Blacktown City demolish Wolves
Blacktown City FC posted a dream start to the 2014 National Premier Leagues IGA NSW Mens 1 season with a 5-0 thrashing over South Coast Wolves at WIN Stadium in the heart of Wollongong.
An early season 2-2 draw and a tightly fought 1-0 win to Blacktown City on a chilly mid-winter’s evening was the only differential that separated these two sides last season, but today it was all about Blacktown City.
Both teams looked a little unsettled to start the season proper, but it was the home side’s Sam Matthews who had the first realistic chance of the match when in the 10’ minute his powerful volley from the edge of the box sailed wide of the right post.
However, the missed opportunity appeared to have sparked the visiting side into action and after some nice lead-up down the middle, it was Travis Major out wide on the right who sent a perfectly weighted ball into the goalmouth where an awaiting Ryuji Miyazawa calmly headed the ball past Wolves keeper Daniel Collison to open the scoring in the 13’ minute.
Kearyn Baccus went close to extending the lead in the 19’ minute when he was left unmarked on the left edge of the box. Baccus’s shot from an acute angle was on target but was brilliantly saved by a fully-stretched Collison.
Matthews again went close to tying it up for his home side in the 24’ minute when he outpaced Blacktown City’s defence and fired off a shot from the left which was only negated by the visiting side’s keeper Nedad Vekic who tipped the ball over the bar.
The ensuing corner proved to be the Wolves best chance of the half when Vekic managed to pull off three straight shots in succession to ensure his side remained in front.
Blacktown City managed to regroup and controlled proceedings throughout the middle stages of the opening half and it was a Matt Lewis corner from out on the right that found a leaping Zach Cairncross who headed it past the keeper to double his side’s lead in the 32’ minute.
Blacktown City refused to take the pressure off and again found the back of the net in the 43’ minute when the brilliance of Miyazawa weaved his way across the field from the left – leaving a dilapidated Wolves defensive line in his wake – before delivering a text-book pass to an unmarked Major out on the right who calmly took the ball into the box and fired it past an outstretched Collison to ensure that his side headed to the break with a 3-0 lead.
The Wolves, to their credit, came out on all cylinders firing in the second-half as they looked to open their scoring account, but it was Blacktown City who netted a fourth in the 53’ minute when Matt Lewis raced down the left side looking to cross to Major and a fast-finishing Daniel Araujo.
Lewis’s cross was mistimed and instead of finding his awaiting teammates in the box, the ball sailed innocuously over an outstretched keeper Collison’s hands and into the back of the net. An almost embarrassed Lewis saw the funny side of his fortunate ‘miscue’ and seemingly apologised to his fellow Blacktown City players as he trotted back for the kickoff.
The Wolves toiled hard throughout the remainder of the encounter with a strong chance from a set piece by Chris Price in the 63’ minute when he drilled it low and hard from just outside of the box, but another superb save by Vekic to his right ensured that he kept a clean sheet.
A 90’ minute goal by Travis Major put the icing on the cake for the visitors as Danny Choi outpaced the defence on the left to send it over to his co-captain Major who rounded off a brilliant individual performance.
“Obviously I’m extremely happy with that performance,” claimed a jubilant Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden.
“Our pre-season has been good and we have a very new and young side with our oldest player only 25-years-old.
“We’ve gone with a bit of different philosophy and we’re trying to bring our youngsters through – they’re energetic, they’re keen, and whilst we’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves, we do need to remember that it is only Day 1.
“Out there today their movement was nice, it was a good surface which always helps and it’s nice to get that first-off win out of the way.
It was a different story though for Wolves coach Richard Lloyd who was disappointed with his side’s first-up performance.
“We’ve got a great facility, a new ground and a big crowd have shown up, but in reality we couldn’t execute and in essence we were taught a lesson by Blacktown City,” claimed Lloyd.
“I think a few of our young boys needed to stand up but instead were a bit overawed by the big occasion out there today.
“Chris Price was certainly our best this afternoon, but we need to support him so hopefully we can work on that going forward.”
South Coast Wolves head on up to ‘The Shire’ next Saturday evening to take on Robbie Stanton’s Sutherland Sharks in what promises to be a blockbuster ‘F6 Derby’, while Blacktown City remain on the road as they take on the newly-promoted St. George FC at WIN Jubilee Oval next Sunday afternoon.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 0
Blacktown City 5 (Ryuji Miyazawa 13’, Zach Cairncross 32’, Travis Major 43’, 90’, Matt Lewis 53’)
Sunday March 16, 2014
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Andrej Glev and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Karl Davies
South Coast Wolves: 1.Daniel Collison; 3.Chris Nathaniel, 4.Michael Robinson, 6.Zac Mackenzie, 7.Chris Price, 8.Matthew Bailey (20.Joseph Lavalle 46’), 9.Peter Simonoski (5.James Baldacchino 72’), 10.Ricky Zucco, 22.Sam Matthews, 25.Aaron Baker (11.Mitchell Del Turco 72’), 26.Jacob Timpano
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Dusan Kolonja, 111.David Hamilton
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Nedad Vekic; 3.Georgio Speranza, 4.Yianni Fragogiannis (12. Joel Hardwick 64’), 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa (17.Keiran Paull 82’), 10.Kearyn Baccus, 15.Marco Travaglani, 18.Daniel Araujo (11.Danny Choi 56’), 19.Zach Cairncross
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Yianni Fragogiannis 55’
Red Cards: Nil
Players Ratings:
3 – Ryuji Miyazawa (BCFC)
2 – Travis Major (BCFC)
1 – Marco Travaglani (BCFC)
-By Gary McDonald
