State League One – Finals Week One Preview

Now that the twenty two rounds of football have been completed in the competition proper, it is time for all the thrills and spills of Finals football as Week One gets underway this weekend in State League One.

Seven teams have completed their obligations for the 2013 campaign, and will no doubt have celebrated as they put their boots and shin pads aside until pre season starts towards the end of the year. The other five sides will look forward to the nerve wracking tension in these do or die battles, commencing this weekend as one team will be eliminated from the equation.

Hakoah Sydney City East – Granville Rage 
Bensons Lane on Saturday, September 7 @ 5-00pm
Round 3 – 20 April – Granville Rage 2 (Pirrello, Yel) beat Hakoah 1 (Ginsberg)

Round 14 – 7 July – Hakoah 0 lost to Granville Rage 1(Vukovic)

That team will be either Hakoah Sydney City East or Granville Rage as the two sides meet in the Elimination Final at Bensons Lane on Saturday afternoon.

Hakoah Sydney City finished fourth on the competition ladder on 37 points, with 12 victories and just the solitary draw.

Of all the teams that were placed in the State League One competition at the beginning of the season, Hakoah finished the highest having been the only team to have earned their spot, having triumphed in State League Two in 2012.

Losing experienced campaigner Neil Jablonski early in the season, Hakoah regrouped quickly and managed to climb their way up the ladder with a host of determined performances.

Mark McAlpine has been clinical as a goal poaching striker, his predatory senses in and around the penalty area seeing him net 11 times this season, whilst ably supported by Justin Kosmina on the flank with 8 goals.

Granville Rage made sure of their fifth spot with a last round triumph over Camden Tigers, but they will be without their inspirational captain, Dave Harding, for the Elimination final, courtesy of a red card in that match.

But the Rage have a backbone of quality across the park, with the energetic Carl McMahon in goal Manut Yel in defence, and Leon Pirrello and Daniel Vukovic in midfield.  

Zac Watters has proven a handful for defences across the league this year, his speed and determination netting him 11 goals as he often got on the end of many attacking raids.

The Rage have had the wood over Hakoah in both matches this season, with a Vukovic strike earning them all three points in Round 14, whilst Leon Pirrello and Manut Yel gave Granville the spoils back in Round 3 in April.

For one of these sides, Saturday evening will be the end of the 2013 season, but don’t be surprised if it takes extra time and penalty kicks to separate these two teams.

Dulwich Hill – Balmain Tigers

Garside Park on Sunday, September 8 @ 3-30pm

Round 2 – 14 April – Dulwich Hill 2 (Villazon, Musumeci) drew with Balmain 2 (Cook, Donato)

Round 13 – 22 August – Balmain 0 drew with Dulwich Hill 0 

A few weeks ago it seemed most unlikely that Dulwich Hill and Balmain Tigers would be meeting in the Qualifying Final, given both held top spot at some point as the competition drew to a close.

But both had heavy losses at the hands of a rampaging Hawkesbury City side in the final rounds, slipping to allow Northbridge a hurdling jump into top spot.

Dulwich Hill have often been tagged the ‘entertainers’ of the league, and not without reason.

In Carlos and James Villazon, as well as playmaker Anthony Musumeci, Dully have the capability to stroke the ball around with ease, tormenting opposition defences with their technical prowess.
But rest assured the defensive line is the backbone behind their flair, with skipper Robbie Morrison and left back Jacob Maruca using their pace down the flanks to offer support in attack, whilst central defenders, Marcus Frost and Joseph Savor, combine aggression with composure to offer an effective complement.

With ever alert goalkeeper Matthew Licata leaking the fewest goals in the league, you can see why Dulwich Hill have had a successful campaign and will be a threat in this finals series.

After an inspiring first half of the season, Balmain Tigers have somewhat limped into the finals, finishing third on the ladder on the back of two losses in the final two rounds.

Even though confidence seems to have deserted them, you don’t become a poor side over night, and Dully could do worse than tread carefully against the wounded Tigers.

Skipper Tommy Hyde has been a steadying influence in the Balmain backline all year, and is hoping to be back from an injury sustained a fortnight ago, much to the delight of his team mates.

The Di Mento brothers have been influential in Balmain’s performances this year, Jacob with his non stop work rate and biting tackles in the centre of midfield, whilst Domenic has been a serial pest to many a backline, his weaving runs often creating many goalscoring opportunities for his team mates.

