Ten-man City sneak past Spartans in Blacktown derby
Blacktown City FC left it late to snare a narrow 1-0 victory over Blacktown Spartans at Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday afternoon to push into the top five ahead of next weekend’s final round.
In a game of missed chances the Blacktown derby appeared to be headed for a stalemate as the full time whistle approached until Travis Major struck the late winner with a single minute of normal time remaining.
The hosts deserved their win after creating the most opportunities in front of goal despite playing the entire second-half with ten men following Jacob Poscoliero’s dismissal on the stroke of half-time.
Fortune appeared to not favour Blacktown City as Harris Gaitatzis struck the post with a second-half penalty yet their persistence paid off in the end as Major pounced late on to seal the win and set up a dramatic final matchday next weekend as his side vies for a spot in the finals amongst a congested top half of the table.
The win pushes Blacktown City FC into fifth ahead of Marconi Stallions who lost their crunch match against Sydney United 58 FC this afternoon while Blacktown Spartans remain safely in ninth.
Spartans were on the back foot early as Japanese import Ryuji Miyazawa picked an early opening in the visiting backline to thread the ball through and hand Sean Rooney the first chance of the game; goalkeeper Carlos Saliadarre was quick off his line to spread his frame and block the striker’s finish which was perhaps weakened under the pressure of Spartans’ scrambling defenders.
Major was next to try his luck as he cut inside from the left flank yet he failed to hit the target with his 20-yard strike which he dragged well wide of goal.
Spartans began to settle and push higher up the park with quick passing around the quarter hour mark; Corey Biczo blazed their first effort over the bar against his former employers from the edge of the box.
Gaitatzis looked sharp in midfield for the hosts; the #10 showed sublime ball control throughout the match and sent Major through for his second chance of the match only for the winger to fluff his lines.
Blacktown City continued to build their attacks patiently from the back while Spartans looked to get forward with incisive breakaways yet neither produced the final product in the final third.
Rooney came closest to breaking the deadlock midway through the first-half when his curled 25-yard free-kick on goal was denied by Saliadarre with an acrobatic diving save to tip the ball away for a corner.
The chances continued to slip by as both sides sent efforts over the bar as the half continued; neither Greg Kondek nor Zac Cairncross could keep their volleys down as the match waited to spring into life.
With half-time looming the hosts’ chances took a sizable blow when Poscoliero’s ill-timed challenge on the edge of the box saw the defender receive his second yellow card of the afternoon, leaving his side to contest the second-half with a numerical disadvantage.
As Poscoliero shuffled down the tunnel Kondek curled the ensuing free-kick just wide of the near post in the last action of the half.
The sides returned to the field for the second-half with a one fresh face on the field as Mark Crittenden opted to keep numbers in his backline, bringing on Patrick Gatt for Ray Miller to replace Poscoliero in the back four.
Tyson Rhodes came to the rescue for Spartans several times early in the half with crucial last ditch interventions; twice denying Major either side of pressuring Rooney into knocking yet another shot over the crossbar.
Blacktown City came within inches of taking the lead when substitute Matthew Mayora flicked Andrea Del Brocco’s cross onto Major with his first touch; Major stretched for the ball at the far post only to sky the difficult opportunity well over the bar.
Kondek came close to pushing his side ahead from range on the hour mark; his 30-yard drive beat Brody Crane only to also beat the far post by a matter of inches.
The hosts were then handed a golden chance to finally break the deadlock when Rhodes was adjudged to have felled Gaitatzis in the box; the playmaker picked himself up and dusted himself off to take the spot kick only to strike the left post to let Spartans off the hook.
City received a scare with a quarter hour remaining as goalkeeper Brody Crane went down injured moments after his side had made their third and final change, leaving the custodian with no option but to brave his way through the final minutes.
With injury time looming Major brought the goods for his side, as he has on so many occasions this season, slipping through on the right to fire the ball across Saliadarre and inside the far post, breaking the deadlock and sending the home fans into raptures.
Substitute Daniel Wilkinson came close to grabbing a late equaliser deep in injury time as he looked to beat Crane with a powerful curled free-kick, however the strike dipped inches over the crossbar and City held on for all three points.
Blacktown City FC assistant coach Kain Rastall was delighted to see his side grab the late win to push themselves ahead of Marconi and into a finals position:
“Considering our position on the table we were keeping updates on the Marconi game,” said Rastall.
“To score late with ten men was superb after the guys had to turn the game around at half time.
“We’re really proud.
“Apart from the fact we were down to ten men the amount of injuries we carried today was unbelievable – we had six or seven players with hamstring injuries and the goalkeeper should have come off but we’d already made three subs.
“We dominated the game, dominated that second-half with ten men, missed the pen and a couple of crucial opportunities but we were clearly the better team and we thought the three points was well warranted in the end.”
Next weekend’s final home game against Manly United will be crucial to Blacktown City’s finals berth and Rastall and co will look to shrug off injuries and get the job done:
“We’ve got to try and pick up some sick boys during the week,” continued Rastall.
“We won’t do too much this week and hopefully we might get a little luck for a change.
“We’ll be up for it, we will definitely be up for it here next week.”
Blacktown Spartans coach Ben De Haan was disappointed with both the result and his side’s showing this afternoon after seeing the match slip by against ten-men:
“It’s been frustrating for a few weeks,” said De Haan.
“We were eleven against ten and we played it right into their hands.
“We gifted it to them.
“They played up the guts, played everything long and straight and through the middle.
“We didn’t pull the ball wide and have a go at them.
“It was just a bad game for us, extremely bad.
“There was no want, we could have played with six and done better today.
“Our players didn’t show and it’s just disappointing.
“I suppose it’s just the end of the season but going forward we’ll fix that for next year.”
Form in the final third has cost Blacktown Spartans in recent weeks and De Haan will be looking to address that ahead of next season:
“Again we were competitive today,” added De Haan.
“To lose by a goal again – think the last three or four we’ve lost by a goal.
“We’re competitive but it’s just that final third, we’ve been working and changing players and today we just needed someone to have a go.
“They had acres of space when Blacktown City pushed forward with ten men so there was plenty of opportunity and space and we’ve only got ourselves to look at.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 1 (Travis Major 89’)
Blacktown Spartans 0
Sunday August 11th, 2013
Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: James Tesoriero and Murray Wilson
Fourth Official: Tim Turner
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Andrea Del Brocco, 6.Matt Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Ray Miller (5.Patrick Gatt 46’), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 11.Sean Rooney (15.Matthew Mayora 58’), 12.Kearyn Baccus (16.Luke Clifford 78’), 19.Zac Cairncross, 20.Jacob Poscoliero
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Jacob Poscoliero 26’, Harris Gaitatzis 84’, Luke Clifford 90+2’
Red Cards: Jacob Poscoliero 45’
Blacktown Spartans: 1.Carlos Saliadarre; 2.Luke Austin, 3.Nathan Millgate, 6.Greg Kondek, 9.Jun Kato, 11.Tyson Rhodes, 14.Trent Barton (5.Daniel Wilkinson 78’), 16.Emmanuel Giannaros, 24.Reid Taylor (22.Pasquale Polistina 59’), 25.Corey Biczo, 30.Keiran Dalton (38.Zac Freeburn 70’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Luke Turnbull, 26.Mitchell Osmond
Yellow Cards: Greg Kondek 56’
Red Cards: Nil
-By Michael Shoolman
