SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2 round 21 review

And then there were six. Bankstown City became the latest team to drop out of the race for the SUPA IGA NPL NSW Mens 2 Championship after slumping to a 1-1 draw with Parramatta FC.

Central Coast Mariners Academy became the latest team to book their place in the finals courtesy of a 1-0 win over Macarthur Rams, who need just a point in the final round to secure theirs.

Tight results at the bottom of the ladder mean cellar dwellers Fraser Park can still finish as high as eighth and the fights for promotion and survival will go down to the wire

Parramatta, Mariners and Northern Tigers remain locked in a tense three-way battle for the Club Championship, while Fraser Park and Hills again went point for point this round to be separated by just five points in the quest to avoid relegation.

Match of the Round

Central Coast Mariners Academy v Macarthur Rams

If ever a club needs a player to pop up and score goals at just the right time of the season, they need look no further than Tom Spencer. A seasoned scorer of goals in SUPA IGA Mens 2 over the years, Spencer was at his poaching best for Central Coast Mariners Academy, heading home the only goal of the game against fellow finals challengers Macarthur Rams.

The goal could hardly have been more important for Central Coast, who moved above Macarthur into third spot on the table and cemented their place in the finals. 

Mariners were the designated home side for this match, but with the game switched to Lynwood Park due to the unavailability of Pluim Park, this potentially could have given Macarthur an advantage.

But CCMA showed few signs that they were ill at ease by the change of venue. Admittedly the game did start twenty minutes late due to contentious floodlighting issues, but once it did get underway, the match proved a worthy battle between two sides fighting for finals football.

There was little really between the two sides, although CCMA dominated territorially and looked more likely to score during the opening half. A few chances arose without particularly worrying the Rams keeper Chad Taylor although one ricochet midway through the first half could have ended up anywhere.

With just four minutes before the break though, CCMA took the lead. A deep corner was played to the far side and at first, it seemed that it had too much on it, but the tall Cam Pryse-Jones was able to head back across the face of goal, where Spencer nodded home from close range. 

It was a lead that Central Coast deserved, on the balance, and within ten minutes of the restart, it was almost doubled. Louis Bozanic found himself in some space and drove low before Taylor did well to palm away. It was a particularly good save from the Rams keeper, the wet conditions making the surface tricky, as the rain began to tumble down.

Alvaro Malmierca tried his luck from a direct free kick, but that was always flying over, as the Rams tried to get back into the game. But their decent chances were rare, and for the most part, Central Coast were able to smother whatever the Rams tried.

As time ticked down, Macarthur became more desperate, throwing numbers forward in the final minutes. It almost came undone for them when substitute Adam Woodbine, on for Spencer, was put clear on the counter attack. But an attempted lob, with plenty of space still ahead, was maybe not the right choice, and the chance went begging. 

The Rams tried to the last, and the Coast defended stoutly. But rather than further goals, it was a melee of sorts that was to end the game. The resultant fracas saw red for the Coast’s Joshua Forbes while the last act of the game was for the referee to issue Macarthur’s Craig Cooley with a yellow. The full time whistle then blew, perhaps not a moment too soon. 

Match Stats

Central Coast Mariners Academy 1 (Tom Spencer 41’)

Macarthur Rams 0

Saturday 16 August 2014 

at Lynwood Park, St Helen’s Park

Referee: Kurt Ams

Central Coast Mariners Academy: 1. Beyhan Irmako 13. Cam Pryse-Jones 16. Joshua Forbes 2. Liam O’Dell 7. Louis Bozanic 6. Jesse Curran 3. Grant Brown (10. Daniel McFarlane 35’) 4. Nathan Verity (17. Christopher Gavin) 5. Steve Whyte 8. Matthew Hall 12. Tom Spencer (9. Adam Woodbine 87’). 

Subs not used: 11. Trent Buhagiar 20. Patrick Ferrara

Yellow Cards: Louis Bozanic 61’

Red Card: Joshua Forbes 90 +2’

Coach: Jason Van Blerk

Macarthur Rams: 1. Chad Taylor 2. Craig Cooley 5. Calum Fleming 18. Louis Duchesne 15. Joel Craig (16. Daniel Ramirez 75’) 9. Shannon Hankin 12. David McMurray 19. Alvaro Malmierca 3. Naoyuki Nomura (10. Ben Simpson 65’) 14. Reuben Agyei-Danso (6. Dejan Erakovic 75’) 11. Gerard Ouffoue. 

Subs not used: 4. Matthew Harvey 20. Harrick Sinpraseuth

Yellow Cards: Louis Duchesne 88’, Craig Cooley 90 +2’

Coach: Claudio Canosa

 

Bankstown City v Parramatta FC

Bankstown City dropped out of the race for the top five, despite mustering a 1-1 draw with Parramatta FC on Saturday night.

Results in the other fixtures meant the Lions needed to take maximum points but their season of setbacks continued as Mounties’ win over Hills pushed them four points clear of City.

The Eagles continue to take plenty of momentum with the Mens 2 Premiers now on a remarkable 16-match unbeaten streak.

Bankstown City 1

Parramatta FC 1

Fraser Park v Northern Tigers

Fraser Park will have to wait until the final round to guarantee their place in the Mens 2 competition for 2015 after being held to a 1-1 draw by Northern Tigers.

Aram Tayebi’s goal for the visitors was cancelled out by Wassim Hijazi’s strike, which meant Mile Todorovski’s men remain rooted to the foot of the ladder and five points clear of Hills in the Club Championship standings.

Northern Tigers, meanwhile, need a point in the final match of the season to book their place in the qualifying final. Having dropped points in the Under 20s and first grade, Tigers slipped to third in the Championship and need some favours to secure promotion.

Fraser Park 1 (Wassim Hijazi)

Northern Tigers 1 (Aram Tayebi)

Hills Brumbies v Mounties Wanderers

Alvin Singh’s brace put Mounties in the driver’s seat to secure a finals berth following an assured 2-0 win over Hills.

Wanderers remain in fifth spot and their superior goal difference means they should need just a point against Spirit next weekend to guarantee finals football, although the allure of possibly finishing in third spot will provide motivation to push for all three.

Hills’ disappointing back end of the season continued as they missed a chance to make up ground on Fraser Park in the race for survival.

Hills Brumbies 0

Mounties Wanderers 2 (Alvin Singh 2)

Mt Druitt Town Rangers v Sydney University

Sydney Uni recovered a half-time deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw with Mt Druitt and keep their finals ambitions in tact.

Kojiro Hori and Daniel McCann helped push Rangers out to a 2-1 lead at the break, but Gavin Forbes popped up in the second stanza to hand Raul Blanco’s a much-needed point.

Sixth-placed Uni’s fate is now out of their hands as it seems only victory in round 21 and a Mounties defeat will be enough to scrape them into the final five.

Mt Druitt Town Rangers 2 (Kojiro Hori, Daniel McCann)

Sydney University 2 (Adrian Porcu, Gavin Forbes)

Bankstown Berries v Spirit FC

Spirit FC failed to build on last week’s impressive win over Macarthur, going down 4-2 to a fast-finishing Bankstown Berries outfit.

The visitors raced to a 2-1 lead heading into the break, but three second half goals handed Berries the goods in a results that propped them up three places into eighth.

Bankstown Berries 4 (Joel Anscomb , Omar Saadi , Kyle Ewart , Steve Wright)

Spirit FC 2 (Ross Kethel)

– By Peter Rowney