Spartans shine over Suns
BLACKTOWN Spartans scored four unanswered goals to notch its first win of the season, against a ten-man Rockdale City Suns.
On a wet and chilly night at Blacktown Football Park, the Spartans fought back from 2-0 down, the match headlined by a Shu Sasaki hat trick.
Both sides started with caution, with play stuck in the middle of the ground for the majority of the opening exchanges.
But it was slick passing from Rockdale’s former Hyundai A-League star Paul Reid which helped the visitors open up the game.
Marko Jesic opened the scoring for Rockdale in the 19th minute when the striker found himself unmarked in the box to head home past Spartans goalkeeper Carlos Saliadarre.
Blacktown Spartans then paid the price for conceding a free kick on the edge of the box in the 23rd minute.
Towering centre back David Dascal knocked the ball home from close range to double the lead following Alec Urosevski’s free kick.
Despite the two goal deficit Blacktown Spartans refused to lie down.
The home side were given the perfect opportunity to get back into the game when Rockdale defender Pat Savor took down Sasaki in the penalty box.
Sasaki didn’t let the opportunity go to waste as he smashed his shot past Rockdale shot stopper Daniel Bradasevic.
The penalty changed the momentum of the game and Spartans were soon back on level terms.
Sasakai made it two goals in two minutes with a well placed header into the back of the net.
Daniel Fogarty spurned the chance to give the home side the lead just before half time, unable to beat Bradasevic one on one.
With the scores locked at 2-2 going into the second stanza, both sides were desperate to take control of the game.
Only ten minutes into the second half Rockdale was reduced to 10 men when Dascal was handed his second yellow card.
With the one man advantage Blacktown slowly began to dominate proceedings.
Despite the best efforts of Bradasevic it didn’t take long for the Spartans to take a 3-2 lead.
Futa Nakamura hammered the ball home in the 66th minute from just inside the 18 yard box.
The Spartans sent wave after wave of attack and in the 77th minute Blacktown’s Sasaki completed his hat trick and extended the home side’s lead to 4-2.
Spartans could’ve easily added two or three more goals before the final whistle however spurned their chances to truly finish their opposition as the match finished 4-2 to the home side.
“It is a really positive result and shows what we can do when we really apply ourselves, “ Blacktown Spartans coach Ben De Haan said.
“Shu (Sasaki) worked really hard and led the charge for us tonight. He had some really great finishes out there.
“Still we conceded two goals from lazy defence so there is still some work we have to do.
“Overall though the boys can be very proud of their efforts.”
Rockdale’s Coach Branko Culina said his side has plenty of work ahead if it is to bounce back from yet another demoralising defeat.
“it was far from the result I expected,” Culina said.
“There was not many positives to take from that game
“We pride ourselves in having the best defence in the league and it looks like that has gone out the window.
“Ahead of next week we will need to revaluate our approach.”
Match Stats
Blacktown Spartans 4 (Sasaki 25’, 27’ 77′, Nakamura 66’)
Rockdale City Suns 2 (Jesic 18’, Dascal 23’)
Saturday March 21, 2015
Blacktown Football Park, Rooty Hill
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Nicholas Backo, Jonathon Moore
Fourth Official: Matthew Riedy
Blacktown Spartans: Saliadarre, Valastro, Tomohiro, Kondek (Douglas 71’), Sasaki, Da Silva (Jacob 80’) , Nakamura, Crighton, Quigley, Tosi, Agathos
Substitutes not used: Long, Nascimben
Yellow Cards: Valastro 41’
Rockdale City Suns: Bradasevic, Giannaros, Savor (Alameddine 46’), Reid, Murayama, Urosevski, Jesic, Taneski (Tanoski 74’), El Hafiane, Dascal, Iwamoto (Makrys 62’)
Substitutes not used: Horton, Hesketh,
Yellow Cards: Dascal 8’, Alameddine 57’
Red Cards: Dascal 55’
Player Ratings
3 – Sasaki (Blacktown Spartans)
2 – Da Silva (Blacktown Spartans)
1 – Nakamura (Blacktown Spartans)
