Men’s State League 1 Round 4 Review
ROUND four was filled with goals galore as 23 were blasted in over a weekend where the home sides went undefeated over the five games.
Gladesville Ryde Magic and the North Shore Mariners were made to work to maintain their perfect records. Check out all the results below in the round review.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
North Shore Mariners 3 (Purcell 3) defeated Dulwich Hill FC 1 (Johnston)
A decision to play Tadgh Purcell up front in the injury absence of the regular striker was a masterstroke by Joe Haywood, as the forward scored a half hour hat-trick to put a disappointing Dulwich Hill to the sword 3-1 at Wentworth Park this afternoon.
Blustery conditions welcomed both teams onto Wentworth Park, as the Mariners fought to maintain their unbeaten start to the Men’s State League One season. They opened up Dully in the third minute, as Tadgh Purcell flashed a shot wide.
Purcell learnt from his effort as two minutes later the striker strode into the box, leaping high and heading past the Dully keeper to make it 1-nil. Early in the contest it was evident, North Shore were comfortable playing out the back, controlling possession.
This control left Dulwich Hill on the edges of the contest early on, Akwasi Agyei was their best bursting into the midfield several times with intent.
North Shore controlled proceedings and doubled their advantage in the 13th minute. A direct ball found Michael Cole down the right, shrugged off the defender to square it to Purcell for the second goal of the afternoon.
Cole was busy in the first half directing play for his side leading to several turnovers in the middle of the park. The midfielder was played in from one of those pressed efforts and could only arch his effort wide of the goal frame.
Dulwich found their best chances from set pieces in the first half, as they almost snuck a goal in from a free-kick. The ball was flicked on smartly at the near post but evaded everyone in the box to trickle out.
The Mariners made them pay for missed chances, as once again the right was the provider in the 29th minute for the half hour hat-trick for Purcell. Another lovely cross in, found Purcell on the edge of the box, allowed the striker to volley home for the 3-nil lead.
A rare breakdown in communication from the Mariners defenders gave Dully a lifeline in the 37th minute. They were unable to clear the ball properly as Adam Johnston swooped to get a touch, scoring his third for the season.
Following the bluster and action of the first half, the second was more a tense struggle, as Haywood wanted his side to earn a clean sheet for the half and Dulwich Hill threatened on several occasions but couldn’t force it home.
Mariners boss Joe Haywood was pleased of their effort.
“It was a dominating type of performance in the first half. Second was sloppy earned the clean sheet.”
Norm Tome otherwise was disappointed.
“We started slow, giving other teams chance. Just need to stop giving teams a head start.” lamented the Dully coach.
Match Stats
North Shore Mariners 3 (Purcell ‘6, ’13 and ’29)
Yellow cards: Walker, Smith and Hardy.
Dulwich Hill FC 1 (Johnston ’37)
Yellow cards: J. Morrison, R. Morrison and Hrysanthos
Gladesville Ryde Magic 2 (Yannopoulos and Gaitatzis) drew with Granville Rage 2 (Hedge 2)
The Magic weren’t at their best yesterday afternoon at Magdala Park but in the signs of a contending team, grounded out a draw against a good Granville side.
Peter Yannopoulos and Chris Gaitatzis netted for the home team, while Calum Hedge got both for the Rage, who maintained their effort until the end with his second a late equaliser.
Western NSW Mariners FC 3 (Bromley, Scimone and Guihot) defeat Nepean FC 2 (Kodai Hayashi and Chris Hanly)
In the lush turf of Glen Willow in Mudgee, Western NSW were impressive in the rain as James Christie assisted all three Mariners goals in an all-round display.
Stuart Bromley opened the scoring, with Adam Scimone and Ricky Guihot making it a comfortable cushion despite Scimone getting sent off and Nepean pulling a second back late on.
Hills Brumbies 2 (Giovenali and Pivato) defeat Balmain Tigers FC 1 (Gowdy)
Another week, another victory for the Brumbies. They were fortunate to beat a Balmain team that coach Joe Di Giulo was confident will turn the corner soon.
Jonathan Gowdy gave Di Giulo the perfect start with his 2nd minute goal as the Tigers dominated the contest but Brumbies showed steel in wet conditions.
Futsalroo star Gregory Giovenali scored a rocket and Bruno Pivato a dipping finish to give the home side all three points.
Rydalmere Lions 1 (Elrich) drew with Inter Lions 1 (Wright)
A tough contest that didn’t reach many great heights, as the two Lions cancelled each other out in the midfield throughout the game.
Zakeriya Elrich added a third goal in two weeks following his brace against Balmain while Lachlan Wright got the equaliser for the visitors. Tony Basha will be glad of another banked point in a tough period of the season.
Stanmore Hawks 5 (Liavas 2, Bakoulis 2 and Philippou) defeat Hawkesbury City SC 0
The Hawks swooped on a disappointing Hawkesbury outfit to record a dominant 5-nil win at Arlington Oval.
Former Bankstown City FC star Stefanos Liavas scored the only goal of the first half in a windy afternoon before the onslaught began.
Liavas completed his brace after the break with Costa Bakoulis getting one himself before Neil Philippou completed the rout with the fifth goal.
– by Justin Davies, Men’s State League 1 Reporter
