Round 6 Review – PS4 NPL NSW Men’s U20
Round 6 of the PlayStation®4 NPL NSW Men’s U20 competition saw Sydney United 58 and Parramatta secure their first wins of the season, whilst Manly United defeated Wollongong Wolves to move three points clear at the top of the table.
The match of the round was at Blacktown Football Park where Blacktown Spartans entertained Sydney United 58.
Match of the Round
Blacktown Spartans v Sydney United 58, 5.00pm at Blacktown Football Park
A James Temelkovski-inspired Sydney United 58 sealed their first win of the season after staging a dramatic 3-2 come from behind victory over Blacktown Spartans at Blacktown Football Park.
It looked like a long afternoon was in store for the winless visitors when Spartans midfielder Brandon Bezzina fired home early on, and the frustration was doubled when Alex Mooy doubled the advantage straight from the kick-off at the beginning of the second half.
But United refused to concede what would have been a fifth defeat this season and struck back through a quick-fire Anthony Vrlic brace before Temelkovski, who had laid both goals on a silver platter for his strike partner, clinched the winner himself with a leaping header five minutes before full time.
It was more than just reward for the visitors who had offered plenty of threat going forward in what was the side’s best performance of the season.
United started brightly but were behind after a matter of minutes when Bezzina collected Sellu Kamara’s lay off on the edge of the box before driving into the bottom corner.
Temelkovski had two excellent opportunities to draw his side level in an end to end first half but was thwarted by a pair of good saves from Spartans gloveman Dominic Nascimben.
The visitors would have felt hard done by not to have salvaged an equalizer before half-time, and their frustrations were compounded when Blacktown doubled their advantage mere seconds after the restart.
Blacktown midfielder Adrian Epifanino sliced the Sydney defence in half from kick off with Alex Mooy eventually turning the ball home from Ogun Dullak’s cross.
It looked as though the writing was on the wall for Davor Bajsic and his ranks, but the visitors turned on the style after Mooy’s goal and peppered the Blacktown penalty area at will.
The pressure eventually told when Vrlic slammed home at the back post after Temelkovski had danced past three Blacktown defenders in the box.
And it was the same combination for the equalizer when Temelkovski squeezed a clever ball through a crowded penalty area to find Vrlic unmarked at the far post again.
Sydney were then denied by the foot of the post after Jack Stewart let fly from long range, but Temelkovski stole the win late on with a glancing header from Mark Rizoski’s cross.
Sydney Uniited 58 manager Davor Bajsic was ecstatic with his side’s comeback.
“I’m very pleased, especially with the second half where we came home having conceded the second from the kick off. You can imagine how hard it was for them to come back from that.
Bajsic said his young side’s heads had dropped following their 3-2 defeat to Blacktown City in Round 1, but the win was fitting reward for Sydney’s efforts this campaign.
“The motivation and attitude in training is great and it’s about time it’s paid off”.
Blacktown coach Samuel Jacobs condemned his team’s overconfidence having let their 2-0 lead slip.
“I was never too confident at 2-0 up”, he said.
“It didn’t look right, we didn’t have our usual intensity, and our quality with the ball was a little bit poor.
“We’ll have to regroup and get back to basics.”
Match Stats
Blacktown Spartans 2 (Bezzina 3’, Mooy 46’)
Sydney United 58 3 (Vrlic 64’, 74’, Temelkovski 85’)
Saturday 16th April 2016
Blacktown Football Park, Rooty Hill
Blacktown Spartans: 18 A. Abdullah, 19 B. Bezzina, 21 L. Catania, 23 O. Dullak, 24 A. Epifanino, 26 L. Hinton, 28 S. Kamara, 30 L. Zacharopoulos, 31 A. Mooy, 32 C. Power, 33 D. Sestan, 34 M. Filipovic, 35 A. White, 36 C. Hanna, 41 D. Nascimben
Yellow Cards: 24 A. Epifanino, 28 S. Kamara
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney United 58: 1 A. Depta, 13 M. Rizoski, 25 J. Stewart, 26 J. Briskoski, 27 T. Patroulias, 28 C. Kermack, 31 A. Vrlic, 32 A. Fraser, 33 M. Donatiello, 34 D. Sterjovski, 35 A. Vlismas, 36 J. Temelkovski, 37 K. Dominici, 38 N. Bertolissio, 40 G. Koliomihos
Yellow Cards: 28 C. Kermack
Red Cards: Nil
Saturday
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4-2 Sutherland Sharks, 5.00pm at Bonnyrigg Sports Club
Bonnyrigg White Eagles made it three wins in a row for after accounting for Sutherland Sharks 4-2 at Bonnyrigg Sports Club.
The home side were far too good on the afternoon with a Jake Douglas double and goals to Asmir Kadric and Leo Guzman completing another successful day at the office for a resurgent Bonnyrigg side.
The win leaves Bonnyrigg flying in fifth place having stormed into form over the last three rounds, whilst Sutherland’s inconsistent season continues with Allan Edmonson’s side remaining in sixth position.
Hakoah Sydney City East 1-4 Blacktown City, 5.00pm at Hensley Athletic Field
Blacktown City delivered the perfect response to their Round 5 defeat to Bonnyrigg with a professional 4-1 victory over Hakoah Sydney City East.
Brad Paikin netted for the third consecutive match for Hakoah but the home side were outclassed by the reigning champions who turned in a dominant display at Hensley Athletic Field.
Jonathan Grozdanovski spearheaded the win with a classy double whilst Nikita Andricopoulous and Jake Borromeo added a goal each to move Blacktown back to the top of the table.
Parramatta 2-1 Sydney Olympic, 5.00pm at Melita Stadium
Parramatta got their season up and running with goals to Nicholas Chymiak and Jarrod Taunton earning the Eagles a well-earned three points at home to Sydney Olympic.
Adrian Vranic pulled one back for the visitors with his eighth goal in four matches but it wasn’t enough to deny the hosts a deserved win in front of their home crowd.
Sunday
Rockdale City Suns 3-4 APIA Leichhardt Tigers, 3.00pm at Ilinden Sports Centre
APIA Leichhardt Tigers earned their first win of the season defeating ten-man Rockdale City Suns 4-3 in an epic seven goal encounter at Ilinden Sports Centre.
Tolgay Ozbey scored an extraordinary hattrick for the home side but it wasn’t enough to see off APIA Leichhardt who hit back with a brace from Samuel Gulisano and goals to Matthew Stewart and Adrian Vlastelica.
Stefan Dubocanin was sent off for Rockdale who now drop to ninth on the ladder, whilst APIA Leichhardt leapfrog Sydney United 58 and Parramatta into tenth.
Wollongong Wolves 0-2 Manly United, 3.00pm at WIN Stadium
Manly United defeated Wollongong Wolves 2-0 at WIN Stadium to move three points clear at the top of the table.
Goals to Hamish Galbraith and Rory Spiers were enough for Andrew Christiansen’s side to pick off a high-flying Wolves and cement their fifth win of the season.
Having had their three match winning streak ended, Wollongong remain inside the top four on ten points.
-By Jacob Windon
