teams into second place on the ladder.
Several midweek signings bolstered the Schofields line-up and it showed with a more structured display on the synthetic high school turf, a skied penalty a costly miss as they held Hurstville to 0-0 at halftime (FC whipped Schofields 10-0 in their round two engagement).
A rev-up from coach Steve Zoric had the desired effect as FC returned to the paddock full of steam and it didn’t take long for a neat Paul Gagro strike to finally break the deadlock, James Galic adding another 10 minutes later to help Hurstville to a 2-0 lead they’d hold until fulltime despite Dennis Pandza being sent off late for dissent.
It’s a dirty dozen defeats for Schofields in their winter of discontent but Zoric warned his rivals to be ready for a real Scorpions test.
“They put up a great fight. They were more structured, had a game plan, and other teams will need to bring their game against them as they’ve made some good signings and are still trying hard,” he said. “I really have to applaud them for that as it couldn’t be easy to motivate the players. Good luck to them.”
“It was good to finally get a game in for my side. We’ve had too many interruptions over the past few weeks [two washouts and a bye] and we needed to brush off the cobwebs. It’s also good to pick up points as it now puts pressure on the other clubs to do the same.”
Next week’s games
State League round 14 features a Saturday evening affair (5pm first grade kick-off) between University of NSW and Stanmore Hawks at David Phillips Field.
All other games are on Sunday afternoon (3pm), Belmore United versus Fairfield City Lions at Blick Oval, Schofields Scorpions tackle Southern Branch at the CSI Ground, Enfield Rovers play Southern Bulls at Pratten Park, and the Hurstville derby between FC and Minotaurs at Punchbowl Oval. Western Condors has the bye.
-By Dan De Nardi
