Men’s State League 2 Round 4 Review
Prospect United have picked up their first win of the season in a huge upset against the Camden Tigers, who prior to round four, had won all of their matches rather convincingly.
Despite a disappointing night at home, the Tigers still find themselves within the top four, however, they do drop down a spot on the ladder after Southern Districts demolished FC Gazy Lansvale 5-1.
Match of the Round
Prospect United 2 v Camden Tigers 0
Prospect United have picked up a very valuable three points on the road which is exactly what they needed to kick start their season, after drawing the first two rounds and having last week’s match against Hurstville FC postponed due to the weather. The match was physical in the opening exchanges from both sides, however Camden had more possession and as a result more chances on-goal. A lot of this had to do with the booming clearing kicks by Camden goalkeeper, Matthew Johnston, who found his strikers on the full on multiple occasions, helping them win the battle of field position.
Both sides favoured their left edge in attack. The Tigers formed a tight-knit combination through Bailey Simpson and Geoff Norton, while Mohammad Dubdub and Abanoub Mickael were United’s ‘go-to’ men early on. The match was played quite aerially due to the greasy, skidding conditions and many challenges were decided by who wanted the ball more. Stephen Tomasich, who was solid all match at centre back had won most of these through pure determination, however, their last line of defence was penetrated in the 15th minute from David Mavisa. Prospect right-midfielder Troy Sullivan, switched the ball in-field to Serkan Erel who then provided an inch-perfect through ball, finding Mavisa onside. The striker then purposely dribbled the ball away from the defenders, which as a result, forced Johnston to charge him, before delicately finessing the shot across the face of goal. The toughest questions was deciding which was more impressive – Mavisa’s skill to find the bottom right corner on his weaker, left foot or his post-goal celebration which consisted of both a cartwheel and a backflip.
The goal had really sparked Prospect and the momentum had clearly shifted to the visitors. Uncharacteristic mistakes by the Tigers invited Prospect into their own half, however, the chances that did present themselves were not taken due to lack of concentration at the vital moment.
Callum Rogers took it upon himself to aim for a deadlock going into the break, however, his long range attempts were very ambitious and proved little threat to Prospect goalie, Simone Malcotti. The score remained at 1-0 to Prospect who jogged into the sheds with a spring in their step after a solid half of football.
Their game plan to shut down goal-scoring gazelle, Jayden Russell had been working throughout the first half, and they knew that in order to walk away with the win, this had to continue for the remainder of the match.
The physicality from the first few minutes of the match was revisited straight after half time, when an aerial challenge between Callum Rogers and Serkan Erel saw both players needing on-field assistance. Once returning to their feet, both Rogers and Erel were struggling to run which resulted in them being later substituted by their coaches. Daniel Martinez and Adam Smutek provided good off-ball pressure upfront as they attempted to lift the Tigers’ intensity while searching for an equaliser.
Camden almost did just that when Jayden Russell found himself one-on-one with Simone Malcotti for his first attacking chance of the match, only to be denied by a brilliant save by Malcotti’s feet. Moments later, on the other end of the pitch, Mavisa almost made bagged himself double after the ball sat up nicely to him from a corner which was kept out by Johnston. However, his save was deflected straight into the path of Ibrahim Kamara, who, despite having time, lacked the polish required to score.
With time running out, Camden pushed their formation up the field while Prospect responded by temporarily ‘parking the bus’. Every time Russell received the ball, four Prospect defenders would be on his case to ensure he did not steal a late goal to even the scores. The story of Camden’s game was summed up in the last 5 minutes of play, when great runs down the flanks by Bailey Simpson and Adam Smutek saw crosses being put in for nobody but Prospect defenders to claim.
Prospect did however seal the match in the 89th minute through Abanoub Mickael who scored a well-deserved goal. Again, it was on the back of some David Mavisa magic, who went on a skill run down the left wing, which caused the Prospect fans to roar in excitement. After squaring up the play, Mavisa then took on a covering centre-back who was bamboozled by his dribbling. To cap off the run and further, Prospect’s first win of the season, Mavisa calmly found Mickael with a low ball, which was dispatched into the back of the net first time.
