Blacktown City too slick for Wolves
Blacktown City FC has secured a convincing 3-0 win against Wollongong Wolves in its PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s clash at Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills on Sunday afternoon.
A first half goal from Mitchell Mallia followed by two second-half goals from substitute Danny Choi was enough for the home team to walk away with the victory.
Chances were hard to come by in the opening 10 minutes as both sides moved through the feeling out period with little results. The visitors chose to sit deep and catch Blacktown City on the counter.
The first real opportunity of the game fell to the home side in the 19th minute after a foul just outside the box. Mitchell Mallia was the man to step up and cannoned the ball over the wall and into the back of the net.
Four minutes later Wollongong had the chance to equalise as David Stoic found space inside the box but from a tight angle he could only hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
It was almost a case of déjà vu in the 26th minute as Blacktown City was awarded another free kick just outside the area. This time Mallia couldn’t replicate his earlier goal as his shot went straight into the arms of Wolves custodian Justin Pasfield.
A late challenge in the 28th minute gave the Wolves a chance but after a free kick, Zachary Mackenzie with a chance but his quick shot went wide of the goal.
Just before the break the home team were awarded a free kick for a high foot just outside the area and after a deflection the ball made its way to the goalkeeper for a routine save as Blacktown City would go into the break with a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes into the second half the home side should have had their second when the ball came across for Joey Gibbs but he was denied by a great save from Justin Pasfield. The ball was still floating around the box but the header straight after just went over.
A one-on-one chance fell to Patrick Antelmi but his chipped effort was saved by Pasfield then cleared by the Wolves in the 57th minute.
Two minutes later he had another chance as his first shot hit the goalkeeper before he put the ball over the bar.
Blacktown City was awarded a penalty in the 64th minute as substitute Danny Choi beat his defender but was brought down in the box. He stepped up to take the spot kick and buried it into the bottom left corner.
In the 76th minute, Danny Choi had his second as he curled the ball from the edge of the 18-yard box and into the top left hand corner to make it 3-0.
The Wolves had a chance to pull one back in the 87th minute when Darcy Madden found his way into the box unmarked but he could only put his shot wide.
Neither side could trouble the goal in the remaining minutes as Blacktown City came away with the fairly one-sided victory.
Despite the 3-0 scoreline, Blacktown City head coach, Mark Crittenden, felt there should have been a better performance from his side.
“I think our passing was a bit poor. They are a very spoiling side. They battle really hard which makes it hard for us to play and I felt they spoilt us and our passing was very poor,” he said.
“At the end of the day we got the result and we’ll take that and go forward because they’re a hard side to breakdown.”
Wollongong Wolves head coach, Jacob Timpano, was proud of his team’s effort but with so many injuries it was always going to be difficult.
“The performance probably wasn’t anywhere where it needed to be to compete with Blacktown at home,” he said.
“We knew we were in big trouble this weekend because we had 22 players to choose from for both youth and first grade so add 22 into two starting elevens and that doesn’t leave you too much.”
“Can’t fault the boys’ effort today but hopefully we can get some players back in the next week or so and get back on track next week.”
Next weekend Blacktown City travel to face Rockdale City Suns FC while the Wollongong Wolves return home to play the Sutherland Sharks FC.
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 3 (Mallia 19’, Choi 65’, 76’)
Wollongong Wolves FC 0
Sunday, April 24 2016.
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills.
Referee: K.Patterson
Assistant Referees: D.Horstead and J Park
Fourth Official: A.Vainauskas
Blacktown City FC: 16. Antelmi (Choi 60’) 19. Cairncross 10. Evans 9. Gibbs (Sasaki 71’) 6. Lewis 8. Macura 7. Major (Grozdanovski 77’) 14. Mallia 20. Prendergast 3. G Speranza 4. R Speranza
Substitutions not used: 18. Mamone, 1. Vekic
Yellow Cards: Lewis 28’,
Wollongong Wolves FC: 5. Baldacchino, 2. Kawase, 6. Mackenzie, 3. Madden, 23. Matthews, 1. Pasfield, 7. Price, 10. Stojic (Lazarevski 75’) 11. Wilson, 16. B Zucco, 17. R Zucco (Lombo 57’)
Substitutions not used: 12. Collison, 4. Delbanco, 9. Dimoski
Yellow cards: R Zucco 31’, Mackenzie 73’
Player Ratings:
3 – Mallia (BCFC)
2 – Choi (BCFC)
1 – Evans (BCFC)
-By Jake Bull, PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 Reporter, at Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills.
