State League 2- Round 22 Review

The State League 2 top-five had a last-minute shift in a blistering final round-22 results – Stanmore Hawks rubber stamping their premiership credentials with an 8-0 whitewash of Schofields Scorpions, Fairfield City Lions finishing second following a 5-0 triumph over Southern Branch, University of NSW claiming third with a gritty 2-1 against Hurstville City Minotaurs, Southern Bulls placing fourth despite a 2-0 loss to Belmore United, and Western Condors stealing a belated fifth spot after disposing of Hurstville FC 4-0. Enfield Rovers had the bye.
Neil Philippou didn’t play in Stanmore’s 8-0 win over Schofields and claimed the Golden Boot trophy with his 25 season strikes, finishing well ahead of Belmore veteran Pablo Cardozo (17), Uni rising star Joel Silvestre (16), while Minotaurs player Haisam Morhi, Condors ace Mauricio Navarrete and Hawks striker Nick Paradisis blasted in a dozen goals each.
Behind the frontrunners were Hurstville FC’s Jonathan Joannidis, Belmore’s Paul Paras, and Fairfield duo Emile Damey and Farres Aoun with eight goals apiece, Lachlan Wright (Hawks) hit seven, while Jordan Haddow (Branch), Troy Eedy (Bulls) and Mojtaba Mohebbee (Lions) netted six times in a season that produced 357 goals (3.2 per game) and 106 scorers.
Hurstville FC 0 Western Condors 4 (Gabriel Zihori x2, Christian Alvarez, Mauricio Navarrete)
Fairfield City Lions (Farres Aoun x2, Mojtaba Mohebbee x2, Nas Basha) Southern Branch 0
Southern Bulls 0 Belmore United 2 (Pablo Cardozo, John Skufris)
University of NSW 2 (Joel Silvestre, Michael Karagiannis) Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Nick Kinezos)
Scorpions 0
Stanmore Hawks 8 (Nick Paradisis x3, Jamal Boutkabout x2, Evangelos Petratos, G. Skoulos, Robert Bruno) Schofields Round 12: University of NSW 3 (Joel Silvestre x2, own goal) Enfield Rovers 0
Round 12: Belmore United 4 (Pablo Cardozo x2, Andrew Lazarou, Paul Paras) Hurstville FC 1 (Paul Gagro)
Round 12: Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Stanmore Hawks 1 (Lachlan Wright)
Grade 20
Fairfield City Lions 4 (H. Elaboudi x3, N. Attard) Southern Branch 0
University of NSW 2 (A. Coutinho, N. Moriconi) Hurstville City Minotaurs 0
Stanmore Hawks 7 (C. Bakoulis x5, K. Stasi, A. Papadopoulos) Schofields Scorpions 1 (M. Cruchinho)
Hurstville FC 0 Western Condors 8 (N. Fernandez x2, E. Mutluol x2, D. William, J. Ensignia, M. Elongo, A. Akol)
Round 12: Hurstville City Minotaurs 3 (J. Yarza x2, R. Parry) Stanmore Hawks 3 (C. Perez, C. Bakoulis, P. Theodosi)
Condors soar high over Hurstville FC
Western Condors claimed the last playoff spot following a 4-0 victory over Hurstville FC in a thrilling final-round clash at Seven Hills Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Gabriel Zihori delivered an early blow from a neat Oscar Narvaez freekick that deflected off the wall to the opposite side of goal and some nice play from Narvaez 10 minutes later when he chipped over the defence for Christian Alvarez to finish off and make it 2-0 at oranges.
A Mauricio Navarrete blast from outside the box and a second Zihori strike rounded out a 4-0 scoreline that sent Condors into a sudden death final match-up with Southern Bulls next week following Branch’s 5-0 loss to Lions.
Western coach Barry Zambrano had his brother-in-law at the Fairfield game and said he almost enjoyed the electric atmosphere the day offered.
“It was a very tense week actually but we all felt we deserved a spot in the finals and we’re even more pleased to put in a very good performance; we looked comfortable on the ball and dealt with their threats, and overall I’m very happy with the boys,” he said.
“We’ve got no fear of the Bulls. We fought well with them in both games this year and should be back to a full complement next week.”
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric could only reflect on a season of maybes. “It was disappointing in the end as the second half of the season didn’t go to plan, we just lost too many players to injuries, work, holidays, suspensions, and it took its toll; we just weren’t the same team as we were in the first part of the season,” he said.
“However, I’ve found a few good 16 year olds in the meantime and playing in games like this can only make them tougher. The boys will respond; we just have to get players more committed to the season.”
Lions topple Branch
Fairfield City Lions sent Southern Branch packing with a 5-0 final-round defeat at Rydalmere Park on Sunday afternoon.
A Farres Aoun goal separated the two sides at halftime before Lions hit four second-half goals to cruise to victory, Fairfield losing just one home fixture all season.
The result saw Branch overtaken by both Condors and Belmore but gave City a pre-finals boost. “Branch started off well but our boys were smart enough to get through it and then started to knock the ball around to create the chances,” coach Tony Basha said.
“I also rested 2-3 first graders and gave a few young blokes a go and they were awesome, so we’re coming good at the right time and if we play like we did today nobody’s going to be good enough to beat us. The finals is a lottery, but we should be confident.”
Branch coach Brod Crighton was business like as he impressed on his developing side the lessons learned from a stellar debut state league season.
“That was the best football display from any team against us this year, and I have to say the referring standard was also very good – and that’s coming from a coach who’s been beaten 5-0,” he said.
“We were on top of them and could’ve been up early, but they were sharper, more committed, and I believe Fairfield are the football marker of this competition. I now know what we have to do to get to that level.”
