Men’s State League Two Round 3 Review
The Men’s State League 2 Competition kicked off round three on this Anzac Weekend with horrendous weather playing a significant role throughout the matches.
Three matches in and the ladder is beginning to fill itself out, painting a potential finals picture for August, with only three teams yet to be defeated.
The Match of the Round was originally Hurstville vs Prospect United but was postponed due to the weather. As a result, we headed out to Hensley Athletics Fields for Dunbar to host FC Gazy Lansvale.
Match of the Round
Dunbar Rovers v FC Gazy Lansvale
The Dunbar Rovers have maintained their spot on the top of the table after defeating FC Gazy Lansvale in another 6-1 victory.
Despite such a convincing score line, like last week, Dunbar went into the sheds at half time drawing the match 1-1, after getting off to a good start then conceding not long after.
They have proven that they truly gel in the second half, scoring a combined points difference of 10 goals to nil in the last two weeks alone.
The match began fairly tentatively, while both teams got a feel for the greasy conditions. Passes that would normally find their mark on a dry day were skidding on, but despite this, end-to-end football was still a major theme of the match.
Dunbar dominated the possession in the opening exchanges and created half chances through Andrew Doddy and Michael Sealy. Lansvale were up to the challenge however through strong defence by Mitchell Bozzetto and Mohamed Al Waeli.
Things quickly spiraled downhill for Lansvale when Ozcan Cetinay was sent off with a straight red card in the 18th minute, for intentionally striking Clive Delaney after the whistle. Dunbar as a result capitalised on the one-man overlap despite Lansvale up until this point, being solid in defence. They failed to stop Doddy and Sealy’s combination on one instance, which led to the first goal of the match only two minutes after the red card.
Andrew Doddy crossed the ball in from the right corner with the intention of finding Michael Sealy. The ball however, looked as though it was slightly mis-directed, falling just behind his intended target. Sealy however, managed to position himself to make contact on the volley, which found the bottom right corner with quality technique.
Despite being down to ten men, FC Gazy rallied to score an equaliser straight after conceding through Alaa Ali Khan. Ali Khan’s hopeful attempt from outside of the box was covered by Dunbar goalkeeper, Stephen Deasy, however, the wet conditions forced the ball to slip from Deasy’s grip and find the back of the net.
The goal had energised FC Gazy as they began to claw their way into the match. Uncharacteristic mistakes by the Rovers’ defence gave FC Gazy opportunities on the counter attack, however, they failed to tuck away these chances.
They were clearly getting frustrated by this and possibly from the earlier send-off decision as well, which was made clear when Mojtaba Mohebbee was awarded a yellow card for dissent. Despite this, Lansvale kept their cool to ensure another player would not be sent off before half time.
Dunbar started the second half strong, breaking the deadlock only six minutes after the break through Rene Mrva. The striker received a long-range clearing kick by Deasy and showed enough composure to take a touch before gliding the ball beautifully into the bottom right corner.
Sean Burke made it 3-1 eight minutes later, after a fantastic save by Pablo Meza deflected the ball out into Burke’s path. Burke then calmly finessed the ball past Meza who dived hard to his left but could not prevent the goal being scored.
The floodgates had now opened for Dunbar, quite literally, with Fouad Umlil adding himself to the scoresheet five minutes later on the back of a beautiful lay-off by John Niyonsaba. Although four goals against, this did not do Meza’s performance justice as he made some brilliant saves despite little chance of a second half comeback.
Late substitution, Alex Euripidou provided spark on the right wing for Dunbar, while Sean Burke picked up his double. Similarly to Lansvale’s goal, his strike should have been saved, but as a result of the slippery ball, it still managed to find the back of the net.
Another super sub in Anthony Glasheen picked up the final goal for the Rovers, after controlling a difficult pass to then strike the ball across the face and into the bottom left hand corner. This capped off another brilliant second half performance by a team who, scarily, still has room to improve with their starts.
