Men’s State League 2 Round 8 Review
Round Eight in the Men’s State League 2 continued in full force over the weekend with rain not an issue. Saturday night hosted Match of the Round, when first met second in a table-topping affair between Southern Districts SFA and Dunbar Rovers, at Ernie Smith Reserve.
Match of the Round
Dunbar Rovers 3-1 Southern Districts SFA, Saturday 30 May at Ernie Smith Reserve
The Rovers continue their perfect record of 7-0 after defeating Southern Districts 3-1 under the lights at Ernie Smith Reserve. This loss widens the gap between the two sides with Dunbar holding a seven point lead over Southern.
Andrew Doddy starred for the Rovers with his brilliant double from improbable range, while Michael Sealy also found himself on the scorer’s sheet courtesy of a brilliant pass by captain, Robbie Deasy. Southern Districts pulled back the Rovers lead to just two goals in the 90th minute through Rocco Romeo who, as a team, were rewarded for their strong second half performance.
Both Districts and Dunbar started the game solid, particularly in defence. For Southern this was led by Mrza Sehic who set the tone early with a brilliant cover tackle in the opening minute of play.
Andrew Doddy was aware of Southern Districts’ strong defensive combination of Sehic and Nicholas Dionisiou, and so attempted a long-ranged effort for the first shot of the match three minutes in.
Goalkeeper Tomislav Romic watched as the ball went wide of the left hand upright.
Moments later however they had a shot of their own after a brilliant pass by Glenn Williams found Reuben Agyei Danso who, like Doddy, hit just wide of the target.
After both teams took the opening ten minutes as an opportunity to feel out the pace of the game, Dunbar increased the acceleration after a barrage of attempts on goal saw Romic save three shots on target, in the one play.
The Rovers continued their long-range efforts through Sean Burke at right back, after Southern District’s defense had laid off him just enough to entice him to shoot. Fortunately for them, the ball sailed well above the cross bar.
They also however, created some silky passing moves courtesy of Robbie Deasy, while Mitchell Mclintock attempted to do the same on counter attacks, with the limited ball his team had.
Eventually, the visitors had broken the deadlock in the 17th minute through Andrew Doddy, who asked the question from 30 out with an audacious attempt. Doddy took one touch to compose himself before curling the ball brilliantly into the top right corner, which had beaten the outstretched arm of Romic.
Glenn Williams attempted to spark the home side with his shot on target the minute after. He later was almost rewarded in the 25th minute when a Clive Delaney mistake at centre-back, saw Williams one-on-one with the keeper, only to lose his footing at the crucial moment.
Despite outstanding last-ditch efforts, which continued to be on display by all four Southern District defenders, Robbie Deasy’s brilliant turn freed up enough space to thread the ball through for Michael Sealy.
Sealy showed the composure required to caress the ball across the face of goal and into the bottom left corner, which brought the score to 2-0 in the 28th minute. The game had picked up in intensity and a straight red was shown to Craig Mooney in the 37th minute after reportedly stomping on Glenn Williams’ leg after a challenge. Despite this set-back, Dunbar rallied for a third goal through Andrew Doddy, who brought up his double during injury time of the first half. Doddy’s angled attempt on goal, from a free kick almost 40 metres out, found the exact spot at the back of the net which he had scored previously, ranking as one of the competition’s highlights of the season.
After conceding such a late first half goal, Southern Districts came out of the break firing. Within the first two minutes of the second half, both Rocco Luca and Leigh Gunn had asked questions of Stephen Deasy in goals who stood up to the task. Rocco Romeo also provided spark for Districts in attack through accurate passing. They continued to show threatening signs when Mitchell Mclintock smothered a clearance kick by Stephen Deasy.
Reuben Agyei Danso had a brilliant chance on goal only to be blocked by a great tackle from Clive Delaney, all of which happened within the space of a few minutes. Dunbar provided attacking raids of their own through Robbie Deasy and Rene Mrva who linked up on a couple of occasions at the opposite end. Andrew Doddy was awarded a penalty in the 65th minute for a brilliant piece of evasive skill, which forced the Southern Districts defender to pull him down inside the box. An outstanding save by Romic however, kept Districts in the match while Milan Atlagic did his best to put his side on the board through two left-foot finesses which only narrowly missed on both occasions.
Their persistence paid off in the dying moments of the match, when Rocco Romeo scored in injury time from a deflection that landed straight into his path, for him to stroke past the keeper. It was all too late for Southern Districts who, as a result of a dominating first half performance by Dunbar, found it too hard to catch up.
Despite the limited possession and therefore chances Southern Districts had in the first half, head coach Ramson Shamon said that "finishing is an area of ours that needs improving. There are too many times where we are hit and miss."
While Dunbar head coach, William Cullen commented on his side’s second half performance by saying, he was "pleased with their [Dunbar’s] ability to grind out the game with only ten players."
Match Stats
Dunbar Rovers 3 (Andrew Doddy 17′, 45′ & Michael Sealy 28′)
Southern Districts SFA 1 (Rocco Romeo 90′)
Saturday 30th of May, 2015
Ernie Smith Reserve, Moorebank
Referee: Mr. Jerry Bitas
Assistant Referees: Mr. Craig Fisher and Mr. Myles Houlbrook-Walk
Dunbar Rovers: 1. Stephen Deasy, 13. Sean Burke, 5. Clive Delaney (3. John Niyonsaba), 17. Stephen Liu, 2. Adam Smith, 8. Andrew Doddy (19. Juan Arcila Lopez), 16. Craig Mooney, 11. Malcolm Miller, 10. Robbie Deasy, 22. Rene Mrva (9. Anthony Glasheen), 12. Michael Sealy
Substitutes Not Used: 83. Paul O’Shaughnessy
Yellow Cards: 8. Andrew Doddy 56′
Red Cards: 16. Craig Mooney 37′
Southern Districts SFA : 23. Tomislav Romic, 19. Rocco Romeo, 16. Mrza Sehic, 27. Nicholas Dionisiou, 13. Domenic Mercuri, 11. Milan Atlagic (6. Leigh Gunn), 17. Rocco Luca, 9. Mitchell Mclintock, 12. Reuben Agyei Danso, 5. Gordan Opacic (18. Joseph Mensah), 10. Glenn Williams
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Adrian Iorfino
Yellow Cards: 5. Gordan Opacic 29′, 10. Glenn Williams 37′, 27. Nicholas Dionisiou 40′, 19. Rocco Romeo 64′, 16. Mrza Sehic 65′, 17. Rocco Luca 85′
Red Cards: nil
University of NSW 1-0 Wagga City Wanderers, Saturday 30 May at Gissing Oval
University of NSW find themselves back in the winning circle with a 1-0 win away, over the Wagga City Wanderers. Marcelo Turdera scored a ricocheted volley for the visitors just before half time, courtesy of a Sam Zouroudis cross from the right wing. Both goalkeepers had exceptional games, highlighted by the low scoring affair.
Wanderers head coach, Blaise Fagan was pleased with the improvement his side continues to make but said, "we still need to take our chances when we are in front of goal."
University of NSW head coach, Andrew Field was happy with his side’s ability to control the midfield for parts of the match and shift to their wingers when necessary.
Hurstville FC 6-1 FC Gazy Lansvale, Sunday 31 May at Progress Park
Hurstville FC have continued their record of five straight wins after downing FC Gazy Lansvale 6-1 on Sunday. Denis Cutura starred with a hat-trick while Henry Kamleitner, Vedran Jaganjac and Michael Janov also found themselves on the score sheet.
Despite the impressive list of Hurstville scorers, the goal of the match went to Ozcan Cetinay for FC Gazy Lansvale, who squared the match early at 1-1 with his effort from outside of the box. Cetinay beat three Hurstville defenders through great evasiveness before finding the top right corner.
While FC Gazy Lansvale return to the drawing board, Hurstville FC head coach, Tom Vidovic is happy with the consistent form his side has shown this season and puts this down to their "week-by-week process."
Camden Tigers 3-2 Western Condors, Sunday 31 May at Calabria Sports Ground
The Camden Tigers have finally broken their four-game losing streak with their gripping 3-2 win over the Western Condors. Daniel Martinez was influential for the visitors with his double, while Chris Kartambis and Cristian Leiva scored goals of their own.
Both teams played a free-flowing attacking brand of football, which had a lot to do with the fact that they were both down to nine men each, after four red cards were issued throughout the match.
Although Western Condors head coach, Eric Anabalon, believes his side is constantly improving each week, he said "we [Condors] need to be in control of our own destiny by making more intelligent decisions on a regular basis."
Prospect United 7-0 Hurstville City Minotaurs, Sunday 31 May at William Lawson Park
Prospect United have brought up their biggest win of the season after defeating the Hurstville City Minotaurs 7-0 on Sunday Night. An early red card for the Minotaurs was not the start they were looking for which invited Prospect’s attacking weapon, Wiltar Jarjaw into the game. Jarjaw scored a hat-trick while Benjamin Lam grabbed a double and Fubuki Sakurai and Serkan Erel also found the back of the net.
"The most pleasing thing was that it didn’t matter that a man got sent off, we still executed to our highest ability and it payed off," said Prospect United head coach, Tony Caruso.
Next week Prospect United will come up against the Wagga City Wanderers at home, while the Hurstville City Minotaurs will take on the Camden Tigers, who are coming off a high after their last minute win against the Western Condors on Sunday.
– by Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter
