Men’s State League 1 Round 19 Review
Stanmore Hawks continued their form in another exciting week of Men’s State League 1 action headed into the finals.
Hawkesbury City SC took on Inter Lions in our Match of the Round.
Match of the Round: Inter Lions 1 v Hawkesbury City SC 4
Hawkesbury City SC continue to surprise moving into eighth position with their 4-1 performance against Inter Lions Sunday afternoon.
Jason Browne had the first attempt in a cagey opening ten minutes with his effort ballooning over the top but it was a sign of things to come.
Hawkesbury City SC continued to pepper ‘keeper David Plowright as the usually composed Inter side were making some errors.
Following all the pressure, Hawkesbury City SC opened their account with a cracking goal. Browne stepped up at the free-kick to curl it past the wall and a 1-nil lead.
Coach Dean Bertenshaw continued to urge his team on, as they continued to force errors, as Michael Norro almost profited from in the 27th minute.
Inter Lions took almost half an hour to get their first shot on the board, through striker Rosario Ochhipinti that went wide.
After the resumption, Hawkesbury City SC put in a clinical performance to romp home. Benjamin Gough played in a peach of a ball in the 54th minute for James Mawein to slot home.
They added a third through Noro in the 71st minute as the Hawks started to move the ball around smoothly.
Inter Lions pulled one back in the 77th minute when captain coach, Lachlan Wright was caught in the box. Wright stepped up and calmly put it past the ‘keeper.
Browne made it a brace in the 88th minute when another precise pass found him one-on-one with Plowright, who he rounded for 3-nil.
Afterwards Hawkesbury City SC coach Dean Bertenshaw was overjoyed to win.
"The boys played well after a tough game mid-week against Dully," he said.
He also played down the chance of finals football.
"We are just going to move onto next week, wherever it ends up is where it ends up."
MATCH STATS
Inter Lions 1 (Wright ’77)
Hawkesbury City SC 4 (Browne ’20 and ’88, Mawein ’54, Norro ’71)
Inter Lions: Ciano, De Kelly, Arcella, Brown, Sidoti, Occhipinti, May Valiente (Iliopoulos ’55), Wright, Cimino (Funari ’73), Turner and Plowright
Subs not used: Fabbro and Naruse
Yellow cards: Ciano and Occhipinti
Red card: Brown
Hawkesbury City SC: Schwarzer, Alchin, Mawein, Wilson, Browne, Mccrea, P. Cooper, Sharma (N. Cooper ’75), Harrington and Camacho (Gough ’45)
Subs not used: Macrae, B. Morley and C. Morley
Yellow cards: Browne and Sharma
Red cards: nil
Dulwich Hill FC 0 v Balmain Tigers FC 2
Balmain has produced their best performance of the season before their Westfield FFA Cup engagement to beat Dulwich Hill FC.
Coach Joe Di Giulio got his tactics perfect to nullify both Sam Messam and Steven Hrysanthos with their midfield pressure.
This pressure brought the Tigers reward either side of the break, as Tom Hyde and and Giacomo Di Mento provided the goals.
Dully had Sam Cornish sent off late but the result was well in hand for Balmain Tigers.
Gladesville Ryde Magic 0 V Hills Brumbies 0
Gladesville has moved into fifth place with it’s fourth stalemate of the season.
Brumbies looked to break their bad run in a see-sawing game but couldn’t find the net.
Coach Greg Giovenali joined the chorus of praise recently for Kiriakos Tohouroglou who turned in another stellar performance.
Nepean FC 1 v North Shore Mariners 6
North Shore Mariners are Men’s State League 1 premiers after their demolition of Nepean FC Saturday night.
Joe Haywood’s men were merciless in front of goal with regulars Michael Cole, Lee Jones and Mark Mcalpine netted.
Nepean FC got some small consolation with Chris Hanley findinfg the net.
Afterwards Joe Haywood was proud of the performance but annoyed at the lost opportunity at a clean sheet.
Western NSW Mariners 3 v Rydalmere Lions 4
Rydalmere Lions produced the comeback of the season to overcome Western NSW Mariners.
Western NSW Mariners led 3-1 just after the break, thanks to Stuart Bromley, Matt Corben and Kane Hughes.
Tony Basha has instilled a never-say-die attitude in his troops and they fought hard.
Amaury Gauthier scored a brace in the comeback but the moment was left to seventeen year old Aaron Avery to smash home the winner.
Granville Rage 0 v Stanmore Hawks 3
Stanmore has moved one point off the finals with another 3-nil victory.
Sam Awad continues to receive plaudits for his perfiormances and enjoyed another starring role this afternoon.
Awad scored a brace with the first from his head and the second was a poucher’s effort.
Veteran Neil Philippou also scored in a performance coach Soteri Mavrou was pleased with.
