State League Two Round 10 Review
Football NSW Men’s State League 2 round 10 saw Hurstville FC finally relieved of top-dog duty after Prospect United beat Enfield Rovers 3-1 and Hurstville had their scheduled game against Rydalmere called off due to a wet St George Stadium to pitch Prospect in front (on number of goals scored).
Southern Bulls held out Southern Branch 1-0, Hurstville City Minotaurs defeated Western Condors 1-0 on Sunday then lost a first-round catch-up 0-2 on Monday to Condors. University of NSW had the bye.
The ladder shows Prospect (19) and Hurstville FC (19) slightly ahead of Bulls (17), Minotaurs (15), Condors (14) and Lions (12).
In Grade-20, Prospect and Enfield drew 0-0, Branch and Bulls drew 2-2, Condors beat Minotaurs 2-1, and the weather washed out the Hurstville FC versus Rydalmere match, leaving Prospect (20), Lions (19) and Uni (17) in front of Bulls (14), Rovers (11), Branch (10) and Condors (9).
Round 10
Enfield Rovers 1 (Phillip Reilly) Prospect United 3 (Chris Camilleri 2, Abanoub Michael)
Western Condors 0 Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Ruben Viglino)
Southern Branch 0 Southern Bulls 1 (Nathan Niski)
Hurstville FC Rydalmere Lions washed out
Rescheduled round 2: Western Condors 0 Southern Bulls 0
Rescheduled round 1: Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Western Condors 2 (Luis Escalante, Chris Kartambis)
Grade 20
Enfield Rovers 0 Prospect United 0
Western Condors 2 Hurstville City Minotaurs 1
Southern Branch 2 Southern Bulls 2
Hurstville FC Rydalmere Lions washed out
Rescheduled round 1: Hurstville City Minotaurs 0 Western Condors 1
Prospect down Enfield
Prospect United put themselves top of the State League 2 heap with a 3-1 win over Enfield Rovers at Garside Park on Saturday afternoon.
Abanoub Michael scored Prospect’s first following some good lead-up play from Nicholas Kalebic, who’s cross into the box caused a scramble that Abanoub tucked away into the top corner on the turn, and they made it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime when Chris Camilleri found the target from a crisp freekick.
The visitors tripled the advantage midway through the second half from a penalty that Camilleri tucked away after Ben Lam had been taken down inside the box.
Enfield finally hit the scoreboard with 10 minutes to go, Damian Jankovic flicking on his keeper Michael Rutherford’s long boot for Phillip Reilly to neatly lob the keeper at the other end, but it was all too late as United round out 3-1 winners.
A 0-0 draw in grade-20 pushed Prospect into first place on both ladders, and coach Tony Caruso was quietly chuffed. “We went alright today,” he said. “It was a tough one and Enfield looked a lot more structured than the first round, and the conditions made it tricky as it was very slippery underfoot and didn’t allow for a free-flowing game that both sides tried to play.”
Rovers coach Andrew Montgomery felt his side was well in a good contest. “The only difference between the two sides was a penalty and a set piece; I really felt it would be a draw as neither keeper had to do much,” he said.
“I didn’t think there was much separating us and the other squads in the first round, just that results didn’t go our way. We’ve worked hard to close that gap and can still get better as we go.”
Bulls beat Branch
Southern Bulls didn’t have it all their own way in a 1-0 win against lowly Southern Branch at South Nowra Football Complex on Sunday afternoon.
Branch belied their last-placed ladder position with a disciplined first half that kept the score 0-0 at the break, and it took a Nathan Niski 25-yard bomb into the top-corner to break the deadlock for Bulls on the hour-mark, team-mate James Raiti also going close with a great shot brilliantly tipped by the Branch keeper to end proceedings at 1-0 to the visitors.
Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon reckoned that was the roughest of his club’s fourth straight success against Branch. “We did pretty well considering what we had on the field [eight players out for various reasons], but it was a tough, grinding win that needed a lot of character,” he said. “Branch were very hard to break down and very determined, and very keen.”
Minotaurs clip Condors
It was a double-knockout as Hurstville City Minotaurs and Western Condors split their long-weekend double-header, Minotaurs winning a player-reduced Sunday afternoon match 1-0 at Calabria Sports Ground before Condors won the return bout 2-0 at Hartleys Oval on Monday afternoon.
Sunday was far from a pretty affair as Condors ruined a fairly solid start by having George Quattrone accumulate two yellow cards in the opening 20 minutes and leave Western a player short, but they held their own and kept the 0-0 stalemate to halftime.
Minotaurs finally found the breakthrough when Ruben Viglino scored following some enterprising play from Modar Sultan, but Hurstville were also reduced in numbers when Sam Mehana picked up a second yellow, only for Condors to blow another gasket with Alex Hezari straight red-carded for dissent not long after – the game finishing 1-0 to Hurstville and several players suspended for the next day’s first-round catch-up.
But what a difference a day makes as Western turned the tide with a goal in each half at Hartleys on Monday, Luis Escalante igniting a late first-half counter attack that Chris Kartambis touched and powered home into the corner, Kartambis returning the favour late in the second term with a good cross to the far post where Escalante finished with a great header to make it 2-0 at fulltime.
Condors coach Erick Anabalon shook his head about Saturday’s embarrassment. “I thought we started well; we weren’t creating chances but were organising ourselves well, and then we have one player sent off for two yellows, and then another player sent off for allegedly abusing the ref,” he said. “We speak about discipline every week and there was some real stupidity in our behaviour.”
A Monday afternoon turnaround was just the tonic, though. “It was tough the way we lost it [on Sunday], but we stuck with the way we’re trying to play it and it paid off,” Anabalon said.
“Obviously the biggest factor for us was keeping 11 players on the pitch. Hurstville hit the post and pressured us early but after that we restricted them.”
“I’m confident our discipline will be good from here on in. It showed character for the side to back up [from four games in eight days] and fatigue had its effect as both sides lost players to hamstrings. We just need to regroup and maintain our discipline.”
Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis was only half-happy with Sunday’s result. “We missed so many chances, I’m not happy with our execution,” he said. “We’ll be missing a few more players over the next few games and will have to call on the depth in the club, but I’ve got players there.”
On Monday he was less than happy. “We had chances early but overall the boys just didn’t put in the effort today,” Sarikakis said. “Condors wanted to win the game more and took their chances.”
The weekend drama underlines the intense passion between the clubs, now with five wins apiece and two draws from 12 meetings – seven contests decided by a goal or less.
Next week’s games
Football NSW Men’s State League 2 round 11 is a Saturday sizzler with Hurstville City Minotaurs versus Enfield Rovers at St George Soccer Stadium (3pm kickoff) followed by the Southern Bulls-Western Condors derby at Ernie Smith Reserve (5pm) and Prospect United against University of NSW at William Lawson Reserve (5pm). On Sunday afternoon Rydalmere Lions journey south to tackle Southern Branch at South Nowra Football Complex (1pm).