Match Stats
Dunbar Rovers 6 Sean Burke (59’,73’) Michael Sealy (19’), Rene Mrva (51’), Fouad Umlil (64’), Anthony Glasheen (89’)
FC Gazy Lansvale 1 Alaa Ali Khan (21’)
Saturday 25th of April, 2015
Hensley Athletics Field, Eastgardens
Referee: Mr Mario Tedore
Dunbar Rovers: 1. Stephen Deasy, 8. Andrew Doddy, 2. Clive Delaney, 4. Ali Simpson, 5. Adam Smith, 18. Sean Burke, 6. Craig Mooney, 21. Rene Mrva (14. Alexander Euripidou), 3. John Niyonsaba (9. Anthony Glasheen), 12. Michael Sealy (19. Juan Arcila Lopez), 7. Fouad Umlil
Substitute Not Used: 10. Robbie Deasy, 11. Dylan Deep-Jones
Yellow Cards: 1. Stephen Deasy, 8. Andrew Doddy, Rene Mrva, Fouad Umlil
Red Cards: Nil
FC Gazy Lansvale: 1 Pablo Meza, 13. Ali Al Waeli, 6. Mohamed Al Waeli (3. Abbas Mohammad), 12. Alaa Ali Khan, 4. Mitchell Bozzetto, 10. Ozcan Cetinay, 7. Brett Hawes, 11. Mojtaba Mohebbee (14. Ibrahim Kerem), 5. Ali Tamimi, 8. Christopher Theodosiou, 9. Ertan Uzel
Substitutes: 15. Noysal Caral
Yellow Cards: 7. Brett Hawes, 11. Mojtaba Mohebbee
Red Cards: Ozcan Cetinay
Wagga City Wanderers 3 v Southern Districts Association Club 4
Southern Districts have picked up a valuable three points after making the trip inland to edge out a 4-3 victory over the Wanderers. The visitors did not have the best of starts however, when conceding a penalty early on and a goal off a free kick, found them trailing by two in the opening ten minutes of play. Things went from bad to worse when a missed penalty attempt by Mitchell Mclintock failed to tighten the margin. Rocco Luca put Districts on the score sheet but not long after, they conceded again from a ricochet own-goal.
Joseph Menash received two yellow cards which left Southern Districts a man short. This however sparked their attack and the thought of the four hour bus ride home without a win, played on the back of their minds.
Districts pulled back the deficit to only one goal when Glenn Williams found the back of the net, however, it was Mitchell Mclintock who stole the spotlight after scoring a second half double which left the final score at 4-3 in a scrappy but gutsy performance.
Camden Tigers 3 v University of NSW 0
The Camden Tigers have maintained their position as equal competitions leaders with Dunbar, after defeating University of NSW 3-0 at Ron Dine Reserve. Leading goal scorer, Jayden Russell, added three more to the total after picking up the first hat-trick by a Men’s State League Two player this season. This now takes his impressive total to seven goals in just three matches played.
Head Coach Dean Mackechnie is pleased with the great start and said, “The boys are playing really well at the moment.”
University did however have opportunities of their own but unlike Camden, they failed to capitalise. Adam Smutek had another fantastic game and continues to combine better each week with Russell, which for Camden, is promising to see so early on in the season.
Hurstville City Minotaurs 2 v Western Condors 3
The Hurstville City Minotaurs join the Wagga City Wanderers on the bottom of the ladder, after both teams this week narrowly lost by only one goal.
Despite leading at half time 1-0, courtesy of a Paolo Paras bomb from 30 metres out, the lead slipped from their fingers after costly mistakes at the back, gifted Condors possession and chances.
“We made a few childish mistakes which cost us in the end,” said Minotaurs head coach, Peter Sarikakis.
The Condors have already had a win and a draw in the opening first two rounds and they now pick up their first win of the season, with the final score at 3-2.
Hurstville FC v Prospect United (Washed out)
The middle of the table clash between Hurstville FC and Prospect United, which was scheduled to kick-off at St George Soccer Stadium on Saturday was unfortunately cancelled due to the weather. Please check the Football NSW website for any information regarding a make-up match.
–by Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter
