State League 2 Grand Final Preview

After half a year of high-standard competitive football Stanmore Hawks meet Fairfield City Lions in Sunday’s State League 2 grand final blockbuster at Arlington Oval – and what an occasion it promises to be!

The whole day is sure to be a fantastic celebration of this year’s competition and Football NSW invites everyone to come along and be a part of all the afternoon’s festivities.

Arlington Oval is revved up and ready to go as the action begins with an appetising grade-20 championship decider between Stanmore Hawks and Hurstville City Minotaurs (12pm kickoff) after both sides disposed of unbeaten premiers Fairfield in successive penalty shootouts.

Then it’s the big one between Hawks and Lions (2.30pm), an intense top-two match-up that guarantees to be tough, tight and turbulent.

Whoever you support, come down, cheer loud and help make the final State League 2 game for 2013 a day to remember for all the right reasons.

The weather forecast is a beautiful sunny day with temps in the mid-20s.

Check the footballnsw.com.au website for full details.

Hawks face Lions

State League 2’s top two teams Stanmore Hawks and Fairfield City Lions star in an incredible Sunday afternoon grand final match-up at Arlington Oval (2.30pm).

There’s just so much to be excited about: big name players, disciplined squads, tactical coaches, vocal fans and most importantly an entertaining brand of football makes this year’s decider one of the most anticipated ever.

Never mind that the vast majority of coaches picked this line-up at the start of the season and the fact it’s no surprise to see the competition’s best two clubs in the final, three key areas highlight why this match will be as intriguing as it will be tough to predict – statistics, history and the off-field psychological battle.

Little separates them in the stats: the competition’s tightest defenses (a lean 39 goals conceded in a combined 41 games) and highest scoring outfits (132 goals scored in 41 matches) clash head-to-head… although there is plenty of interest in where the goals come from.

While Hawks trident Neil Philippou (26), Nick Paradisis (12) and Lachlan Wright (8) stepped up to supply two-thirds of their team’s whopping 70 goals, the Lions have spread their firepower between 18 different scorers (62 goals) behind solid contributions from Farres Aoun (8), Emile Damey (8), Julian Aguirre (7), Mojtaba Mohebbee (7), Nas Basha (6), Christian Ekwerike (5) and Coskun Tabak (5).

Division two’s more recent Super League clubs have played out some enthralling encounters over the years, including three epics this winter – Stanmore winning an ugly round eight match coming from a goal down at halftime to defeat a nine-man Fairfield 2-1, then doubling the agony with a 2-0 defeat of Lions in last month’s round-19 meeting that set up their premiership triumph, and completing the trifecta with a convincing 4-1 major semi-final victory just two weeks ago that must still play on Fairfield’s minds.

But as close as it might seem between the sides (they played out three successive 2-2 draws heading into this season), Fairfield actually 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 division one triumph way back in 2009.

Which brings us to the psychology of it all. Fairfield coach Tony Basha has already conceded the contest and insists his young players will only be playing to entertain the crowd, liking their opposition to facing Europe’s best.

“I don’t think we can beat Stanmore, so we’ll just go out there and have some fun,” he said poker-faced.

“They have a playing roster like Manchester United, they got the money, so they should win. They’re the minor premiers, they’ve got the best players in the comp, the best coach as well, and we have to show them respect; but I’m not here to win the comp, I’m here to produce and develop good players, so we’ll just go out there to have a good time, please the crowd and enjoy the afternoon.”

Stanmore coach George Paradisis wouldn’t buy into Basha’s accolades, claiming the reverse was true and Fairfield would provide much stiffer competition than his counterpart was leading on. “Tony’s the one touring Malaysia and Singapore with his Lions side, so I’d say they’re the Manchester United of the league,” he said.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of grand finals and I know they’re a lottery as both sides automatically lift, and for many players this will be their first grand final in a very long time, so who knows how they will respond to the occasion. It’s going to be tight as both teams are capable of winning.”

“To have both first grade and the 20s in the grand final at our home ground is just a massive achievement for the club. We’re expecting a very large crowd and I hope they can produce the kind of atmosphere we used to have when we were in Super League, so we’re asking everyone to come out and show their support.”

Interestingly, the other coaches saw a clear winner with seven picking Fairfield and only two backing premiers Stanmore to complete the double trophy win (Schofields football general manager Alex Soncini and Condors coach Barry Zambrano).

Let the fun and game begin!

Round 8: Stanmore Hawks 2 (Sam Emmanouil, Vince Leto) Fairfield City Lions 1 (Nas Basha) (HT: 0-1)

Round 19: Fairfield City Lions 0 Stanmore Hawks 2 (Neil Philippou, Jamal Boutkabout) (HT: 0-1)

Major semi-final: Stanmore Hawks 4 (Neil Philippou, Jamal Boutkabout, Robbie Bruno, Lachlan Wright) Fairfield City Lions 1 (Julian Aguirre) (HT: 2-0)

Reserve Grade Grand Final Minotaurs meet Hawks

Sunday’s State League 2 grade-20 grand final features the competition’s third and fourth placed teams Stanmore Hawks and Hurstville City Minotaurs in what should be an evenly pitched battle (12pm kickoff).

Stanmore delivered a final blow to unbeaten premiers Fairfield City last Sunday (undefeated in 22 games of regular-time football) with a resistant win on penalties a week after Hurstville also beat them in a shootout to heave top two Lions and Uni from the finals.

Hawks and Minotaurs were only separated by a point on the table, were top-three goalscoring units (Hurstville with 77, Stanmore 57 – Fairfield scored 88), and also boasted the third and fourth best defensive lines (Stanmore conceding 21 goals, Hurstville 25 – Fairfield leaked 10 and Uni 14) to underline the closeness between the sides.

Minotaurs shocked Hawks 3-1 at Arlington Oval way back in the first round of the season but a lot of water’s passed under the bridge since then, including a dramatic 3-3 draw in the return bout at Seymour Shaw Stadium a month ago that saw a Hurstville player sent off and eight other players carded.

It’s interesting to note that golden boot Minotaur Jordan Yarza scored twice in both matches and containing him could be the key to any Hawks success.

In any case, it should be a fantastic challenge befitting of a trophy decider.

Round 1: Stanmore Hawks 1 (Dimitri Haddad) Hurstville City Minotaurs 3 (Jordan Yarza x2, Peter Fterniatis) at Arlington Oval on Sunday, April 17 (HT: 0-1)

Round 12: Hurstville City Minotaurs 3 (Jordan Yarza x2, Ryan Parry) Stanmore Hawks 3 (Carlos Perez, Costa Bakoulis, Peter Theodosi) at Seymour Shaw Stadium on Thursday, August 29 (HT: 1-1)

-By Dan De Nardi