State League 2 Round 18 Review

Just five points separates the top five State League 2 sides following yet another weekend of crazy results, none more eye-popping than Southern Branch toppling leaders Stanmore Hawks 2-1 at Arlington Oval.
Stanmore’s hiccup allowed Fairfield City Lions to draw alongside them at the pointy end of the field after a tense 1-1 draw with University of NSW, while Southern Bulls pipped Hurstville FC 1-0 to pop back into the top-five, Western Condors and Enfield Rovers drew 0-0, and Hurstville City Minotaurs downed Belmore United 2-1. Schofields Scorpions had the bye.
A month out from finals time and eight teams are still well in the mix. The Hawks and Lions lead the way on 30 competition points (Stanmore ahead on goal-difference courtesy of June’s 16-0 thumping of Scorpions), with Condors (26), Bulls (26), Branch (25) and Uni (23) waiting to pounce on any further slip-ups. Hurstville FC (20) and Belmore (17) are in the playoff picture but need to make a decisive move soon.
Individually, Neil Philippou scored in Stanmore’s loss to Branch to notch up goal number 19 for the season but then copped a nasty injury that’s expected to keep him on the sidelines for several weeks. He leads the golden boot race by eight goals to Condors player Mauricio Navarrete and Belmore’s Pablo Cardozo. Uni’s Joel Silvestre (9), Stanmore’s Nick Paradisis (8), Hurstville’s Jonathan Joannidis (8) and Minotaurs Haisam Morhi (8) are also within striking distance.
Round 18
University of NSW 1 (Joel Silvestre) Fairfield City Lions 1 (Emile Damey)
Southern Bulls 1 (Zach Chapman) Hurstville FC 0
Stanmore Hawks 1 (Neil Philippou) Southern Branch 2 (Daniel Dawkins, Rhyley Foenander)
Enfield Rovers 0 Western Condors 0
Hurstville City Minotaurs 2 (Haisam Morhi, Luis Escalante) Belmore United 1 (Pablo Cardozo)
Round 9: Fairfield City Lions 2 (Farres Aoun, Emile Damey) Southern Bulls 0
Lions level with Uni
University of NSW continued their late-season march with a sturdy 1-1 draw with Fairfield City Lions at David Phillips Field on Saturday afternoon.
Joel Silvestre grabbed the only reward of a fruitful first half Uni spell and it looked like being a matchwinner until Emile Damey smashed one in across goal from the acutest of angles for a late Lions equaliser.
The draw followed Fairfield’s midweek 2-0 win over Southern Bulls and drew Lions level with Stanmore Hawks ahead of next weekend’s top-of-the-table clash, and coach Tony Basha is whetting his lips in anticipation of a leadership change.
“Uni are a good side and we’ll take the point after playing three matches this week,” he said. “We had a number of players out but that’s still no excuse, we could’ve pinched the win and we could’ve not got anything from the match.”
“But we’ll have a full team on show and ready to go at Stanmore next week – we’re ready for them!”
Uni coach Jorge Piatta was delighted with his team’s football but disappointed to concede their advantage, and top-five position.
“We created many chances against what I think is one of the best teams in the competition, so full credit must go to the boys for playing good, attractive football,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we will win every point, but it shows that their ambition is the same as mine.”
Bulls nip Hurstville
Southern Bulls edged out Hurstville FC 1-0 under lights at Ernie Smith Reserve on Saturday night to pop their heads back into a sardine can top-five.
The game was tense without offering much in the final third until Zach Chapman finished off a sweet Bulls move to score the decider 30 minutes from fulltime.
Southern coach Ramsin Shamon felt his side controlled the majority of the match, “we just found it hard to convert,” he said. “I’ll take 1-0 every day of the week, but with three games played this week we’ve done well just to get through it all.”
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric said his team had moments of domination but they have to find their early-season goalscoring form, and soon.
“It was a tough game. We had a few chances, hit the crossbar and had another one cleared off line… I just told the boys to keep positive,” he said. “The reality is we have to rely on other results, but it’s tight and the top teams are playing each other. We’ve been playing well, we’re just not getting any luck in front of goal; but it’s a young squad so it’s more important to be playing well.”
Branch breaks Hawks
Southern Branch dished out a shock 2-1 lesson to highflying Stanmore Hawks at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon, narrowing the top-five spread to just five points coming round the final bend.
Stanmore started brightly but a string of wasted attacks freed up Branch for a great counter and Daniel Dawkins finished off a sweeping move between Jordan Haddow and Rhyley Foenander to edge the visitors in front.
The Branch joy was brief as Hawks equalised within 30 seconds, league leading scorer Neil Philippou heading home a super cross to level it up at 1-1.
