Men’s State League 2 Round 11 Review
Only three matches were played this weekend after rain forced washouts in David Phillips Field and Ron Dine Reserve, Camden.
As a result, we were unable to attend our Match of the Round between University of NSW and Prospect United.
Instead we will catch University of NSW when they take on the Camden Tigers in Round 12 for the Match of the Round.
Dunbar Rovers 4-1 Wagga City Wanderers, Saturday 20 June at Gissing Oval
The Dunbar Rovers have notched another win in their unbeaten campaign this season, when they made the trip inland to Wagga Wagga on Saturday.
A five-star performance by René Mrva put the visitors in good-stead with the Slovakian scoring all four goals for the Rovers.
Despite the score line, it was not all one-way traffic and the Wanderers could have easily been up by two goals in the opening exchanges.
The game began at a frantic pace by both sides and a clear break by Wagga’s, Scott Dunn saw him in on goal within the first two minutes of play.
Before he could get a shot away a desperate lunge by a Rovers defender pulled the striker down inside of the box, which was naturally awarded a penalty.
Carl Pideski lined up to take the kick but miss-timed his strike, which saw the ball trickle into the path of Dunbar goalkeeper, Stephen Deasy.
Moments later another attacking raid by the Wanderers resulted in a ‘three on two’ situation.
Unfortunately for them, the last pass went astray.
Both coaches agreed that if those chances were taken, the score could have been significantly different, but the Rovers saw this as a lifeline being thrown their way and took the majority of opportunities that were presented.
The first goal of the match came in the 24th minute when a shot on target was initially saved by Wanderers goalkeeper, Aaron Thomas. However, the deflection sat up perfectly for René Mrva who was in the right place at the right time by calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net.
Mrva picked up his second through a header only ten minutes later, when a set-piece move off a corner found the striker on the fly.
He managed to squeeze in between two Wanderers defenders with a spectacular leap, which left Thomas with no chance of stopping the goal. This was the last goal of the half, which left the score at 2-0 to the travelling Rovers.
The Rovers picked up where they left off in the second half and managed to get early shots away through Robbie Deasy and Paul O’Shaughnessy.
This pressure eventually paid off for the visitors and they were able to extend the score to 3-0 in the 65th minute.
This time Mrva showed his pace by getting in-behind the Wagga defenders. The pass was inch-perfect and he timed his run well to stay onside which put him one-on-one with Aaron Thomas.
Another top quality finish by Mrva saw the ball placed into the bottom corner of the net, which brought up a well-deserved hat-trick.
He proved again that once he got a sniff of a goal, a second would follow in quick succession when he picked up his fourth of the match only eight minutes later.
A brilliant team-goal by the Rovers saw the passage begin with the back-four, before they shuffled it along to their midfield.
Mrva was next to receive the ball and a brilliant ‘one-two’ passing movement put the striker in enough space to hit the ball first time. The strike was again superb, capping off one of the best individual performances this season.
He brought up his eighth goal of the season and has really made the starting spot his own since Michael Sealy’s injury.
Dunbar did however take their foot off of the accelerator in the last 20 minutes of the match, while the Wanderers made sure that they would not die wondering.
As a result, they managed to get on the score sheet through youngster, Tyler Allen.
A defensive lapse at the back for the Rovers saw Allen in space and he was able to put the ball onto his left foot for a well-deserved goal.
Allen’s goal left the final score at 4-1 to Dunbar however, head coach William Cullen noticed a big improvement by the Wanderers since the last time the two teams met back in round two.
“There is no doubt that the Wanderers are the most improved side in the competition and they really kept us on our toes for a good part of that match,” said Cullen.
The Wanderers continue to turn heads in their debut season as a club, which has been unjustly reflected in their score lines this season.
However, credit must be paid to Dunbar who continue to raise the bar and show their depth as a club, with six regular members of their starting eleven still side-lined.
Cullen puts this down to the work ethic and winning culture they have at Dunbar. Their hunger continues to grow and he is pleased that they are improving at the right time of the season.
Southern Districts SFA 6-0 Hurstville City Minotaurs, Sunday 21 June at Sydney United Sports Centre
Southern Districts continue their impressive run this season at second spot on the ladder when they downed the Minotaurs with a big 6-0 win on Sunday.
The goal-scoring was shared around with Milan Atlagic grabbing a double, while the other four were scored by Matthew Mayora, Mitchell Mclintock, Reuben Agyei Danso and Leigh Gunn.
The match began with both teams adopting a ‘feeling-out process’, however, it did not take long for Southern Districts to stamp their authority.
Once Districts gained possession, they came out of the blocks firing and unleashed a barrage of shots on target through Mitchell Mclintock and Reuben Agyei Danso.
