AC United clinch Robertson Cup
AC United were crowned 2014 State Robertson Cup Champions after defeating rival Southern District Association side Fairfield Patrician Brothers 2-1, with the final goal coming in sheer style in extra time by Matthew Amoroso.
Pats used their flanks well early on to stretch United but couldn’t find the final telling ball into the centre to finish off promising moves.
From the 8’ minute onwards it was AC United who dictated the play and turned the screws with Matthew Amoroso seeing his free-kick in the 11’ minute cannon back into play off the crossbar that Anthony Forcela couldn’t turn in on the rebound.
Carmine Garreffa and Zaid El Refaei combined well down the United left with one such flanking move resulting in Garreffa shooting across the face after a goalmouth scramble.
Josh Parr was lucky not to see a caution when appearing to go in two footed on Andrew Panayi that left the Pats player requiring treatment on the field.
Amoroso wouldn’t be kept out of the game for long and let loose a raking pass from inside his half out to the right wing when finding Al-Refaei only for the defence to take the ball off the toe of the United striker in the nick of time.
It was all AC United and twice Davor Taleski was denied when skewing a shot from distance and then seeing another effort well held by custodian Josh Saasa.
With the clock ticking down it looked as though the score board would remain unused in the opening stanza until a stroke of ill-fortune saw Andrew David wrong foot Saasa in the 44’ minute with a header that put the opposition in front at the break.
It was heart breaking stuff for Fairfield but they took the game more to Menai after the restart with no luck before United again upped the tempo although the nerves were showing in both teams.
Saasa was again to the rescue for Pats when going in bravely at the feet of Taleski. It was another missed opportunity that would come back to haunt the home side when in the final seconds of the half Nicholas Bugge equalised to take the final into Golden Goal extra time.
This was after Adrian Agius had received a second yellow card and been sent from the field for Fairfield with a minute to go.
The result was finally settled when that man Amoroso, having twice hit the bar with free-kicks earlier in the game, dummied to shoot with his trusty left but dragged the ball to his right foot to sweetly strike a curler beyond Saasa to bulge the net and give AC United the Robertson Cup 5’ minutes into extra time.
It was a deserved result for United who had been the better side on the whole but desperate luck for Fairfield Pats who had given it a good go.
Congratulations to the winners and commiserations to the runners-up.
Match Stats
AC United: 2 (Andrew David 44’ OG Matthew Amoroso 5’ ET Golden Goal)
Fairfield Patricians: 1 (Nicholas Bugge 90)
Blacktown Football Park, Blacktown
Referee: Aaron Delayney
Assistants: Shannon Whicker & Chris Codling
AC United: 99.Andrew Riccardi, 23.Joshua Parr, 10.Naum Mitreski, 7.Matthew Amoroso, 9.Enoch Opoku, 3.Rocco Mirabillio ©, 4.Anthony Forcela, 6.Daniel Garzanti, 11.Carmine Garreffa, 8.David Al-Refaei, 16.Fernando Beravides, 27.Davor Taleski, 13.David Adu, 15.Roberto Spiteri
Yellow Cards: Matthew Amoroso 61, Roberto Spiteri 72, Fernando Beravides 73
Red Cards: Nil
Fairfield Patricians: 1.Josh Saasa, 17.Andrew David, 8.Brenton Curko, 13.Nemanja Grujic, 9.Nicholas Taverniti, 12.Nicholas Bugge, 4.Adrian Agius, 11.David Gitz, 7.Adrian Poci, 6.Andrew Panayi, 5.Domenic Garreffa ©, 16.Jimmy Tran, 3.Ta-Charles Dyong, 15.Mark Mazzotta, 10.Gabriel Vargas, 14.Michael Zammit
Yellow Cards: Adrian Agius 53, Nicholas Bugge 75, Domenic Garreffa © 77
Red Cards: Adrian Agius 89
-By Micky Brock