“I’m still disappointed that we lost as we copped some soft goals, but we have a lot of players coming through with some great attitudes… we probably just need to be a bit more effective and clinical in the front third,” said Crighton.
“Our boys must come back next season knowing a little bit more about the game, and that if we work harder at training and push ourselves harder, we will be able to win those pressure situations. I’d really like to thank them for a great season.”
Uni pen Minotaurs
University of NSW consolidated a top-three position with a tight 2-1 win over Hurstville City Minotaurs at David Phillips Field on Sunday afternoon.
Joel Silvestre belted in the first goal for Uni only for Nick Kinezos to respond for Minotaurs following some excellent build up play from Luis Escalante and Haisam Morhi and it was game on at 1-1 at halftime.
A tense second half was finally broken when Michael Karagiannis scored the Uni matchwinner, setting up a qualifying final clash with Fairfield City Lions next weekend.
Uni coach Jorge Piatta believed the game was a good solid final-round hitout. “We played play good football, tried to keep the ball, and were neat and creative, so I was pleased to play this well before the finals,” he said.
“Anything can happen in the finals, it’s a completely different game and comes down to how good you are on the day – five minutes can change everything.
“Fairfield are a very good opponent and move off the ball well, so they will give us a hard time… But at this stage I’m very proud of these guys [from Uni]; we started from scratch and they’ve done a fantastic job to make third spot.”
Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis had to use a lot of juniors in the team’s final run, but expressed his best luck to all teams that made the finals.
“We were missing a lot of players today but it was still a good performance from a team that had a lot of kids in it,” he said. 
Belmore beat Bulls
Belmore United were gallant in a 2-0 defeat of Southern Bulls at Ernie Smith Reserve on Sunday afternoon, but missed a finals spot by one point as Condors won their last game to advance into fifth position ahead of them.
A Pablo Cardozo penalty in the fifth minute of play after Paul Paras had been brought down from behind gave Belmore the perfect start and a sweetly timed John Skufris side-footer at the near post following Cardozo’s low cross made it 2-0 at halftime, an advantage United held to fulltime.
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for Belmore as they overtook Branch but not Condors on the ladder. Coach Nick Kambounias applauded his team’s efforts and wished the new season started next week.

“I’m really proud of how the players turned the season around and I’m sure the Bulls are grateful we didn’t make the semis as we would’ve played them next week,” he only half-joked.
“I made a structural change with our formation to counter how they played, as the Bulls like to play football which is something I respect with them, and we completely stifled them in the first half and only left them with counter attacking options.
“I told the players before the game that whatever happened we’ll find out at five o’clock. The players were upset knowing we had the team and that when we put it together we could do something serious, and a few things different throughout the year would’ve featured us in the finals; But we have to keep our heads up and look forward to next season.”
Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon is rearing to go as the post-season takes action. “We had a few players rested or missing today but Belmore really played well and deserved their win,” he said.
“We didn’t want to over-exert ourselves today and gave our fringe players a run, but we’ll be ready for Condors. We still have to turn up on the day and  work hard – in semi-final football everything changes – but I’m sure we’ll do well if we do all the right things.”
Stanmore smash Schofields
Stanmore Hawks defeated Schofields Scorpions 8-0 at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon and will take a week off as State League 2 enters the finals stage.
It was 3-0 at halftime, star striker Neil Philippou was rested, Nick Paradisis claimed a hat-trick and Jamal Boutkabout twice to confirm a well-deserved Hawks premiership, earning Stanmore a week off in the first week of the finals.
Hawks coach George Paradisis was delighted with the season’s performance and knew the occasion wasn’t lost on anyone at the ground.
“Our aim at the start of the year was to finish first and win the club championship and we achieved that today. When you play in any tough competition, when you achieve your goal it is always something special,” he said.
“It was a really good moment at Arlington Oval, and we got to relive moments when we won Super League a decade ago. There were tears in a lot of people’s eyes, so it was a massive day for the club.”
Paradisis welcomed the week’s rest as premiers and proclaimed his team is chomping at the bit to finish the job. “We’ve been playing midweek as well and had some tough matches over the last month, so we’ll be ready for the semis,” he said.
“The players are very hungry to do well. You don’t get many chances to play finals in your career, so the boys want to go all the way and win it, and they know they’re good enough to do it.”
Schofields football general manager Alex Soncini applauded the commitment of the club and players to get through a difficult season, and vowed the Scorpions would be back bigger and better in 2014.
“This was always a year of setting up and planning for the future, and we seemed to be getting betting results as the season went on, but missing so many players through injuries and suspensions made it so much tougher for us,” he said.
“There were a lot of the scorelines that didn’t really reflect how much closer the game was, but we’re now regrouping for next year. A lot of people understand the situation the club was in and the players showed a lot of commitment in turning up for the games, but we’ve got this year out of the way and we’ll be ready for a much better 2014.”
Grade 20
In grade-20 Fairfield City won their final game to earn the first week off in the finals, Uni toppled Minotaurs 2-0 to overtake them into second place on the ladder with Stanmore claiming fourth spot following a 7-1 win over Schofields. Condors held onto fifth after an 8-0 demolition of Hurstville FC. Uni host Minotaurs in this week’s qualifying final, while the sudden death knockout turns to the skies as the Hawks battle Condors.
Next week’s games
As premiers Stanmore Hawks sit out the first week of the 2013 State League 2 finals, Fairfield City Lions host University of NSW in a blockbuster qualifying final, and Southern Bulls host Western Condors in a just as appetising elimination final. Check the footballns