Mens State League Two Round 1 Finals Series Review

Southern Bulls booked themselves a seat at the Mens State League grand final table with a bizarre 4-3 win over Hurstville FC on Sunday afternoon, the premiers left to tackle Rydalmere after the Lions beat Prospect United 2-1 in the knockout semifinal.

Grade-20 premiers Rydalmere advanced straight to the trophy match following a 3-2 win against Prospect, United set to play Southern Bulls after they eliminated University of NSW in a nervy penalty shootout.

Major semifinal: Hurstville FC 3 (Denis Cutura 2, Danny Bittar) Southern Bulls 4 (Kyle Romero 2, James Raiti, John Fahmi)

Elimination semifinal: Prospect United 1 () Rydalmere Lions 2 (Amoury Gauthier 2)

Grade 20

Major semifinal: Rydalmere Lions 3 Prospect United 2

Elimination semifinal: Southern Bulls 0 University of NSW 0 (Bulls win penalty shootout 5-4)

Southern down Hurstville

A storm raged, the dust settled and a football game broke out as Southern Bulls lifted to a remarkable 4-3 win against premiers Hurstville FC at William Lawson Park on Sunday afternoon.

The two defensively-sound sides headed into the contest having conceded just 13 goals between them in their past 18 matches, but it was 2-2 in a frantic opening period that had both coaches scratching their heads – Denis Cutura and Danny Bittar scoring for Hurstville in between a James Raiti penalty and Kyle Romero deflected corner kick for Bulls.

The second term was a much more entertaining affair as both sides finally found their football boots and Cutura upped the ante with a successful strike in the closing stages that pushed FC 3-2 clear, before a booming Romero freekick and late John Fahmi winner (his second in two weeks against Hurstville) sparked jubilation yet again in the Southern supporters as Bulls won 4-3 to extend their unbeaten run to 10 games.

Incredibly it was the seventh one-goal margin in nine absorbing match-ups between the sides, but the Southern victory may be soured with the dismissal (second yellow) of star goalkeeper Tom Romic with just seconds left to play – his grand final fate now in the hands of officials.

A fired-up Bulls coach Ramsin Shamon used this week’s Football NSW finals preview – where no-one tipped Bulls (or Prospect) to win – to inspire his chargers.

“I went in and threw the report at them and told the players to read it, and I said to them that if this doesn’t motivate you nothing will!” he said.

“Both teams were pretty poor in the first half, terrible actually, and I was pretty upset at halftime because we haven’t conceded that many goals in a game [in months] and we concede two by halftime?”

“… But the boys came out in the second half and played well [to get the goals we needed] … and the Bulls are having a party!”

Hurstville coach Steve Zoric wasn’t fazed by the setback. “Not bad despite the result. It was goals-galore in the first half, cagey, a bit scrappy and typical of a semifinal; but we let in some soft goals so I told the boys there are certain areas that need to be fixed up,” he said.

“We just have to regroup, be positive and bounce back next week. If we deserve to be in grand final we’ll be there.”

Lions take Prospect

Rydalmere Lions withstood Prospect United 2-1 in a thrilling knockout semifinal at William Lawson Park on Saturday evening – Rydalmere to meet premiers Hurstville FC in next week’s preliminary final.

Both sides applied themselves well to a terrific game of football as an Amoury Gauthier double lifted Lions to a 2-1 victory against a fast-finishing Prospect.

Rydalmere’s third straight win over Prospect means the Lions have now dropped just one of their past 10 matches and coach Tony Basha was thrilled.

“It was a good game; we missed a lot of chances but [Prospect] played well, to their credit they kept coming at us – the last 20 minutes was fright night! It was just wave after wave…” he said. “It’s also good the 20s made the grand final today.”

The result ended a fairly good Prospect season after being relegated from state league one last season, coach Tony Caruso conceding a classy exit. “It was a very good game worthy of a semifinal; Congratulations to Rydalmere,” he said.

“I’m very proud of my players in the way they conducted themselves throughout the season. Many adversaries were thrown their way and they still managed to achieve a club objective [challenge for the club championship and make the finals in both grades].”

Grade 20

Lions survive Prospect

A 10-man Rydalmere Lions outlasted Prospect United in a cracking major semifinal at William Lawson Park on Saturday evening, but it may have come at a big cost to the premiers.

The Lions raced to a handy 3-1 halftime buffer but Prospect fought back as key Rydalmere player Emile Damey was booked twice, United scoring again but the visitors hanging on for a 3-2 win and first grand final berth.

It was Prospect’s second successive 3-2 loss to Rydalmere and they’ll face Southern Bulls in next week’s preliminary final.

Bulls nip Uni

Southern Bulls survived a dramatic penalty shootout to beat University of NSW in the grade-20 elimination semifinal at William Lawson Park on Saturday afternoon.

The sides slugged it out in a scoreless game, both with their chances to land a deciding blow, before Bulls prevailed 5-4 in the spot-kick challenge and advance to next week’s preliminary final against Prospect United.

Next week’s games

The Mens State League Two preliminary final features premiers Hurstville FC against Rydalmere Lions, the winner to meet Southern Bulls in the August 24 grand final at Hawkesbury.

The grade-20 preliminary final is Prospect United versus Southern Bulls – the winner meets premiers Rydalmere in the decider.

-By Dan De Nardi