Saints no match for red hot Blacktown City
BLACKTOWN City FC recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory over a stuttering St George FC outfit thanks to a goal in each half.
The home side will be slightly disappointed they didn’t trouble the scorers further with the amount of chances they created on a cold afternoon at Lilys Football Centre.
The home side signalled their intentions early in the contest when a ball played by Ryuji Miyazawa just failed to find Blacktown City’s newest signing in Mitchell Mallia. The striker wasn’t able to get a clean sight of goal and the play broke down.
Despite Miyazawa’s continued presence in the St George half, the away side did manage to carve open their own opportunities in the contest. The first fell to Aman Hadid who blazed the opportunity over the bar from close range.
The next two chances for St George went to David Talevski who hit a weak shot right at Nenad Vekic in the 12′ minute.
Talevski narrowly missed the second chance after some good interplay near the Blacktown City box found him one on one with the keeper. He wasn’t able to force Vekic into a save this time with the ball sailing wide without any intervention.
Blacktown City would dominate the rest of the first half, as they would spend it camped in the St George half.
Just before his goal, Mallia almost got his head to a cross before it found its way to Travis Major who couldn’t squeeze it inside the post.
He would play a major part in both Blacktown City goals. Major provided the enticing ball that Mitchell Mallia would tap home in the 26′ minute, a deserved goal as Blacktown City had kept the lion’s share of the possession.
Miyazawa was running the midfield as the Japanese playmaker pinged passes for his forwards that on another day would have produced four of five goals for the home side
Matthew Lewis and Travis Major would combine for the final chance of the first half for Blacktown City. Lewis worked diligently to keep the ball in before finding Major who turned and shot over the bar in the 35′ minute.
Marco Travaglini replaced Jacob Poscoliero at the break and almost created an immediate impact for the home side. He earned a free-kick for Blacktown City and from the resulting cross almost ghosted behind his defender but was unable to convert.
Blacktown City continued to pepper the St George FC defence but also left them open as George Codrea marshalled the midfield for the away side. He regularly nipped in winning balls and spraying passes around.
Ultimately though it was Blacktown City FC who would find the killer second goal just inside second half stoppage time. Miyazawa, who masterminded the dominant performance from the home side, was the man on the spot as Major squared it him to tap in past St George keeper Dion Shaw.
The win for Blacktown City FC keeps them on the tail of ladder leading neighbours Blacktown Spartans, who are now only two points ahead.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 2 (Mitchell Mallia 26′, Ryuji Miyazawa 90+1′)
St George FC 0
Sunday 8th June 2014
Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Andrej Giev and Joon Park
Fourth Official: Lachlan Daniel
Blacktown City FC: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3.Giorgio Speranza, 5.Jacob Poscoliero (15.Marco Travaglini 46’), 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.Shayne D’Cunha 14.Mitchell Mallia (11.Danny Choi 78’), 18.Daniel Araujo (4.Yianni Fragogiannis70’), 19.Zachary Caincross
Substitutes not used: 13. Blake Tuxford
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
St George FC: 1.Dion Shaw; 2.Costa Andricopoulos, 3.David Dascal, 5.Bill Tsanidis, 7.Christopher Gomez, 9.Aman Hadid (34.James Spanoudakis 60’), 10.Bruno Pivato, 13.Lenox Tweneboa, 16.Johnathan Castano-Acero, 19.David Talevski, 23.George Codrea
Substitutes not used: 6. Mirko Jurilj, 21. Lucas North, 26. Rino Zenari
Yellow Cards: Costa Andricopoulos 58’, Christopher Gomez 82’
Red Cards: Nil
– By Justin Davies, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Lilys Football Centre