Match Stats
Prospect United 2 David Mavisa (15’), Abanoub Mickael (89’)
Camden Tigers 0
Saturday 3rd of May, 2015
Ron Dine Memorial Reserve
Referee: Mr. Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: Mr. Stephen Ellsmore and Mr. Raymond Osborne
Camden Tigers: 20. Matthew Johnston, 15. Mitchell Green, 10. Daniel Martinez, 2. Geoff Norton (12. Sean Doherty), 5. Callum Rogers (18. Ryan Shuttleworth), 16. Jayden Russell, 31. Bailey Simpson, 14. Adam Smutek (11. Grant Mackechnie), 6. Blake Szumski, 4. Stephen Tomasich, 3. Jake Watson
Substitute Not Used: 13. Martin Kerr, 21. Abel Queipo
Yellow Cards: 5. Callum Rogers, 16. Jayden Russell
Red Cards: Nil
Prospect United: 33. Simone Malcotti, 7. Mohammad Dubdub (8. Ibrahim Kamara), 3. Tobias Elliott-Orr, 9. Serkan Erel (11. Benjamin Lam), 4. Gian Mario Liburdi, 10. David Mavisa, 6. Abanoub Mickael, 13. Nathan Smith, 12. Troy Sullivan, 2. Emmanuel Vuciri, 5. Brandon Whitby
Substitutes not used: 14. Stephen Farrell, 20. Steven Allen, 15. Jay Gillelano
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Dunbar Rovers 2 v University of NSW 0
The Dunbar Rovers are now the only team this season to have won every match played after beating Uni of NSW in their tightest game to date. Malcolm Miller opened the scoring for the home side 25 minutes in, after a loose ball from a Uni defender was pounced on and dispatched into the bottom left corner.
Max Joarder from Uni of NSW picked up his second yellow card, which left them a man short 10 minutes before the break. Despite being down a man, Uni rallied and created chances of their own through Dunbar’s mistakes at the back. Unfortunately for them however, they could not even the scoring.
The Rovers increased their lead by two goals after Rene Mrva added himself to the score sheet in the 80th minute. This came off the back of some slick passing between Alex Euripidou and Andrew Doddy, which gave the striker enough space to claim his third goal of the season.
Southern Districts Association Club 5 v FC Gazy Lansvale 1
Southern Districts have maintained their stellar form by picking up their third win in a row against FC Gazy Lansvale. Head coach, Ramson Shamon described it as a “five star performance in second gear.”
Mitch Mclintock opened proceedings within the first minute of play which set the tone early for Southern Districts with Glenn Williams making it 2-0 not long after. Williams came off the bench in their first match against the Western Condors and since then, has started every match with a goal by his name. Milan Atlagic picked up their third just before the break through a header off a set-piece corner.
FC Gazy Lansvale had a glimmer of hope when they hit back with a goal of their own, after a defensive pass-back was intercepted and put away, which brought the score to 3-1. Southern Districts substitute Nathan Niski ensured a comeback was not on the cards after scoring two brilliant goals which capped off another strong performance by Districts.
Southern Districts are staking their claims on top spot, after leap frogging Camden to second place and lying only two points behind Dunbar.
Western Condors 9 v Wagga City Wanderers 0
The Wagga City Wanderers will have an extra long trip home after going down 9-0 at the hands of the Western Condors at Calabria Sports Ground.
Despite having players sent off in the second half, Wanderers head coach, Blaise Fagan said “the game was lost well before then.”
In order for Wagga to be competitive, Fagan has identified discipline as a key issue that needs addressing. The club is only six months old however and they have five players who are 16 years old or younger, so the future is looking bright for them and they can only improve. However, according to Fagan, this will obviously require a lot of work from not only the coaches and players, but the Wagga Wagga football community as a whole.
Hurstville City Minotaurs v Hurstville FC
WASHED OUT
–y Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter
