Semi Finals Review – Week 2 – Men’s State League 1
Balmain Tigers defeated Rydalmere Lions and North Shore Mariners overcame Hills Brumbies in the second week of the Men’s State League 1 Semi Finals. Balmain will now take on Hills Brumbies in the Preliminary Final to determine who will play the Mariners.
Semi Final 1: Rydalmere Lions 2 v Balmain Tigers 3 AET
An engrossing Semi Final needed more than 90 minutes to separate these two teams and once again Scott Tonkin was the super sub for the Balmain Tigers.
Balmain Tigers exploded out of the box in the opening fifteen minutes which included a Will Donato effort that clanged against the post. Their early pressing forced Rydalmere Lions into mistakes.
Rydalmere Lions had two golden efforts themselves but were denied by former NPL ‘keeper Anthony Costa twice in a matter of minutes.
It was Balmain Tigers who struck first through. Captain Tom Hyde was enthusiastic and slipped it to energetic winger Domenico Di Mento who sent a cross in for Joel Cook to make it one nil.
Rydalmere Lions responded almost instantly through former Hakoah striker Lloyd Owusu with a professional finish after a lovely cutback from Gauthier to send us to half-time level at 1-1.
Owusu almost bent a chance into the net after the break for Rydalmere Lions before the Balmain Tigers took the lead again. Gavin Wenyon sent it into D. Di Mento’s path for Cook to complete his brace.
It was a game of slight margins as Balmain Tigers Scott Tonkin on as a substitute couldn’t convert which allowed Rydalmere Lions to go down the other end and through Gauthier make it 2-2.
Men’s State League 1 top-scorer Zakeriya Elrich was presented with a golden chance for Rydalmere to wrest the lead on 65 minutes. He was one-on-one with Costa but placed the shot right at former Sydney United man’s feet.
Gauthier’s equaliser caused a frantic final twenty minutes as both teams were unable to break the deadlock despite D. Di Mento and Owusu chances that sailed wide.
As both teams tired, it was once again Scott Tonkin to pop up to send Balmain into the preliminary final for the second year in a row.
The striker almost scored as extra time kicked off when the ball fell in his path but stabbed wide. On second attempt, Tonkin made no mistake and restored the lead.
Balmain saw out the rest of the extra time period without much incident with a roar from their bench after the whistle.
A jubilant Joe Di Giulio praised his side.
“We trained [to press] all week which worked out well but we need to start killing our chances,” said the Balmain Tigers coach.
“I’m happy for all the boys even the boys who were absent today. It was a good game of soccer out there tonight.”
Tony Basha credited the victors.
“We lost our way at the end of the season in defense. It was a well-deserved victory for Balmain,”
“That tried hard and we had chances but that’s football.” finished the Lions boss.
MATCH STATS
Rydalmere Lions 2 (Owusu ‘36 and Gauthier ‘62) Team: Sinpraseuth, Cheong, Elrich, Conde, Fahmi (Hayashi ’56), Akca, Owusu, Avery(Allybokus ’69), Smith, Gauthier and Qasimi (Aguierre’82)
Subs not used: Camilleri and Sayan
Balmain Tigers 3: Cook ‘31 and ‘51, Tonkin ’94 Team: Hyde, Cook (Kiosidis ’71), Muir, Casali, Donato(Tonkin ’56), G. Di Mento, D. Di Mento(Nakadai ’98), Wenyon, Karpes, Costa and Loke
Subs not used: Chandab and Gowdy
Semi Final 2: North Shore Mariners 4 v Hills Brumbies 2
North Shore Mariners made heavy weather of the game, needing extra time but two goals in the extra time gave them a 4-2 victory this afternoon.
Hills Brumbies were up for the game and hustled the Mariners around with their pressing. The Mariners can also thank ‘keeper Anthony Zecchinati who pulled off a double save in the third minute and throughout.
For the Brumbies pressure – it was the premiers who were closest to scoring. The returning Thomas Bentham had the best chance when he muscled off a defender and crashed his effort onto the bar.
Bentham used his strength again to create the opening goal as he cut it back to Tadhg Purcell to force the Brumbies to put it into their own net.
The early pressure from the Brumbies did eventually pay dividends though – as an errant pass at the back gave room to former St George man Bruno Pivato to arrow his effort in on 33 minutes.
It was double delight for the visitors two minutes later. After the first error, a skittish North Shore Mariners backline played too hard of a pass for Zecchinati as it sailed past him into the net for a 2-1 lead.
Half-time has been the bane for the Hills Brumbies this season. They were set to try and hold their lead but within a minute, the ball was in their net.
A nice sequence of passing found Bentham in space and one-on-one allowing the striker to finish to bring it back to 2-2.
Sensing blood, Joe Haywood urged his charges forward and they had several chances to kill the game within the 90. Some fantastic saves from Jackson Franich in the Brumbies goal and Zecchinati when called upon meant they needed extra time to separate the teams.
Once again though – Hills were caught napping right from the whistle. A ball over the top found Marquin Smith in the box and he finished with aplomb to give North Shore Mariners the lead again.
Mariners finished the contest in the 101st minute when Bentham doubled his tally with a composed finish as the Brumbies pushed forward. They saw out the contest professionally to book their Grand Final place.
Afterwards Joe Haywood was happy his side stuck to their game plan.
“It was quite a competitive game out there which is finals football. As soon as we stuck to our gameplan and were disciplined, we were the better team,” added the North Shore Mariners boss.
“Once we started switching the game, it gave us the foothold to go on with the game.”
Joe Giovenali lamented his Brumbies switching off at breaks.
“It [conceding early] happens to us regularly which is the problem. We’re not coming out alert and teams are coming at us. Today it bit us on the bum,”
“We had chances that we didn’t put away and let them score which changed the whole game.” added the Brumbies coach.
MATCH STATS
North Shore Mariners 4 (Bentham ’46 and ’91, Smith ‘101, 0G ’30) Team: Zecchinati, Grant, Woodward, Cole, Chapman (Mcapline ’75), Smith, Lindsay, Baker (Collins ‘105), Jones, Bentham and Purcell (Lensink ‘112)
Subs not used: Wynter and Mbawke
Yellow cards: Collins, Mcalpine, Purcell and Woodward
Hills Brumbies 2 (Pivato ’33 and OG ’35) Team: Faulkner(Lane ‘105), Brandon, Pivato, Lawler(Pace ’85), Bedzo, G. Giovenali, Hoyer, Kelshaw, Franich, McCracken and Savetta (W. Giovenali ’75)
Subs not used: Morrow and Messell
Yellow cards: Brandon, Hoyer, W. Giovenali and Kelshaw
Red cards: W. Giovenali
By Justin Davies, Men’s State League 1 Reporter