They also possess two deadly weapons, both of whom have proven effective in the front third.
Liam Cole is one of the best set piece takers in the league, his trade mark free kicks always demanding at least a save from opposition keepers, whilst of course Rosario Occhipinti has proven the deadliest weapon in the league with his 17 goals in 2013.

The two evenly matched sides have not been able to have been separated in the two matches this year, both games finishing in draws, so maybe another draw and an extra 30 minutes could be on the cards this Sunday at Garside Park.

Please click on the following link to access all the details of the two Finals fixtures (all matches may be subject to late changes so please refer to the Football NSW website prior to kick off to confirm match details)

http://www.sportingpulse.com/comp_info.cgi?client=1-9353-138477-253810-0&pool=1001&action=ROUND&round=0

Top Goalscorers – Round 22 (final list)

Golden Boot – Rosario OCCHIPINTI (Balmain Tigers) 

Congratulations to Rosario Occhipinti of Balmain Tigers, who took out the 2013 State League One Golden Boot with 17 goals.
The Balmain striker has only been in the country just over six months, but has acclimatised to Australian football very quickly, and despite missing the first few matches of the season, scored regularly to keep his team near the top of the standings for much of the competition.

Burly Inter Lions target man, Kachi Enyi, helped resurrect his team’s fortunes in the second half of the season, helping himself to quite a few goals in the process and finishing as a runner up in the charts on 13 goals.

There were four players tied for third place, each on 11 goals for the season.

Gladesville’s Scott Tonkin was one of those, using his height and composure on the ball to assist as many goals as he scored for Magic.
The blistering speed of Zac Watters in the front third was often too hot to handle for most defences in the SL1 league.
Evan Daglis missed a few matches through injury in 2013, but still managed 11 goals for Hawkesbury to finish as the league’s highest scoring midfielder.
Mark McAlpine showed his penalty box prowess for Hakoah Sydney City East with some clinical strikes, especially in the latter part of the season.
The full list of scorers is noted below, but some other interesting stats include;

# 137 players scored 479 goals in 132 games at an average of 3.62 goals per game

# champions Northbridge were the competition’s highest scorers with 52 goals at an average of 2.36 goals per game, followed closely by Hawkesbury City, who also notched up half a century of goals

# Dulwich Hill had the highest number of players who got themselves on the scoresheet during the season – a total of 15 players

# the title of the highest scoring defender was shared between Granville Rage centre back, Manut Yel, and Northbridge’s overlapping right back, Lee Jones, who both scored six goals

# Rosario Occhipinti managed to score just over 40% of his team’s goals, the highest ratio in the league

# Northbridge’s title win was aided by no less than 5 own goals, by far the highest in the league 

17 – Rosario OCCHIPINTI (Balmain Tigers)

13 – Kachi ENYI (Inter Lions)

11 – Scott TONKIN (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Zac WATTERS (Granville Rage), Evan DAGLIS (Hawkesbury City), Mark McALPINE (Hakoah)                                                        

10 – Nick RUTHERFORD (Western NSW), Miguel MARTINEZ (Inter Lions)

9 – Ry HARDY (Northbridge), Carlos VILLAZON (Dulwich Hill), Gustavo Orcajo (Prospect Utd), Anthony MUSUMECI (Dulwich Hill), Todd MACRAE (Hawkesbury City)

8 – Justin KOSMINA (Hakoah),Terry PANNOWITZ (Nepean), Michael COLE (Northbridge), James CHRISTIE (Western NSW), Mitchell SMITH (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Ethan SIMONE (Hawkesbury City), Majid ESLAMI (Gladesville Ryde Magic)

7 – Sebastian CAMACHO (Nepean), Tom BENTHAM (Northbridge) 

6 – Will DONATO (Balmain Tigers), Frank CALCAGNO (Dulwich Hill), Paul COOPER (Hawkesbury City), James VILLAZON (Dulwich Hill), Lee JONES (Northbridge), Jason BROWNE (Nepean), Manut YEL (Granville) 

5 – Chris CAMILLERI (Prospect Utd), Paul ORGAD (Northbridge), Michael MCCRORY (Hawkesbury City), Samir ESHANI (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Yavuz EKINCI (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Dean GINSBERG (Hakoah Sydney City East)