Eagles in fine touch ahead of FFA Cup debut
They’re the teams the FFA Cup was made for. When Victoria’s St Albans Saints and Parramatta FC do battle in the round of 32, they’ll be classified as underdogs – two of just four teams in the inaugural tournament not playing in the A-League or top tier state competition.
But write them off at your own peril. It’s Parramatta FC – a team steeped in tradition – against St Albans – a proven production line for some great Australian talents.
What promises to make this fixture compelling, in addition to the thrill of knockout football, is the form with which both sides head in.
Parramatta sit atop the SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2. Predicting their current situation at the start of the season would have been like predicting Germany 7-1 Brazil.
Things weren’t supposed to work out like this. They were meant to be challenging for finals football at best, with the Waratah Cup likely to play second fiddle to the league.
But wins over Hills Brumbies, Dulwich Hill and Macarthur Rams – albeit with an understrength team – set up a quarter-final clash with South Coast Wolves. Defeat there meant Parramatta were forced to secure FFA Cup qualification the hard way via a playoff, but they eventually powered past Northern Tigers at the final hurdle to etch their name in the history books.
A youthful side backed by a spine of experience in captain Pat Gatt and midfielder Mathew Clowes has turned into one of the most efficient and consistent sides in the competition.
Stubborn defence has been supported by a ruthless attack, with the goals shared amongst a clinical forward line including the likes of Shayne Ardle, Frank Martey and Wandi Jajaw and a tight yet mobile midfield.
Part of the challenge of the early rounds of the FFA Cup is facing teams you’re none too knowledgeable about. With St Albans sitting in Victoria’s NPL 1, there will be quite a bit of homework for Eagles coach Frank Cosentino in the next few weeks.
What he does know is that cup football offers no favours.
"They’re a quality side, they work hard, they’ve got some good boys and some game breakers," Cosentino said.
"Hopefully we’ll be ready, but you can only be ready so much. It’s going to be the team on the day, the team that takes their chances and both teams know that.
"The boys have scrapped for nearly a full round without defeat in our competition. So there is definitely a winning mentality there and the boys have hunger and desire. It comes down to who is on the money on the day."
Among St Albans’ players Cosentino will be on the lookout for include Ryan McGuffie, Brodie Paterson and Tedros Yabio. Skipper McGuffie knows quite a bit about cup football, having scored the equalising goal for Gretna against Hearts of Midlothian in the 2006 Scottish Cup final.
While Paterson and Yabio, who have both represented the Joeys, characterise the blend of youth and experience in the Saints line-up.
St Albans has been a breeding ground for Branko Culina, Tom Pondeljak, Jason Culina, Mate Dugandzic, Ivan Franjic and others, with a return to the NPL firmly on the cards as the club looks to re-establish itself as a powerhouse in state football.
Their path to the FFA Cup was completed with a penalty shootout win over NPL outfit Northcote City in the quarter-finals of the Dockerty Cup, although coach Toby Paterson admits the fruits of the tournament weren’t apparent to Victorian clubs earlier in the year.
"I don’t think the exposure of how well you could do was quite there at the start, it was only in the second round that we started to look at it and wake up," Paterson said.
"A lot of the clubs hadn’t realised what’s at stake and a lot, if they had known, would’ve taken it a lot more seriously."
But now that they’re here, St Albans will be leaving nothing at home and Paterson expects a difficult test.
"(The FFA Cup) is a lovely challenge, it’s long overdue. It gives smaller teams like us the chance to travel interstate and highlights the game in Australia," he added.
"We’ve done a bit of homework on them, we’ve got a couple of people that know the game in Sydney so we know a bit about them. They’re energetic and they’re a good side so we know we’ve got a tough task ahead. We’re a competitive team, we’ll go up there and have a real go."
Two of the lowest ranked teams in the Cup on paper promise to deliver one of the round of 32’s most pulsating matches.
Parramatta FC
Competition: SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2
Position: 1st
Coach: Frank Cosentino
Captain: Pat Gatt
Run-in: Waratah Cup – Beat Hills 1-0; Beat Dulwich Hill 2-0; Beat Macarthur 3-0; Lost to South Coast Wolves 5-2; Playoff – Lost to Sydney United 58 1-0; Beat Northern
Tigers 1-0
St Albans Saints
Competition: Victorian NPL 1
Position: 5th
Coach: Toby Paterson
Captain: Ryan McGuffie
Run-in: Dockerty Cup – Beat Clifton Hills 2-1; Beat Avondale Heights 2-1; Beat Eastern Lions 4-1; Beat Northcote City on pens 6-5 (1-1)
Parramatta FC v St Albans Saints
Tuesday August 5, 7.30pm, Melita Stadium
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
Parramatta FC v St Albans Saints
Melita Stadium, Sefton (NSW)
Kick-off: 7.30pm local (7:30pm AEST)
Referee: Chris Young
Assistant Referee 1: Nick Backo
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Coombes
Fourth Official: Adrian Arndt
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PARvSAS
Tickets will be available to purchase at the venue
Parramatta FC squad: 1.Luke TURNBULL (GK), 2.Andre SCHRODER, 3.Lord DARKOH, 4.Robert TRIBBA, 5.Patrick GATT, 6.Daniel GULLO, 7.Frank MARTEY, 8.Mathew CLOWES, 9.Wand JAJAW, 10.Daniel REZO, 11.Suad AMETI, 12.Jess CASEY, 13.Josuha GERSBACH, 14.Joshua JUNG, 15.Blake BROOKER, 16.Joshua SYMONS, 17.Domenic TRIMBOLI, 18.George STROGYLOS, 20.Justin BIEGA (GK), 23.Shayne ARDLE, 32.Peter KARDASIS, 33.Jayden TAUNTON, 36.Damien SMITH
St Albans Saints squad: 1.Stuart WEBSTER (GK), 2.Ryan MCGUFFIE, 3.Georgi NICESKI, 4.Barry DEVLIN, 5.Felix ROSMAN, 8.Ross HARVEY, 9.Sean MCILROY, 10.Brodie PATERSON, 12.Chol NYOK, 13.Nick CULLEN, 14.Chris ROSS, 15.Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ, 16.Ajak PANEK, 17.Adam NAKIC, 18.Tedros YABIO, 21.Tonio BARESIC (GK)
– By Mitchell Grima
