State League Two Round 2 Finals Series Preview

It’s State League 2 semi-final showdown as premiers Stanmore Hawks step out against Fairfield City Lions in the first grand final qualifier at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon (2.30pm kickoff), while University of NSW battle Western Condors in the elimination semi-final at Bensons Lane Field on Saturday evening (5pm).

Grade-20 premiers Fairfield City meet Hurstville City in the major semi-final at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon (12pm), and Uni challenge Stanmore in Saturday afternoon’s knockout match (2.30pm).
Check the footballnsw.com.au website for full details.
Hawks battle Lions
It’s the battle everyone’s been looking forward to for weeks and many see this Sunday afternoon’s major semi-final match-up between top-two giants Stanmore Hawks and Fairfield City Lions at Arlington Oval as a grand final warm-up.
And why shouldn’t it be billed as such: The clubs are division two’s most recent Super Leaguers (2007) and have played out many epic encounters over the years, including two corkers this winter – Stanmore winning an ugly round eight match coming from a goal down at halftime to defeat a nine-man Fairfield 2-1, and the Hawks beating Lions 2-0 in last month’s round-19 meeting to grab an unassailable premiership winning lead.
Nothing separates them in the stats as the competition’s two best defenses (a scrooge-like 33 goals leaked in 38 games) and highest scoring units (a combined 123 goals scored in 38 matches) clash head-to-head… although there is interest in where the goals come from.
While Hawks trident Neil Philippou (25), Nick Paradisis (12) and Lachlan Wright (7) stepped up to supply two-thirds of their team’s whopping 66 goals, the Lions have spread their firepower between 18 different scorers (57 goals)
And as close as it has been between the two sides (they played out three successive 2-2 draws heading into this season), Fairfield hasn’t beaten Stanmore since a sapping 5-3 win back in April 2011, and they haven’t won at Arlington since a 4-3 triumph back in 2009.
None of the stats phased confident coach Tony Basha as he fired a warning shot across the Hawks’ premiership-lined beak.
“We’re definitely hitting form at the right time and we still have our best player Balla Conde to come back this week which will give us a full-strength side, but we’ll just march on and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“When we played Stanmore both times we should’ve won by four goals, and they’ve had plenty of other results where they rode their luck. But you can’t have luck all year round so hopefully it will run out this weekend.
“The boys are ready and we’ll be entering the match extremely confident.”
Hawks coach George Paradisis wouldn’t bite, playing a cheeky Basha delivery straight back to the bowler.
“The minor premiership has already been won and the club championship has already been won; we’ll claim this mini competition as well and hopefully find room in the cabinet for the trophy,” he said.
“You don’t get promoted by winning a grand final. Fairfield had their chance for 20 rounds to come first but they didn’t and now we’ll see who ends up winning this mini comp.
“I’ve been around long enough to hear all of it. We’ve had an easy week to rest up our players after a long last month of matches, so we’ll be ready for them.”
Uni versus Condors
This Saturday evening’s sudden death semi-final between University of NSW and Western Condors at Bensons Lane Field is set to be a highly entertaining and evenly matched affair.
While their entries to this weekend were vastly different (Uni outplayed in a 3-0 loss to Fairfield as Condors soared to a thrilling penalty shootout win against Bulls) nothing has separated the teams in two deadlocked winter encounters – Western scoring late to steal a 1-1 round-19 draw followed by an even tighter 0-0 round-eight catch-up just days later.
Both sides boast solid defences (conceding 20 goals in 21 games, including 19 clean sheets between them) and their offensive comparison is just as close (32 goals scored), and even their main strike weapons are similarly matched with young gun Joel Silvestre striking 16 for Uni and wily Elias Navarrete blasting 12 for Condors, so this game is truly up for grabs.
Coach Jorge Piatta believes Uni can rebound from their Lions mauling to defeat Condors.
“We have to lift our performance and the boys can do it. They’ve played some good football this year; they just need to show more determination and desire,” he said.
“We’ve had two draws against Condors and this will be a tough match as both teams have the players to win the game. My players know what they have to do this week and they definitely have the ability to achieve it.”
Condors coach Barry Zambrano was equally excited about playing Uni. “I think we’ve now got a roll on. We’re scoring goals and we just have to stick to our plan,” he said. “I think we match up well with Uni and have what it takes to win this game.”
Grade 20
Grade-20 premiers Fairfield City Lions meet Hurstville City Minotaurs in a blockbuster major semi-final clash at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon (12pm). While Lions rested, Minotaurs won a dramatic qualifying-final penalty shootout over Uni last week to give themselves some much needed inspiration ahead of this weekend’s big game. Fairfield’s had the wood on Hurstville this winter, winning 3-1 at Rydalmere Park in round five and 4-0 at Punchbowl Oval later in the season, but this is finals football!
University of NSW challenge Stanmore Hawks in Saturday afternoon’s knockout semi-final at Bensons Lane Field (2.30pm). The Hawks out-pecked Condors on the weekend and face a Uni side zapped by a draining shootout loss to Minotaurs – this is a game that could go either way. Stanmore’s 2-1 raid at David Phillips Field in round three was countered by a 1-0 Uni win at Arlington Oval to indicate that anything can happen this weekend. 
-By Dan De Nardi