Mens State League Two Round 12 Review
Prospect United still lead Football NSW Men’s State League 2 following round 12 results, beating Hurstville City Minotaurs 2-0, while Hurstville FC versus University and Southern Bulls versus Enfield Rovers both finished 1-1.
On Sunday afternoon Western Condors host Rydalmere Lions at Calabria Sports Ground (3pm). Southern Branch had the bye.
The ladder shows Prospect (25), Bulls (21) and Hurstville FC (20) leading Lions (15), Minotaurs (15) and Condors (14); lagging behind are Rovers (8), Uni (7) and Branch (3).
The top-four have broken away in Grade-20 with Lions (22), Prospect (23), Uni (23) and Bulls (20) now well in front of Condors (12), Rovers (11) and Branch (10).
Round 12
Hurstville FC 1 (Stuart Meney) University of NSW 1 (Adel Ahmed)
Prospect United 2 (Ben Lam, Chris Camilleri) Hurstville City Minotaurs 0
Southern Bulls 1 (Jason Garrido) Enfield Rovers 1 (Richard Atkins)
Western Condors 2 (George Quatrone, Luis Escalante) Rydalmere Lions 5 (Julian Aguirre 2, Joel Silvestre, Amoury Gauthier, Kingsley Williams)
Grade 20
Hurstville FC 0 University of NSW 2
Prospect United 6 Hurstville City Minotaurs 1
Southern Bulls 2 Enfield Rovers 1
Western Condors 1 Rydalmere Lions 11
Hurstville, Uni draw
Hurstville FC and University of NSW fought out an awkward 1-1 draw at St George Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening, Uni’s Adel Ahmed cancelling out Stuart Meney’s early strike for FC.
Hurstville had the stronger start but were a bit wasteful until Meney scored in the 20th minute, some mid-game guidance from coach Tom Belcher settling the visitors and their backline showed stern resistance to Hurstville’s attacks after that.
Uni were patient and a great counter-attack from George Georgamlis midway through the term fed Ahmed who touched and rifled home the equaliser.
Uni also gained success in grade-20 winning 2-0, giving Belcher plenty to smile about. “I’m absolutely chuffed. They had no answers for us and couldn’t break us down; they tried everything,” he said.
“We had a hard look and changed our system. We had to stop conceding goals if we were going to have any chance at winning points and today did feel a little bit like a win because it gave us some belief in our performances, which have been good all year, and today we got a result that reflected that.”
Hurstville coach Steve Zoric was clearly frustrated. “It was tough in terms of trying to break them down, I guess we just didn’t moved the ball around quick enough to expose them,” he said.
“They sat really deep, which was a bit annoying; they wanted to frustrate us and it worked, but it’s more frustrating that we weren’t more up to begin with.”
Prospect beat Minotaurs
Prospect United scored at the very start and very end of a dogged 2-0 victory over Hurstville City Minotaurs at William Lawson Reserve on Saturday night, making six wins straight to remain at the top of the leaderboard.
Ben Lam made the most of a fumble from the Minotaurs keeper to give Prospect a dream 1-0 start in the opening two minutes and Minotaurs should’ve leveled from the penalty spot later in the half following a trip inside the United box, Daniel Farias saving well to keep the home side ahead at the break.
It took a while but Prospect finally wrapped up the points when Chris Camilleri beat a couple of defenders and hammered home into the top corner to ensure victory. United’s grade-20 outfit beat Hurstville 6-1.
The result was good tonic for Prospect coach Tony Caruso with United facing Bulls, Lions and Hurstville FC over the next few weeks. “It was a tough match, one that brought me back to the 1980s,” he said.
“I’ll just say that my players showed a lot of character and adapted well to the conditions. We played to our strengths and had a little bit of luck on our side; it was a solid performance.”
Bulls, Rovers stand-off
Southern Bulls were made to work hard for a 1-1 draw with stubborn Enfield Rovers at Ernie Smith Reserve on Saturday night.
The visitors nipped an early lead when Richard Atkins opened Southern up on the half-hour mark and, try as they did, Bulls were made to wait until the 75th minute to finally find an equaliser, Jason Garrido finishing off a sweeping team movement to hammer home and grab a share of the spoils.
It was a good result for Enfield, although their run was soured by late send-offs to Kyle Fisher (dissent) and Michael Zezovski (second yellow). Southern won the grade-20 match 2-0.
Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon was disappointed. “We misfired again. It wasn’t a good day for us up front, but [keeper] Michael Rutherford pulled of some amazing saves today to make sure we got something from the match.”
Rovers coach Andrew Montgomery felt it was a true result. “I think a draw was a fair reflection of game. We had a goal pulled back that looked good but in saying that our keeper pulled of a few good saves, so 1-1 was probably about right,” he said.
Lions devour Condors
Rydalmere Lions roared loud with a 5-2 win against Western Condors at Calabria Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon, finally clawing their way into a top-four position with a fourth straight win.
Condors opened the scoring through a George Quatrone freekick only for Joel Silvestre to hit back for Lions and Amoury Gauthier gave Rydalmere a 2-1 edge midway through the term.
Western responded with another set piece success, Luis Escalante making it 2-2 at the break and it was game on.
Julian Aguirre put the visitors ahead a second time 15 minutes into the second half and when Western lost Stipe Jezercic to a second yellow card it was all Lions as Aguirre added another and Kingsley Williams made it 5-2 from the penalty spot.
It was a triumphant day for Rydalmere as their grade-20 side stayed first with a 11-1 demolition of Condors, and coach Tony Basha wanted more.
“I’m still not overly happy with our performance as it could’ve been better; we lost our shape because they all wanted to score,” he said.
“[In regards to taking a top-four spot] We won’t really be happy until we’ve got top spot, but I still think Prospect and Bulls are favourites – they’re the big clubs.”
Next week’s games
Football NSW Men’s State League 2 round 13 starts with University of NSW against Hurstville City Minotaurs at David Phillips Field on Saturday afternoon (3pm kickoff) followed by Southern Bulls versus Prospect United at Ernie Smith Reserve on Saturday night (7pm). Rydalmere then host Enfield Rovers at Rydalmere Park on Sunday afternoon (3pm) before a Saturday evening clash between Hurstville FC and Southern Branch at St George Soccer Stadium (5pm). Western Condors have the bye.
