Mens State League Two Round 14 Review

The Mens State League Two ladder intensified at both ends following intriguing round-14 results, Hurstville City Minotaurs and Southern Bulls drawing 1-1, Hurstville FC holding off Western Condors 2-1 and Southern Branch defeating University of NSW 4-2, while Prospect United had their game against Rydalmere Lions at William Lawson Reserve postponed and Enfield Rovers had the bye.

The outcomes left Prospect (26) and Hurstville FC (26) level on points and an inch in front of Bulls (23), Lions (21) and Minotaurs (19). Condors (14) are just hanging in. At the other end Rovers (8), Uni (7) and Branch (6) are locked in a three-way battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

Round 14

Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 (Sean Richardson) Southern Bulls 1 (Ninos Philips)

Western Condors 1 () Hurstville FC 2 (Denis Cutura, Henry Kamleitner)

Southern Branch 4 (Luke McCann, Kane Good, Joel Wilson, Rhyley Foenander) University of NSW 2 (Nathan Goutsoulias, Ilidio Carreira)

Prospect United Rydalmere Lions postponed

Grade 20

Hurstville City Minotaurs 1 Southern Bulls 4

Western Condors 1 Hurstville FC 0

Southern Branch 1 University of NSW 3

Prospect United Rydalmere Lions postponed

Bulls, Minotaurs lock horns

Nothing separated Hurstville City Minotaurs and Southern Bulls in a 1-1 draw at Marconi Stadium on Saturday evening.

With the match moved from St George Stadium to Marconi for a Heart Foundation fundraiser the two sides put everything into a game that had plenty of meaning for both sides.

Hurstville started brightly and a booming Sean Richardson strike from 25m out had them leading 1-0 at halftime, only for Ninos Philips to respond late in the game for Southern and ensure the points were shared.

A draw was almost inevitable between the clubs. It’s their fourth in six encounters, and they’re the league’s standout stalematers with Bulls involved in five draws this season and Minotaurs four.

Hurstville coach Peter Sarikakis believed the full points were there for the taking. “We dominated the first half with 2-3 good chances and they came back into it when they were chasing the goal; they pressed in the second half which got them territory, but we should’ve scored when they opened up, we really had some very good goalscoring chances,” he said. 

“They scored late, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, but we showed we can beat any team in the competition. We’ve dropped points here and I hope it doesn’t bite us in the arse, but it won’t matter which team makes the finals if we make it there ourselves.”

Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon called it inflation-hell. “We had so much good possession, 20 shots on goal, we hit post five times, we cant buy a freekick, a penalty… we can’t even buy a throw-in,” he said.

“We’re just not clinical in front of goal, misfiring I’d call it; but I only had 11 players available [Leigh Gunn with Philippines youth team, players at World Cup, functions, 21st birthday], the bench was all under-20s, and god help any team when it actually clicks for us because we’ve dominated everyone, just our confidence in front of goal is a bit down.”

Hurstville clip Condors

Two first-half goals helped Hurstville FC to a 2-1 win over Western Condors at Calabria Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon.

Denis Cutura headed in a neat Michel Karigiannis cross from the right for the first Hurstville goal and then Cutura dummied deftly for Henry Kamleitner to slot past the Condors keeper and go two-up by halftime.

The home side weren’t done with yet and piled on the second-half pressure, XXX scoring late in the game to set up a thrilling finale but FC held on for the win.

Hurstville’s now five matches unbeaten and share top spot with Prospect, while Condors can only dream of making this year’s finals – they’ve lost four straight and sit seven points behind fourth-placed Rydalmere with just four rounds left to play.

Coach Steve Zoric gave his side a massive pat on the back. “It was tit-for-tat in the second half as they pushed forward and made a real game of it. There were chances both ways and a nailbiting finish but it was a great effort from the lads,” he said.

“I had to make a few changes to the lineup and started some young kids and everyone really put in a great shift. It’s still a tough road ahead [they still have to play Prospect, Minotaurs and Bulls in the run home] and we have to keep our heads screwed on tight.”

A 1-0 win to Condors in grade-20 also kept their faint finals chances alive. They trail fourth-placed Bulls by six points with four matches remaining.

Branch betters Uni

Southern Branch set a cat among the wooden-spoon pigeons with a stirring 4-2 win against a depleted University of NSW at South Nowra Football Complex on Sunday afternoon.

With half of Uni’s squad away at the Australian University Games in Newcastle Branch took full advantage with an exemplary first-half display, although they would’ve wanted more than a 1-0 lead at the interval.

But Luke McCann, Kane Good, Joel Wilson and Rhyley Foenander goals established a 4-0 advantage midway through the second term to consign Nathan Goutsoulias and Ilidio Carreira strikes for Uni to consolation status.

Southern’s first win over Uni in four tries has made the whole competition more interesting as Enfield (8), Uni (7) and Branch (6) compete with each other to avoid the wooden spoon and probably ruin the finals chances of some of their opponents.

It’s been a tough winter for Southern coach Brod Crighton but he has blooded (unearthed and unleashed) some exciting young football talent from the state’s south coast.

“We had six guys under the age of 18 starting in first grade today, three of them played two games, and they were excellent,” he said. “It was very similar to our first round match [Uni won 2-1] except we got some goals today.”

“The boys were happy; it was well deserved. We had plenty of possession… they were dangerous at times and it wasn’t easy for us, but the boys showed a bit more concentration to get the result.”

Uni coach Tom Belcher couldn’t have done much more with what he had at his disposal on a tough road trip. “It was a very depleted squad. We had to put our centre-back [Dylan Watson] into goals because of an injury; he’s done it before and did okay but he got caught out twice,” he said.

“We had some golden opportunities that eluded us early in the game and that really hurt us.. it was a rearguard action by Uni but not good enough.”

An interesting point to Uni’s season is that they’ve had 11 different players contribute a goal each, something that has played on Belcher’s mind. “The biggest thing that’s let us down this year is we don’t have a genuine goal poacher. It’s hard enough trying to get the defensive lines right but it would be a little easier if we had someone putting in 2-3 goals.”

Uni won grade-20 3-1 to take second spot, two points behind Rydalmere and two ahead of Prospect.

Next games

Mens State League Two round 15 features University of NSW against Southern Bulls at David Phillips Field on Saturday afternoon (3pm) followed by Hurstville FC versus Enfield Rovers at St George Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening (5pm). On Sunday afternoon (3pm) Rydalmere Lions host Hurstville City Minotaurs while Southern Branch meet Western Condors at South Nowra Football Complex. Prospect United have the bye.

-By Dan De Nardi