Men’s State League 2 Round 10 Review

Round 10 in the Men’s State League 2 proved that defence is a key to success with four teams being held scoreless.

Of these teams, three played on Saturday, which featured a jam-packed day of football.
The only game to not be held on Saturday was our Match of the Round between high flyers Dunbar Rovers and the Hurstville City Minotaurs on Sunday at Hensley Athletic Field.
Match of the Round
Dunbar Rovers 2-0 Hurstville City Minotaurs, Sunday 14 June at Hensley Athletic Field
The Dunbar Rovers have maintained their exceptional record of 10 consecutive wins to open their debut season in State League in the best possible way, when they defeated the Hurstville City Minotaurs 2-0.
The match began with Dunbar showing physicality in their defence. 
Clive Delaney sent Angelo Vagenas to the ground with a heavy tackle which only received a caution, while Andrew Doddy picked up a yellow card moments later for a foul on the same player.
Despite this, the Minotaurs did not let this rattle them and combined well in the opening exchanges on their left edge through the Pinto brothers, Leandro and Leonardo.
The first shot of the day came in the seventh minute courtesy of a bicycle kick from Anthony Glasheen, with the ball being supplied by Andrew Doddy.  Minotaurs goalkeeper, Syuzo Tsunoda had no issues fielding it, as the ball had little force behind it and trickled straight into his path.
This was the beginning of a dominating half by the Rovers who had a lot more chances on goal than the Minotaurs.
Moments later, Malcolm Miller managed to get a shot away when the ball fortuitously bounced in his direction after a clearing attempt by a Minotaurs defender went astray.
Stephen Liu made good runs from left-back and supplied some excellent crosses to his big men in the middle.
These crosses found René Mrva who made contact with the ball but sailed above the cross bar then Anthony Glassheen which was brilliantly saved by Tsunoda.
Unfortunately for Tsunoda, despite such an acrobatic and instinctive save, the ball sat up perfectly for Robbie Deasy who was trailing in support.
Deasy had an open net as Tsunoda was still on the ground and very easily slotted the ball in for the first goal of the match, which came in the 11^th minute.
However, only two minutes later the Hurstville Minotaurs found themselves with their first attacking opportunity of the game when they were awarded a free-kick 23 yards from goal.
Unfortunately for the Minotaurs, the attempt on goal by Leonardo Pinto was skied and nothing came from it.
Paul O’Shaugnessy and Andrew Doddy controlled the midfield and supplied good ball to their forwards.
Their patience and good team play saw an opportunity open up for Robbie Deasy who was one-on-one with Tsunoda, but could not find the back of net due to another outstanding save.
Despite the amount of opportunities that were presenting themselves without further capitalising, the Rovers were not flustered and continued their slick passing passages, mainly between Robbie Deasy, Andrew Doddy and Alex Euripidou.
On two occasions René Mrva found himself with only one defender to beat and in both instances Leon Sansone shut down the striker with brilliant last-ditch efforts.
Sansone did this again just before the break when a counter by Dunbar saw Malcolm Miller in a ‘five on three’ situation where the tackle needed to be made and was.
This energy lifted the Minotaurs despite trailing at the break 1-0.
As a result they began the second half with a number of opportunities on goal, which resulted in corners going the way of the Minotaurs.  However, they could not capitalise on the increased possession and field position.
Dunbar head coach, William Cullen was forced to make substitutions due to an Adam Smith injury which shifted Alex Euripidou from right-back to centre-back and Ian Clayton into the match.
It was Euripidou’s lob pass to René Mrva that presented the Rovers with their first ‘one-on-one’ of the half.  Mrva who took a touch to get the ball onto his favoured right foot but was denied by yet another Leon Sansone tackle, who came from behind.
A good ball by Modar Sultan to Paolo Paras in the 60^th minute gave the Minotaurs an opportunity on goal, however, the ball was brilliantly smothered by Euripidou which denied an equaliser by the visitors.
Deasy had a chance on goal only a minute later when he was one-on-one with Tusnoda yet again, however, his attempt only fractionally missed the top-left corner and sailed out of play for a goal kick.
Andrew Doddy continued to put his imprint on the game through his vision but also strong challenges at midfield.  His counter attack in the 67^th minute drew a second yellow card on Rudy Bilani for yet another rough challenge, which saw the Minotaurs down to ten men.
As a result, the remainder of the match played out with Dunbar dominating possession and chances on goal and eventually extended the lead through John Niyonsaba in the 80^th minute.
Niyonsaba glided along the right hand side of the pitch before finding space 10 yards out from goal, for him to calmly find the bottom corner of the net.
The Rovers grinded out the rest of the match with a relentless attitude and were unlucky to not increase their 2-0 lead.
William Cullen, described the performance as a “tale of missed chances” but was mostly pleased with the clean sheet.

