Wolves no match for hungry Blacktown City
BLACKTOWN City recorded a comprehensive 3-0 victory over the South Coast Wolves in a wet affair at Lilys Football Centre on Sunday.
Travis Major opened the scoring for Blacktown just minutes before the half time break before late goals Japanese import Ryuji Miyazawa and Korean Danny Choi sealed the victory.
The match started at a blistering pace with South Coast clearly sitting back in defence to combat Blacktown’s impressive attacking force.
Starting his first match for his new club, former Sydney FC attacker Mitchell Mallia attempted to put his side ahead early. The youngster picked up the ball on the edge of the box in the 6′ minute to shoot directly at Wolves goalkeeper Thomas Hamilton.
Two minutes later, as the rain starting pelting down, Matt Lewis got on the end of a cross but was unable to control his shot with the ball skidding across the face of goal.
Lewis was again in the thick of the action on 12′ minutes, sending an early cross into the box from the left flank with Travis Major rising well to head the ball wide of the mark.
Blacktown continued the aerial threat as Jacob Poscoliero rose to meet a corner in the 16′ minute, directing the ball straight at Hamilton.
The Wolves immediately countered after the save and created their first opportunity with Peter Simonoski’s shot saved off the line by Shayne D’Cunha.
Ryuji Miyazawa was the next to test the Wolves defence. The classy midfielder played a clever one-two with Sasa Macura in the 23′ minute before his shot was deflected out for a corner.
South Coast sharpshooter Ricky Zucco tried to give his side the lead in the 35′ minute, attacking the Blacktown defence with venom but unable to test Vekic as his shot went sailing wide.
Blacktown was unlucky not to take the lead in the 40′ minute when Mallia found Major who advanced into the box before cutting the ball across the face of goal. Youngster Shayne D’Cunha came close to burying the ball, only for Wolves defender Darcy Madden to clear.
But the duo combined again two minutes later to give Blacktown the lead. Mallia peeled out wide on the right before sending a pin-perfect cross to Major who headed the ball into the bottom left hand corner. It was Major’s tenth goal of the season as the striker currently leads the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 Golden Boot charts.
The Wolves came out of the break hungry to equalise and had a penalty waved away by the referee in the 47′ minute when D’Cunha looked to have handled the ball in the box.
Matthew Bailey tested Vekic in the 50′ minute, winning the ball in the middle of the park before sending a great shot goal wards which was initially dropped by Vekic before being cleared.
Blacktown regained control of the match after the missed chances with Mallia turning his defender on the edge of the box but his impending shot was well blocked by a sliding Michael Robinson.
Poscoliero saw another great chance go begging in the 63′ minute, advancing through the middle of the park in a counter attack to meet a Miyazawa cross but unable to hit the target.
With the game still in the balance Bailey sent a floating free kick into the box two minutes to find Christopher Price with a header falling to the chest of Vekic.
City coach Mark Crittenden turned to his bench to look for a second goal wih 20′ minutes left, bringing on Danny Choi and Daniel Araujo.
The move almost paid dividends immediately with Choi forcing Hamilton into two smart saves in the 75′ minute.
In the 82′ minute the home side moved exceptionally well up the field with Choi finding space on the right before cutting the ball across to an oncoming Araujo whose shot was again saved by Hamilton.
Four minutes later Blacktown doubled their lead with Araujo taking the ball up field after a mix-up between two South Coast Wolves players before finding Miyazawa on the edge of the box who struck the ball beautifully into the back of the net.
Danny Choi put the nail in South Coast’s coffin in injury time. With the visitors moving forward for a corner Blacktown countered with Miyazawa and Choi combining for the latter to strike the ball into the bottom right hand corner.
Following the match Crittenden said he was pleased with his side’s performance but said they had to start taking more of their chances.
“We knew it would be a tough game, since Naz (South Coast Wolves coach Nahuel Arrarte) has taken over they have been really well organised and been working hard,” he said.
“At the end of the day the boys got the result we were after and we did well.
“We had enough chances in the game to get away a bit so we got to start taking those chances when we create them.”
In the away dressing room Wolves coach Nahuel Arrarte said it was disappointing for his side’s winning streak to come to an end.
“I thought we didn’t stick to our game plan early on and that’s where they started getting on top of us a bit,” he said.
“The second half even though we concede two goals we started passing the ball and causing them a bit more trouble out wide.
“It is unfortunate for us but at the same time it is a good learning experience for us.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City 3 (Travis Major 42’, Ryuji Miyazawa 86’, Danny Choi 90’)
South Coast Wolves 0
Sunday June 1, 2014
Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills
Blacktown City: 1.Nenad Vekic, 16.Kearyn Baccus (15.Marco Travaglini 84’), 19.Zac Cairncross (c), 10.Shayne D’Cunha, 6.Matthew Lewis, 8.Sasa Macura, 7.Travis Major, 5.Jacob Poscoliero, 3.Giorgio Speranza (18.Daniel Araujo 74’), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 14.Mitchell Mallia (11.Danny Choi 71’)
Substitutions not used: 13.Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Giorgio Speranza 68’, Daniel Araujo 88’, Jacob Poscoliero 90’
Red cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 1.Thomas Hamilton; 8.Matthew Bailey(c), 2.Jack Keating, 15.Darcy Madden, 22.Samuel Matthews (16.Lochlan Reus 84’), 7.Christopher Price, 4.Michael Robinson, 9.Peter Simonoski, 10.Ricky Zucco (20.Joseph Lavelle 46’), 3.Chris Nathaniel, 6.Zachary Mackenzie
Substitutions not used: 25.Jordan Murray,30. David Hamilton
Yellow Cards: Joseph Lavelle 71’
Red cards: Nil
*Player Ratings have now been hidden with the official ‘Team of the Year’ to be announced after round 22 of the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 competition
– By Chris Georges, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Lilys Football Centre
