Blacktown City maintain 100% record
A clinical Blacktown City FC has further cemented its place at the top of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition with a 4-2 win against Sydney Olympic at Lily’s Football Centre on Sunday.
Mark Crittenden’s Blacktown side bounced back from a sluggish start to come alive in the second half and secure victory against a persistent Sydney Olympic outfit.
Blacktown City are the only side now to not have dropped any points since the start of the season three weeks ago and they looked like a team possessed with one thing on their minds – taking all three points against the Blues.
Poor first half performances have been a feature of Blacktown CIty’s matches this season and it occurred once again for the Seven Hills based side with Olympic controlling proceedings in the opening stages of the game.
However it was Olympic keeper Paul Henderson who was the first keeper tested when the veteran shot stopper pulled off a great reflex save to prevent an own goal.
Blacktown gloveman Nenad Vekic had a chance to show off his skills only moments later when he was called into action to deny a shot from Olympic’s Harris Gaitatzis’s after only seven minutes.
Vekic saved Blacktown again a few plays later when Gaitatzis found himself in possession after a defensive mixup from City.
However, the veteran striker failed to take advantage of the opportunity and fired wide.
Sydney Olympic were left wondering how they had not taken the lead in the 22nd minute when Will Angel was denied by further Vekic brilliance.
Angel’s shot was blocked by the keeper at point blank range to ensure the home side held on despite being on the back foot.
In the 33rd minute the tide turned for Blacktown.
Lewis Beumie found space on the wing and curled a looping cross into the penalty box with Riku Sasaki in position to knock the ball into the back of the net and give Blacktown a 1-0 lead. It was the Japanese import’s second goal in successive matches.
Olympic looked to bounce back straight away with Adrian Vranic’s shot on goal cleared off the line by City captain Zach Cairncross in the 40th minute.
Both sides went in to the half time break frustrated with their performances and it was a sentiment shared by their respective coaches.
An inspired half time message from Crittenden must have been the magic formula for Blacktown with a new found intent obvious in the home side’s play.
With only eight minutes of the second half expired, Blacktown doubled its lead.
Giorgio Speranza collected an over hit cross to fire low past a diving Henderson.
Mitchell Malia opened his tally for 2016 and pounced on a rare error from Henderson to make it 3-0 in the 63rd minute.
Henderson parried a cross from Blacktown midfielder Sasa Mucura right into the path of Mallia who easily guided his shot into the net.
Despite trailing by three goals, Sydney Olympic failed to give up and in the 66th minute were rewarded for their persistance.
Angel found space out wide and delivered a cross onto the head of Nik Tsattalios who angled his shot past Vekic and into the back of the net to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
The fightback from Grant Lee’s Olympic team failed to gain any further momentum and they fell further behind in the 86th minute when Blacktown’s Travis Major added his name to the scoresheet.
Winger Major unleashed a rasping left foot shot past Henderson after a pinpoint assist from Patrick Antelmi to make it 4-1 and pushed his tally for three for the year.
Sydney Olympic did manager to close the gap in the final seconds of the game through substitute and recent new recruit Michael Cindric.
The former Sydney United 58 FC striker fortuitously pounced on the loose ball for an easy tap in for a 4-2 scoreline after Blacktown’s Vekic blocked a one-on-one effort in added time.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC: 4 (Sasaki 33’, Speranza 53’, Mallia 61’, Major 86’)
Sydney Olympic: 2 (Tsattalios 66’, Cindric 90’)
Sunday, March 27 2016
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills
Blacktown City: 1. VEKIC Nenad, 3. SPERANZA Giorgio, 6. LEWIS Matthew, 7. MAJOR Travis, 8. MACURA Sasa, 9.GIBBS Joey (16. ANTELMI Patrick), 10. EVANS Connor, 14. MALLIA Mitchell (12. GROZDANOVSKI Jordan), 17. BEUMIE Lewis, 19. CAIRNCROSS Zach 21. SASAKI Riku (11. CHOI Danny)
Substitutes not used: 20. PRENDERGAST Tristan, 3. SPERANZA Roberto
Yellow cards: Macura 45’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1. HENDERSON Paul, 2.SORGE Brayden, 3. TOMELIC Ante, 4. EGGER Lee, 5. MADONIS Jason (19. CINDRIC Michael), 6. STAMATELLIS Michael 7. ANGEL Will, 8. FONDYKE Howard, 10. GAITATZIS Harris (11. BOUTOUBIA Jason), 23. VRANIC Adrian (16. GREEN Oliver), 33 TSATTALIOS Nik
Substitutes not used: 20. CRICKMORE Denver, 37. MONTFORD Eoin
Yellow Cards: Angel 57’, Sorge 82’
Red Cards: Nil
PLAYER RATINGS
3 – Giorgio Speranza (BC)
2 – Nenad Vekic (BC)
1 – Nik Tsattalios (SO)
