State League Two Grand Final Review

Stanmore Hawks did what they had to do in a dogged State League 2 grand final at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon, an opportunistic Nick Paradisis scoring the eventual match winner inside the opening quarter-hour.

Almost a thousand people soaked up glorious spring sunshine and watched Hurstville City Minotaurs hold off Stanmore Hawks 1-0 in the grade-20 decider before enjoying an edgy main fixture that finished with the same tight scoreline.

The barbecues were sizzling and so were Fairfield early on, Julian Aguirre coming closest before a terrible defensive mix-up at the other end saw Stanmore pounce with their first real attempt on goal.

Star Lions player Ballamodou Conde didn’t do enough to clear the ball and Paradisis took his chance well by driving home from the penalty spot to put the Hawks 1-0 up on 12-minutes.

Antonis Papadopoulos almost doubled the lead moments later only to see his glancing header float over both keeper and bar to keep the score unchanged.

Fairfield upped the tempo and Nathan Attard’s far post header on a precise Mohammad Qasimi cross was cleared by the Stanmore defence, but the halftime whistle allowed both teams to take a much-needed break in the hot weather.

The second half started disastrously for the visitors when glovesman Ivan Josipovic was pinged for holding the ball too long, Stanmore’s indirect freekick was smothered by the defence, before a brilliant Papadopoulos canter down the left almost paid dividends for the Hawks, the cut back well met by John Theophanous only for his glancing header to drift just wide.

Stanmore custodian Stacy Alogdellis deflected Attard’s running strike moments later and did even better to deny Attard after the nifty Lions striker had weaseled his way through three defenders inside the box to get a solid shot off.

Paradisis might’ve sealed it for Stanmore after he was left alone at the back with 20 minutes to play, but his first touch let him down as his close-range strike was deflected over the bar, and the resulting corner saw Josipovic clutch an Evangelos Petratos header from six-yards out to keep the scoreline fixed.

And while the Lions threatened to finally break through on several occasions late in the game their tempers matched the temperature and they ended the match with two players on the bench as the Hawks soared high on a well-deserved 1-0 victory.

League golden boot Neil Philippou (26 goals) didn’t score but his constant presence freed up other attacks. It was his first grand final win in 10 years and certainly one to savour.

“It’s unbelievable! You just can’t beat this feeling,” he said after a sapping contest. “We kept our formation and stuck to what the coach said and our defence won the game for us today.”

Coach George Paradisis was still mopping himself up following a post-match drenching when he paid tribute to a great afternoon of football.

“The weather was fantastic, the atmosphere was beautiful, what a great result for Football NSW and football supporters,” he said.

“We mightn’t have played fancy football today but we did what we had to do against a very good Fairfield side. It’s been like that every week with every player really putting in and I think we really deserved this win.”

Fairfield coach Tony Basha applauded Stanmore’s victory – their fourth straight over the Lions – and urged his young side to learn from the defeat.

“We were a bit underdone today, Stanmore just carried more experience and played a solid game,” he said. “The players will learn from this; making a grand final is still a very good achievement.”

Match Stats

Stanmore Hawks 1 (Nick Paradisis 12) Fairfield City Lions 0

Referee David Morris, assistants James Barnes and David Christie, fourth official Robert Nieuwenhuis

Stanmore Hawks

Stacy Alogdellis, Andrew Heath, George Skoulos, Evangelos Petratos, Yorgi Mavrou, Robert Bruno, Neil Philippou, Jamal Boutkabout, Lachlan Wright, Vincent Leto, Antonis Papadopoulos, John Theophanous, Nicholas Paradisis, Muhammad Asad, Max Esposito, coach George Paradisis, assistant Tom Demos, manager Nicholas Makaritis.

Fairfield City Lions

Mohammad Qasimi, Mark Nisbet, Nassif El Bacha, Farres Aoun, Foday Kamara, Ballamodou Conde, Julian Agguire, David Bromhead, Mojtaba Mohebbee, Darko Ubiparipovic, Nathan Attard, Christian Ekwerike, Salmon Hassani, Emile Damey, Tomislav Semialjac, Ivan Josipovic, coach Tony Basha, assistants Danny Abboud and Michael Canale, manager Gabby Barakat.

Grade 20s – Minotaurs down Hawks

A thrilling overhead goal from grade-20 golden boot Jordan Yarza was enough to get Hurstville City Minotaurs over the line 1-0 against a stubborn Stanmore Hawks at Arlington Oval on Sunday.

Stanmore looked good in the opening exchanges until Yarza’s stunning bicycle kick ruffled the back of the net to perk up Hurstville, and their defence held firm to claim a terrific trophy win.

Yarza couldn’t argue that his first grand final winning goal would be one to remember. “It just fell right for me and felt good to score that way,” he said. “We’ve got an amazing coach and we had each other to lift us.

A chuffed George Koimanis praised his young team. “I’m certainly happy for them as it’s been quite a difficult year – I just couldn’t be prouder of them; they have showed courage and really did it for each other.”

Hawks coach John Theodoropoulos felt for his charges but wanted them to see the bigger picture. “It’s definitely disappointing after all the hard work everyone has put in. Hurstville took their chance well and deserved their win, but this competition should only ever be about development and it’s been a privilege to coach this team.”

Match Stats

Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Jordan Yarza) Stanmore Hawks 0

Referee Dale Fuda, assistants Danny Horstead and John Garcia, fourth official Robert Klein

Hurstville City Minotaurs

Nicholas Healey, Ryan Parry, Robert Patruno, Aleksandar Gruevski, Christian Crawley, Solomon Sesay, Nicholas Matsias, Dimitri Zaris, Jordan Yarza, George Koimanis, Dimitri Konstantinou, Peter Fterniatis, Alex Fraser, Hasan Makki, Jean-Paul El Tom, coach George Koimanos, assistant Chris Matsias, manager Mart Stratton.

Stanmore Hawks

James Adams, Ashley Harvey, Costa Bakoulis, Carlos Perez, Kristopher Stasi, Alexis Agathocleous, Michael Grace, Dimmitri Haddad, Yiorgo Vamvoukakis, Tainan Marchiori, Anthony Papadopoulos, Jordan Townsend, Joshua De Sousa, Luis Perez, Peter Theodosi, Martin Baer, Evan Anagnostopoulos, Vasili Lambroglou, Lee Lambroglou, coach John Theodoropoulos, assistant Marco Masch, manager Nicholas Makaritis.

-By Dan De Nardi