Men’s State League 1 Round 14 Review
It was the weekend of the comeback with Inter Lions and Nepean FC providing late heroics in another pulsating round.
North Shore continues to lead the table after accounting for Stanmore in the Match of the Round.
Match of the Round: Stanmore Hawks 1 v North Shore Mariners 2
The Mariners continued on their winning ways with a pair of goals to see off a determined Stanmore led by ‘keeper James Webb.
Stanmore were fired up to get back into the win column after their lean month and were in the thick of the action early, as Neil Philippou snapped a shot wide in the twelfth minute.
The Hawks were doing a good job of disrupting the Mariners fluid game helped by their custodian James Webb who repelled the Mariners all afternoon – starting with beating away Marquin Smith’s 22nd minute effort.
Their bright start was rewarded with a goal only a minute later – as Philippou stepped up from the spot and tucked his spot kick in the right hand corner.
Like last week when they overran the Brumbies, the goal stung the Mariners into action, as they started to play in the style they are known for.
It brought them the equaliser in the 28th minute with some lovely linked play included Ricky Woodward, found Tadhg Purcell to arrow his sixth effort of the season home.
Joe Haywood wanted his side to ramp up the pressure on the home side and they duly responded. The luck deserted Webb as the ball pinged around the box and fell to a Mariners player every time, Nicholas Chapman on the spot to make it 2-1.
An unlikely target, Jack Grant almost made it three just after the break when he rose highest for a corner and nodded it wide.
That pattern continued for much of the second half – as North Shore countered well and found themselves one-on-one with James Webb four times but the custodian stood tall each time to keep them out.
In the rare attacking moments for Stanmore, they fell to midfielder Sam Awad who couldn’t curve his 78th minute strike towards goal as the Hawks grew frustrated but unable to find an equaliser.
Haywood was pleased with the result not the performance.
“It was a good win in terms of the result but not the performance. Although we created chances, four one-on-ones missed that would’ve made it 6-1 which is what we expect coming here,” he said.
“We were happy with the win, and the chances created but need to improve,”
“To get the result away [at Hawkesbury] followed by today, we are happy with that.”
Stanmore coach Soteri Mavrou lamented missed chances.
“The penalty was an optimistic start for us to keep going but we conceded soft goals,” he said.
“On the other hand, we are not scoring the goals now, that we were at the start of the season while still conceding,”
Lastly Mavrou wrapped his ‘keeper James Webb’s performance.
“It was his best performance of the season and he kept us in it especially with his one-on-ones stops.”
MATCH STATS
Stanmore Hawks 1 (Phiippou ’23)
North Shore Mariners 2 (Purcell ’28 and Chapman ’42)
Stanmore Hawks: Petratos, Mavrou, Bakoulis (Kamara ’64(Leto ’81)), Liavas, Awad, Philippou, Ekwerike, Kynezos(Theodosi ’45), Huet, Mugridge and Webb
Subs not used: Grace and Adams
Yellow cards: Petratos, Liavas and Philippou
North Shore Mariners: Zecchinati, Grant, Walker, Woodward, Collins, Cole, Mcalpine, Chapman, M. Smith, Baker and Purcell
Subs not used: Lahiri and Esposito
Yellow cards: Chapman and Lensink
Gladesville Ryde Magic 0 v Nepean FC 2
There were huge scenes at Magdala Park as Nepean FC won its second match of the season defeating the Gladesville Ryde Magic 2-0 on Saturday.
Gladesville once again dominated the first half but couldn’t finish.
The visitors warmed into the task in the going 1-0 up through a familiar goal scoring source in Kodai Hayashi.
Then substitute Nikola Pozder sent the away fans and bench into raptures sealing the victory with a well taken goal to give the club three precious points they desperately needed.
Western NSW Mariners FC 2 v Inter Lions 2
Inter Lions produced a stirring comeback to take a point out West.
The Mariners were in control in the first half with Kane Hughes notching up a monumental double.
The Lions worked back into the contest with a Lachlan Wright penalty before Harry Brown completed the comeback.
Mariners coach Andrew Fearnley will be disappointed to surrender the lead and miss a chance to jump back into the top five.
Rydalmere Lions 4 v Balmain Tigers 3
A fifteen minute salvo helped Rydalmere to down Balmain Tigers on Saturday night.
Zakeriya Elrich’s tenth strike of the season helped the Lions into a 1-1 score-line at the break.
Elrich added his eleventh in the second half alongside John Fahmi and Amaury Gauthier goals to make it 4-1.
Balmain roared back into the game to bring it back to 4-3 thanks to Giacomo Di Mento and Joel Cook but Joe Di Giulio was left to lament 15 minutes of lost concentration that cost them.
Granville Rage 1 v Dulwich Hill 3
Dulwich Hill continued their run of unbeaten matches at Garside Park this afternoon.
The Rage held the visitors to 1-1 at the break with the man advantage when Joel Iannacito was sent off.
Norm Tome’s men weren’t going to be kept down for long though, Robert Morrison and George Lagoudakis’ penalty secured the win.
The win took Dully into the top four, three points behind Brumbies.
Hills Brumbies v Hawkesbury City SC
Brumbies led 1-0 at half-time thanks to a Wade Giovenali goal before the game was abandoned due to fog.
For more information check the FNSW website for an update on this match.
-By Justin Davies, Men’s State League 1 reporter