Minotaurs goalkeeper, Syuzo Tsunoda pulled of a couple of much-needed saves, which kept the score even.
However, the Miontaurs were unable to stem the flow of shots on target and eventually Southern Districts made them pay.
They opened the scoring through Matthew Mayora who has picked up a goal in each game he has played this year for Southern Districts since his midseason transfer.
Despite the greasy conditions, Southern Districts strung together a 20 pass-passage along the field, which was eventually crossed into the middle of the box.
Mayora finished it aggressively after attacking the ball, allowing him to get his head onto it and past the goalkeeper.
Milan Atlagic joined his teammate on the score sheet 10 minutes later after his unselfish play was rewarded.
Atlagic had crossed the ball into the box for a teammate only for him to receive it straight back. He then finished just inside of the six-yard box.
Atlagic quickly brought up his first half double, this time by showing off his pace.
Atlagic’s run down the right side of the field allowed him to get in-behind the Minotaurs defence. He then calmly stroked the ball into the bottom corner while one-on-one with Tsunoda.
This took the score to 3-0 at the break and gave the Minotaurs little hope of reviving a second half comeback.
Southern Districts began the second half in the same relentless nature as the first. Despite opportunities presenting itself to Paolo Paras, they dug deep and kept the thought of a clean sheet in the back of their heads.
Leigh Gunn was substituted into the game for James Raiti and made an impact straight-away when his first touch of the ball was a perfect cross in for Mitchell Mclintock.
Mclintock brought up his seventh goal of the season when he headered the ball past the keeper, which took their lead to four goals.
The Minotaurs attempted to claw their way into the match but strong defence by Districts captain, Nicholas Dionisiou denied them any chance to.
This end-on-end nature of football saw Reuben Agyei Danso pick up their fifth goal of the match through a counter-attack.
Agyei Danso found himself in enough space to take a shot after brilliant lead-up work by the striker saw him beat two Minotaur defenders as well as Tsunoda in goals.
The shot yet again found the bottom right corner.
Leigh Gunn capped off a quality performance by Southern Districts when he volleyed the ball into the back corner to bring up their sixth goal, thanks to an Agyei Danso assist.
Apart from the great team-play, Southern Districts head coach, Ramson Shamon was mostly pleased with not only their ability to convert their chances on goal, but their improved discipline.
“We only gave away one yellow card and that was right at the end so we’re [Southern Districts] making steps in the right direction with our discipline and overall style of football,” said Shamon.
Next week, Southern Districts will take the five hour trip to Wagga for their second time this season while the Minotaurs will take on the Western Condors at home.
The Condors will be hungry for a win after coming off a 2-1 loss to Hurstville FC.
Hurstville FC 2-1 Western Condors, Sunday 21 June at Calabria Sports Ground
Hurstville FC have found themselves back in the winning circle after bouncing back from their nil-all draw to University of NSW last week.
Despite the grind-out performance, it was the Condors who opened the scoring when poor marking off a corner left Cristian Olivares open at the far post.
Olivares rose and got his head to the ball, which flew past the goalkeeper to take the hosts to a 1-0 advantage.
Hurstville FC dominated the remainder of the half and kept the passing short due to the greasy conditions and patchy pitch.
As a result, the Condors defence found it hard to intercept the ball from Hurstville which resulted in built-up pressure within their own half.
Denis Cutura evened the score and brought up his eighth goal for the season when he found the back of the net five minutes before the break.
An impressive string of 15 passes found Michael Karagiannis in the corner unmarked. Karagiannis then put the ball into the box for Cutura who finished first time, which took the score to 1-1 at the break.
Both teams knew that the stakes for a victory were high, so they began the second half physically.
Cristian Leiva Martinez wielded magic in the middle of the field for the Condors and was unlucky not to score after asking questions of the Hurstville goalie.
Hurstville FC’s patience and resilience continued to reward them however when they extended their lead through Fouad Umlil who is a midseason transfer from Dunbar.
Umlil scored from a header with the final pass again coming from the boot of Michael Karagiannis.
Despite desperate attempts by the Condors to level the scores before the end of the match, they could not contain Hurstville’s relentless nature.
Their goalkeeper, Anthony Vrinat was issued a straight red card in injury time when he took out Denis Cutura who was one-on-one with him.
From here Hurstville FC ground out their way to victory and picked up a valuable three points away in a win that was described by head coach, Tom Vidovic as a “gritty performance.”
“It was a tight affair,” said Vidovic.
“No real team stood out but our persistence in the end paid off, which is why we got the points in the end.”
– By Lars Roy, Men’s State League 2 Reporter
