Men’s State League 2 Round 6 Review

This week saw an exciting brand of attacking football through high scoring games and upsets. 

There was no Match of the Round this week but it will continue in Round 7 when we get our first look at University of NSW and the Hurstville City Minotaurs who are only one win apart on the ladder.

The Minotaurs will also make up their round four wash-out match mid-week on Wednesday, against Hurstville FC in the local derby.

Hurstville FC 3 vs Wagga City Wanderers 0

Hurstville FC have continued their good form of late by downing Wagga City Wanderers at home 3-0.

It was a relentless performance by Hurstville FC as Denis Cutura laid the foundation with two brilliant assists. 

Sebastian Bell opened the soring for FC 12 minutes into the match through a simple cut-back by Cutura. 

With the half time score at 1-0 to the visitors, the Wanderers searched for a spark in attack, which came mainly from their midfield. 

Despite this, they were unable to keep out a second half double to Henry Kamleitner and the final score stayed at 3-0 to Hurstville FC. 

Head coach for Hurstville FC, Tom Vidovic was happy with his chargers but said their opponents were gallant.

“Wagga Wagga tested us and their losses do not properly reflect their effort.”

Dunbar Rovers 5 vs Camden Tigers 0

The Dunbar Rovers continue to impress in their debut season in Men’s State League 2, putting together another five star performance against the Camden Tigers on Saturday. 

The Tigers were equal first with Dunbar three weeks ago, however, since then they have lost all matches and have conceded 11 goals without conceding. 

A great deal of this has been due to the limited opportunities for Jayden Russell. 

Russell has been contained in these matches as a result of smart defending, however, he still stands as equal first goal scorer for the competition with Mauricio Navarrete from the Western Condors.

Dunbar head coach, William Cullen, was forced to make last minute changes when centre back Clive Delaney was ruled out with an Achilles strain. 

As a result, Sean Borg started in right back and made the most of his opportunity by being awarded man of the match. 

Camden tried hard and kept the score to only 1-0 at half time. 

However, the Rovers managed to bury four goals, with three of them coming within 10 minutes. 

The highlight of the match however went to Rene Mrva who scored from an outstanding bicycle kick, which found the bottom left corner, courtesy of a John Niyonsaba lob.

Prospect United 2 vs Southern Districts 1

Southern Districts have picked up their first loss of the season after going down to Prospect United 2-1 at home. 

The talking point of the match was Prospect being awarded three penalties, of which they were able to convert two. 

The first came from two players simultaneously jumping for a ball in the box which resulted in a Prospect player being knocked to the ground, while two hand balls resulted in the last two.  Southern Districts were able to tighten the margin through Nathan Niski who has scored three goals in as many matches. 

However as a result of the decisions and the small timeframe that they occurred in, this was enough to deflate Districts who never gave up despite their unfortunate situation.

FC Gazy Lansvale 1 vs Hurstville City Minotaurs 0

The Hurstville Minotaurs will be disappointed that they did not come away with any points from the weekend after dominating shots and possession in the first half against FC Gazy Lansvale. 

However, they were reduced to nine men when two players were sent off for a rough challenge and reaction, as well as a deliberate handball during a scoring opportunity.

FC Gazy to their credit, were not affected by the ill-discipline which has been something of a weakness for them in the past. 

They played to their structures and eventually converted a chance that came their way, which the Minotaurs were unable to do. 

As a result of their win, FC Gazy leapfrog the Minotaurs on the table and share seventh spot with University of NSW who went down to the Western Condors this week.

Western Condors 2 vs University of NSW 1

The Western Condors continue to press for a top four position and now lie only one point away from both Hurstville FC and the Camden Tigers.

The Condors started the match well, scoring within the first 15 minutes of play which certainly rattled the visitors. 

Luke Mesiti opened the scoring with a header when a cross from the right flank, found the left back unmarked at the far post. 

Another similar scenario saw Cristian Leiva added to the scoresheet courtesy of a Chris Kartambis cross. 

Unlike Mesiti however, Leiva spectacularly volleyed first time which definitely gave Condors a psychological boost. 

The Condors were comfortable with the lead and slowed the pace of the game down until half time. 

Despite University of NSW being reduced to ten men, the Condors were unable to convert their chances and essentially, close the game out. 

University of NSW brought the score to within one after converting a penalty on the stroke of full-time.  However, it was too little too late for the visitors as the Condors took the three points for round six.

-By Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter