Spartans unlocked by gritty Reds

SYDNEY United 58 FC’s victory over the Blacktown Spartans was much more than a valuable three points, but a reminder they can mix it with the best.
With Socceroos assistant coach Ante Milicic, Western Sydney Wanderers head coach Tony Popovic and Sydney FC defender Sasa Ognenovski in the stands at Sydney United Sports Centre the home side put in a spirited performance to record the 1-0 win.
The result keeps United’s faint finals hopes alive and gives the team belief they can go on to more success this season.
For the Spartans it is merely a hump in their already highly successful season.
United pressed the Spartans up high from the opening whistle trying to force a mistake out of the league leaders.
After settling into the match United made in-roads into the Spartans defence in the 13′ minute when Luka Glavas chipped the ball through to Joel Chianese. The former Sydney FC striker’s cross was easily claimed by Spartans keeper Carlos Saliadarre with the scores remaining level.
Ray Miller tried to inspire his team two minutes later going on a mazy run before his shot was well held by United keeper Anthony Costa.
Jacob Ott had Saliadarre to thank on 18′ minutes after a clearance from Costa bounced over the defender’s head. Robbie Mileski got to the ball and headed it across to an oncoming Glavas but Saliadarre was out well to collect the ball.
Play was halted in the 26 minute when Mitchell Speer went down in agony after tackling Phil Makrys. Great sportsmanship was shown as Miller stood by the youngster until he was carried from the park and replaced by Stjepan Paric.
From the imposing free kick Blacktown Spartans had a great chance to open the scoring but Luka Dukic could not keep his header down.
The United defence was split from a perfect through ball by Mitch Long in the 34′ minute sending Corey Biczo down the left hand side. Unfortunately for the attacker his early cross flashed across the face of goal before United cleared.
The last five minutes of the half gave United two great chances to open the scoring.
The first came in the 40′ minute when Luka Glavas brought the ball down and cleverly got around Giannaros. With Alec Urosevski free inside the box the captain decided to take the shot himself going directly to a waiting Saliadarre, much to the despair of fans.
The missed chance almost came back to haunt United on the stroke of half time when a Greg Kondek free kick curled over the wall but bounced on top of the net.
Mileski then had the best chance of the half on the stroke of half time when Glavas did well to get around two defenders before cutting back to the attacker whose side-footed attempt was expertly saved by a diving Saliadarre.
Blacktown did not wait long to attack in the second half with a counter in the 47′ minute. Mitch Long and Corey Biczo linked up well with the latter taking the ball into the box only for United defender Ibrahim Haydar to come across well and win the ball.
Following the chance, Spartans were put under sustained pressure for several minutes as United’s attack moved forward.
In the 60′ minute Mileski went dancing down the by-line, beating three defenders and with three players lined up for a shot his cut back was well blocked by Dukic.
Two minutes later a failed clearance from a corner resulted in Haydar’s goal bound shot bounce off the right hand post.
Joel Chianese made up for the missed opportunity in the 64′ minute when he volleyed the ball into the back of the net from inside the box much to the delight of the home fans.
The goal seemed to spark Blacktown into action as another Miller shot from distance sailed well over the bar.
Miller almost turned provider in the 76′ minute when ran at the United defence before his attempted through ball was blocked by Haydar.
With less than 10′ minutes remaining Spartans through numbers forward in search of an equaliser.
United granted them a great chance in the 84′ minute when Nathan Sherlock brought down Biczo on the edge of the box. Sherlock was thanking his lucky stars with the imposingTomislav Cirjak free kick bouncing off the cross bar.
Following the match Sydney United 58 head coach Mark Rudan said he was proud of his team’s efforts.
“It was all about trying to minimise time and space for them and I thought we did that extremely well,” he said.
“We had to deal with their physicality and direct play and thought we did that really well. Anything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong this season but we are not looking at making any excuses.
“There is certainly a lot of quality in the dressing room and I keep reminding them of that.”
In the opposing dressing room Blacktown Spartans head coach Ben De Haan was left frustrated by the result.
“It was poor football really, we tried to play but they kept breaking up play and there were a heap of fouls which broke our rhythm,” De Haan said.
“Full credit to them if that’s how they set up to play but we couldn’t play anything. We played well in patches but the game got slowed because we kept getting stopped.”
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 1 (Joel Chianese 64’)
Blacktown Spartans 0
Sunday June 29, 2014
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Danny Horstead
Fourth Official: Lachlan Daniel
Sydney United 58 FC: 1.Anthony Costa; 9.Robbie Mileski (8. Ante Tomic 91’), 6.Mitchell Stamatellis, 20.Ibrahim Haydar, 4.Nathan Sherlock, 18.Alec Urosevski, 14.Mitchell Speer (16.Stjepan Paric 27’), 11.Luka Glavas (c) (7. Mirjan Pavlovic 82’), 19.Matthew Bilic, 41.Joel Chianese, 35.Daniel Bragg
Substitutions not used: 12.Ivan Pavlak, 29.John Dimitrakis
Yellow Cards: Robbie Mileski 24’, Joel Chianese 37’, Mitchell Stamatellis 45’, Mirjan Pavlovic 87’
Red cards: Nil
Blacktown Spartans: 1.Carlos Saliadarre, 13.Corey Biczo, 5.Luka Dukic, 10.Emmanuel Giannaros, 11.David Gullo, 6.Greg Kondek (9.Elsid Barkhousir 69’), 7.Phil Makrys(20.Tomislav Cirjak 80’), 8.Ray Miller, 14.Jacob Ott, 15.Mitchell Long, 17.Kieran Dalton
Substitutions not used: 18.Zachary Freeburn, 40.James Stojcevski, 16.Ben Tosi
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
– By Chris Georges, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Sydney United Sports Centre