Stanmore fired up and only some extraordinary goalkeeping from Branch custodian Adam Arnott kept the scores equal until a second counter ended with Foenander slotting home at the other end to push the southerners ahead a second time – a lead they kept to fulltime.
The Hawks day was further sullied when star striker Philippou (who’s scored 19 times this season) copped a nasty cork late in the game and will miss several weeks of action.
Branch coach Brod Crighton used last week’s heartbreaking loss to Uni as motivation against the State League 2’s heavyweights. “We talked about commitment and mental toughness as well as holding shape and being strong on the ball, and we followed through with that against Stanmore,” he said.
“Conceding the equaliser so quickly was a bit disappointing but we really held firm when we were under the pump at the end of the first half and then really took it to them in the second. We didn’t give up trying to score more, but I was most impressed with the way the boys listened at halftime and acted on it.
“I still think Stanmore’s the best team we’ve played, them and Fairfield, but we’re not even talking about finals. The boys are feeling good about themselves, they know they can compete with everyone in the competition, but we just can’t sit back on these wins, we have to keep doing the job.”
Hawks coach George Paradisis was wary of his team’s recent successes for good reason. “With all the big wins we had the players just want to go out there and score goals, and that’s made them too cocky. They just want to attack and haven’t adjusted at all to the fact that teams are understanding us better and playing better against us,” he said.
”Good luck to Branch; they fought so hard and held onto their lead, and they deserved to win today… but after a loss like that my players have to understand on their own that efforts and attitudes like this can really hurt them. The players know what they can do, so now they must prove it.”
Condors, Rovers draw
Enfield Rovers held Western Condors to a gritty 0-0 draw at Pratten Park on Sunday afternoon, both sides blowing good chances to steal all three points.
Western coach Barry Zambrano believed his side squandered a good opportunity to move closer to the tabletop. “It was one of those days when the ball was never going to hit the back of net for us,” he said. “It was a case of creating various opportunities and not making the most of any of them.”
Rovers coach Andrew Montgomery praised the Condors keeper for denying his side a late victory. “He was outstanding. We had 4-5 good chances to win and he kept it at 0-0, but I’m not disappointed in the draw at all,” he said.
“We’ve played very well against top-five sides over the last seven weeks but we’re now relying on other results to give us any chance of making the finals. The guys are still upbeat and a lot of credit has to go to the 20s who are close to breaking into the top-five, and that’s having a knock-on effect at the club. It’s a great time to be involved with Enfield Rovers.”
Minotaurs bump Belmore
Hurstville City Minotaurs held on for a tough 2-1 win over Belmore United at Punchbowl Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis told his strikers they’d “get the arse” if they didn’t score today and Haisam Morhi wasted little time in covering his with a nicely timed strike that opened Hurstville’s first half account.
Strike partner Luis Escalante also padded up with a nice effort past the Belmore keeper after Liam Stratten provided an exquisite through-ball, but Belmore made it interesting when a sweet Pablo Cardozo freekick halved the deficit with five minutes to go – fulltime sounding with the scores unchanged.
Sarikakis said his players would have very sore throats at work tomorrow after belting out a stirring rendition of the club’s anthem. “Canterbury Council will be suing us for noise complaints after today, but we could’ve smashed Belmore,” he said. “The last four games have been terrific and the players look like they’re enjoying themselves again.”
The General also applauded the desire of Minotaurs stalwart Nick Kinezos, who came on as a late substitute. Doctors found a hole in his heart after the club’s opening 3-1 win over Stanmore and Kinezos was making a belated comeback in a bid to help his club out of the doldrums.
Next week’s games
State League 2 round 19 is an all-Sunday affair (3pm first grade kickoffs) featuring Belmore United versus Enfield Rovers at Blick Oval, Schofields Scorpions against Hurstville City Minotaurs at the CSI Ground, Southern Branch meet Southern Bulls at Ison Park, Western Condors face University of NSW at Calabria Sports Ground, Fairfield City Lions play Stanmore Hawks in a top-of-the-table clash at Rydalmere Park, while Hurstville FC have the bye.
Uni also tackle Stanmore in a round-3 fixture at David Phillips Field on Wednesday, August 7 (7.15pm), and a round-8 catch-up against Condors at the same venue on Tuesday, August 13 (7.15pm), and a rescheduled round-15 match against Southern Bulls at Ernie Smith Reserve on Wednesday, August 21 (7.45pm). Minotaurs and Hawks play their round-12 match at Punchbowl Oval on Saturday afternoon, August 17 (3pm).
-By Dan De Nardi