Match Stats

Dunbar Rovers                         2

Hurstville City Minotaurs          0

Saturday 14^th of June, 2015

Hensley Athletic Field

Referee: Mr. Stephen Ellsmore

Assistant Referees: Mr. Paul Farnhill and Mr. Declan Broderick

Dunbar Rovers: 1. Stephen Deasy, 17. Stephen Liu, 5. Clive Delaney, 2. Adam Smith (2. Ian Clayton), 14. Alex Euripidou, 8. Andrew Doddy, 83. Paul O’Shaughnessy, 10. Robbie Deasy, 11. Malcolm Miller (19. Juan Arcila Lopez), 9. Anthony Glasheen (3. John Niyonsaba), 22. René Mrva

Substitutes Not Used: 13. Sean Burke

Yellow Cards: 1. Stephen Deasy, 5. Clive Delaney, 8. Andrew Doddy, 14. Alex Euripidou, 83. Paul O’Shaughnessy

Red Cards: nil

Hurstville City Minotaurs: 1. Syuzo Tsunoda, 5. Rudy Bilani, 8. Leon Sansone, 6. Andrew Lazarou (18. Imran Emirali), 12. Sultan Modar (2. Samuel Franco), 4. Stefano Marconi (3. Angus Brown), 17. Angelo Vagenas, 11. Haisam Morhi, 9. Paolo Paras, 16. Leandro Pinto, 19. Leonardo Pinto

Substitutes Not Used: George Bouropoulos, John Gymellas

Yellow Cards: 17. Angelo Vagenas, 6. Andrew Lazarou, 3. Angus Brown

Red Cards: 5. Rudy Bilani

University of NSW drew 0-0 Hurstville FC, Saturday 13 June at David Phillips Fields
University of NSW have maintained their streak of being undefeated in their last four matches played. 
They however, have had trouble finding the back of net with consecutive scoreless performances.
Uni of NSW had problems early when their centre-back, Gavin O’Donnell, was ruled out in the warm up with a groin strain.  This resulted in a reshuffled back line and a start for Max Joarder who slotted into right-back.
Missed chances was the theme for both sides who played an attacking brand of end-to-end football.
Hurstville FC dominated the goal-scoring opportunities in the first half however, could not convert.  Whereas Uni of NSW had three clear-cut chances to Carl Bishop, Marcelo Turdera and Tom Inglis before the break.
Hurstville FC came out of the break firing and tested Uni of NSW goal-keeper Nic Nelson, who stood up to the task.
Their frustration got the better of them when their striker Sebastian Bell, received two-yellow cards and was sent from the field in the 75^th minute.  This stemmed all momentum gained which left the final score at 0-0.
Hurstville FC head coach, Tomi Vidovic stated to Football NSW.
“University of NSW seem to be our ‘hoodoo’ team,” after they lost to them in the dying minutes of round one 2-1 and failed to take full advantage on Saturday.
Prospect United 3-0 FC Gazy Lansvale, Saturday 13 June at William Lawson Park
Prospect United have picked up their fourth win in a row after downing FC Gazy Lansvale 3-0 at home.
Prospect head coach, Tony Caruso, described their result as a good win, but said “by no means was it one-way traffic.”
The first goal of the game came in the 35^th minute after persistence and good scrambling defence in the opening half hour was rewarded.
Gian Mario Liburdi was the one to open proceedings from a glancing header, courtesy of a well-rehearsed set piece.
The home side went into the break with a one goal advantage and extended their lead in the 60^th minute when Fubuki Sakurai found the back of the net.
Both sides had chances on goal but attributed a lot of their success to their goalkeepers and last-ditch efforts from their backlines.
Fifteen minutes before full time, Wiltar Jajaw brought up his sixth goal in his last three matches played by bundling one in from close range, despite a lot of Lansvale defence in his path.
Next week Prospect will take on University of NSW at David Phillips Fields for our Round 11 Match of the Round, while FC Gazy Lansvale will look for redemption against the Camden Tigers at home. 
Southern Districts 2-1 Western Condors, Saturday 13 June at Ernie Smith Reserve
Southern Districts have put together back-to-back wins after defeating the Condors 2-1 at Ernie Smith Reserve.
Despite the score line, Southern Districts dominated the match, finding themselves 2-0 at the half.
Recent new club signing Matt Mayora opened proceedings with a diving header from inside the 6-yard box, while dislocating his shoulder in the process.  The cross came from Nathan Niski.
They extended their lead when a swift set-play off a corner left captain, Nicholas Dionisiou unmarked.  The ball was quality which meant all Dionisiou needed to do was get head-to-ball and place it into the back of the net, which he did.
The Condors did not die wondering and managed to pull things back to only a one-goal deficient.  They did this through a free kick from 25 yards out, when the ball deflected off a Southern Districts defender and past the goalkeeper Tomislav Romic.
Southern Districts grinded out the rest of the match to win 2-1, which sees them back in second spot on the ladder.
Camden Tigers 4-3 Wagga City Wanderers, Saturday 13 June at Ron Dine Reserve
The Camden Tigers have defeated the Wagga City Wanderers in a high scoring affair at Ron Dine Reserve.
The visitors set the tone early and found themselves 2-0 up just after half time however, a four-goal turnaround in the second half saw the home side scrape through 4-3 victors.
Stephen Tomasic scored the Tigers’ first goal in the 60^th minute from a header off a corner, while Grant Mackechnie buried a one-on-one with the goalkeeper moments later to even up the score at 2-2.
Jayden Russell added to his impressive goal-scoring tally through a left-foot chip over the goalkeeper, which brought up his ninth goal of the season.
Similarly, Adam Smutek also scored by chipping the goal keeper which took the score to 4-2.
However, the Wanderers fought back with a goal at the end of the match but could not force a draw with time running out.
Camden head coach, Dean Mackechnie stated to Football NSW.
“The Wanderers have certainly improved throughout the competition and probably deserved to get the win.” 
Wanderers goal scorers included Adrien Jolly with a double and Scott Graham.
– By Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter