State League Two Round 2 Review

Rain and a couple of interesting results marked round two of the Football NSW State League 2 competition.

University of NSW beat Prospect United 1-0, Hurstville City Minotaurs downed Enfield Rovers 2-0, while Sunday’s intermittent weather halted matches Southern Branch versus Rydalmere Lions at South Nowra Sports Complex and Western Condors versus Southern Bulls at Calabria Sports Ground. Hurstville FC had the bye. 

Round 2

University of NSW 1 (Nick Fernandez) Prospect United 0

Enfield Rovers 0 Hurstville City Minotaurs 2 (Paul Paras, Sam Mehana)

Southern Branch vs Rydalmere Lions washed out

Western Condors vs Southern Bulls washed out

Grade 20

University of NSW 0 Prospect United 1

Southern Branch vs Rydalmere Lions washed out

Western Condors vs Southern Bulls washed out

Uni edge Prospect

University of NSW started their winter campaign with a fine 1-0 win over Prospect United at David Phillips Field on Saturday afternoon.

An evenly matched game was decided from a first-half set-piece with a George Georgamlis freekick not held by the Prospect keeper and Nick Fernandez was first to the spill with the simplest of tap-ins and a 1-0 Uni lead.

Georgamlis had a stellar chance to double the advantage in the second term but his clever chip held up in the long grass to be cleared off the line by a United defender to keep the score unchanged.

Prospect charged home in search of an equaliser but the fulltime whistle sounded with Uni ahead 1-0.

Uni coach Tom Belcher was thrilled with the commitment of his troops to defeat a Prospect side that won last week’s opener 5-2.

"Three months of hard work and it was finally game on – the guys were rearing to go and really took a winning mentality into the match," he said.

"The pitch was a bit slow and the weather wasn’t the best but the guys were really happy to be out there and the result is a great confidence boost."

"We had a few chances to score – it wasn’t end to end, mostly in middle of park – and Prospect pushed us hard in the last 20 minutes but we managed to hold them out."

Belcher said his side was itching to get at Hurstville next week with FC fielding quite a few former Uni players.

United coach Tony Caruso was only disappointed with the result, although their 5-2 drubbing of Enfield must seem like ages ago.

"We played well and created many chances but we couldn’t put it away – I guess we used up all our luck the previous week. I wasn’t unhappy with the boys, they just couldn’t deliver the final punch," he said.

"Uni played well and have a style that suits them. They decided to sit back a little bit at the end and made it tougher for us to score… but they didn’t do too much wrong all game."

"There’s definitely no room for error in a competition like this. Fair credit to them; they executed their game plan perfectly."

In grade 20 Prospect held onto their 1-0 halftime lead to defeat Uni.

Minotaurs down Rovers

Hurstville City Minotaurs delivered a 2-0 defeat to the doorstep of Enfield Rovers on a damp Sunday afternoon at Garside Park.

The game was busted open midway through the opening half when Sean Richardson cantered down the right and played a neat ball through to Paul Paras who beat his defender and slotted home from a difficult angle to make it 1-0 to Hurstville.

Minotaurs doubled their buffer 15 minutes later after Paras was tripped on a run into the box, Sam Mehana converting the spot kick to help the visitors to a 2-0 break at halftime.

Rovers were more adventurous in the second period but the 90 minutes were up with City still 2-0 in front.

Hurstville coach Peter Sarikakis was pleased with the way his players applied themselves to their first hit-out of the season.

“Not bad for our first game and it’s always nice to get a win over my mate [Enfield coach] Andrew Montgomery,” he said with a wry smile.

“We had a few players out [hopeful returnees Angelo Vagenas and Michael Di Meglio played reserves, with Sasho Stevoski and Modar Sultan missing] and Enfield had their chances at the end, but our defence did very well in restricting them mostly to crosses. Nick Kynezos had a great game at sweeper.”

“Rain has interrupted training and there’s still a lot of fine-tuning to be done but everybody played to the instructions and did their job today. We need a bit more time to gel and its early days… but we’re looking okay.”

A colourful Montgomery couldn’t resist this tongue in cheek text [ed: at dinner], calling the goals “scrappy… we dominated possession and the game and missed good opportunities [to score].”

Next week’s games

Football NSW State League Two round three features University of NSW versus Hurstville FC at David Phillips Field on Saturday afternoon, Hurstville City Minotaurs host Prospect United at St George Stadium on Saturday evening, Rydalmere Lions tackle Western Condors at Rydalmere Park on Sunday afternoon, while Enfield Rovers meet Southern Bulls at Garside Park on Monday afternoon.

Waratah Cup/FFA Cup

Hurstville FC beat Southern Bulls 3-1 at Ernie Smith Reserve in last week’s Waratah Cup action to become just the second division two side to reach the fourth round in six years (Northbridge 2011). Prospect fell 1-3 to Central Coast Mariners Academy (SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2) at Pluim Park, Condors lost 1-3 to Waverley Old Boys (Eastern Suburbs Association) at Knight Park, while Rydalmere play Spirit FC (SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2) at Christie Park on Tuesday night. Round four has pitted Hurstville FC against South Coast Wolves (IGA NPL NSW Mens 1).

-By Dan De Nardi