Round 15 Review – State League Men’s

A massive twenty nine goals were scored across five games in a wet, action-packed weekend of State League Men’s football.

Match of the Round – St. George FA vs. Western Condors FC: 7-0.

League leaders St. George FA continued to storm ahead this Saturday, smashing the Western Condors 7-0 at Peter Moore Field.

Conditions were less than ideal, with heavy rain creating a difficult to manage playing surface that made things tricky for both sides. Both sets of players struggled to maintain possession and the game opened up quickly.

St. George were not to be contained however, and dominated a hapless Condors outfit with clinical, attacking football.

Kiwi striker Sam Messam starred for St. George and quickly put his side in the lead with a well timed header finding the bottom right corner.

Messam doubled their lead shortly later, after bursting through the middle of the Condors back four and slotting home with his left foot.

In form youngster James Spanoudakis continued his rich vein of goalscoring form, adding to St. George’s tally with his sixth goal from his past seven games..

Before half time, Sam Umlil pried home a fourth after a swift counter attack and sent the hosts into the sheds with a commanding lead. The Condors appeared down and out, downtrodden by the conditions as much as St. George’s dominant football.

St. George didn’t take their foot off the pedal in the second half, with Sam Messam quickly claiming his hat trick and then a fourth.

A back post run from Messam saw him opportunistically slot home his third, while a powerfully launched strike for his fourth capped off a spectacular performance in trying conditions. John Tsironis added insult to injury for the Condors, scoring St. George’s seventh goal.

Coach Manny Spanoudakis is pleased with his side’s impressive performance despite the conditions.

“We kept it simple and executed the simple things very well… we followed the game plan perfectly and thankfully it worked out well for us.”

Despite the result Spanoudakis was quick to praise the Condors, saying, “The Western Condors are a tricky team with quality players in midfield and upfront and they will cause a lot of teams problems.”

Match Stats

St. George FA                                      7 (Messam x4, Umlil, Spanoudakis, Tsironis)

Western Condors FC                           0

Saturday, 9 July

Peter Moore Field

St. George FA: 31. M. Bozic, 41. T. Dal Broi, 15. D. Dascal, 18. M. Fsadni, 4. C. Lawson, 11. S. Messam, 8. N. Napoli, 7. S. Richardson, 10. J. Spanoudakis, 2. S. Thomas, 3. B. Tsanidis, 20. J. Tsironis, 9. F. Umlil, 16. M. Vass.

Yellow Cards: N/A

Red Cards: N/A

Western Condors FC: 4. J. Borgiani, 6. R. Carrizo, 63. H. Coronel, 7. A. De La Cuadra, 12. A. Fernandez, 30. R. Galiano, 13. S. Maric, 19. G. Maya Valiente, 10. M. Navarrete 8. R. Sanchez, 15. N. Valenzuela, 64. P. Valle, 1. A. Vrinat, 5. G. Zampogna.

Yellow Cards: N/A

Red Cards: N/A

Round Summaries

Prospect United vs. Nepean FC: 1-2.

Prospect United continue to suffer heartbreak, going down 2-1 to Nepean FC in a game they feel they should have won.

Nepean took an early lead thanks to a goal from Clement Waoci. Prospect showed great determination to equalise thanks to Reece Iredale, and then won a penalty. However, the home side saw their penalty saved by Jake Senior, only to have Nepean run down the field and score a winner off the boot of Kagisho Pitso.

Nepean coach Magdy Andrawes says, “It was good to hold out the opposition and finally get a win, especially after last week’s frustrating loss. This will give the boys good confidence to hopefully make it two in a row.”

“The win did come at a cost, with the ambulance needed for David Kanaley who unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury very early in the game.”

Prospect coach John Caruana says that football is a “cruel game”, but is still very pleased with the efforts of his players.

“After all of the heart aches for our young team, they are learning fast.”

Camden Tigers FC vs. SD Raiders FC: 3-2.

The Camden Tigers have pulled off a massive coup this weekend, coming from behind to defeat the SD Raiders 3-2.

The visitors took an early lead thanks to a strike from the in-form Mark Symington, however Camden quickly responded; within ten minutes, Sean Doherty scored to equalise for the Tigers. 

Star striker Jayden Russell then scored a brace to secure all three points for the home side, despite another goal from Mark Symington.

The Raiders continue to suffer from disciplinary issues, with Gordan Opacic receiving a straight red card. Their Premiership hopes are now all but dead, and the competition favourites at the start of the season will have to reassess their objectives.

Bankstown United FC vs. Wagga City Wanderers: 4-3.

Bankstown United edged the Wagga City Wanderers this weekend, in a seven goal thriller at Valentine Sports Park.

Bankstown coach Petar Finka believes his side deserved the win, and controlled the game despite making a few defensive errors.

“It was a good start to a big week with three games in seven days.”

Tom Markovski was again the hero for United, scoring a game winning hat trick that was complemented by an own goal. The Wanderers’ goals came by way of Calum Dunbar and Adrien Jolly.

Wagga City Wanderers coach Andrew Douglas says his boy’s performance wasn’t too disappointing considering the circumstances.

“We had some new faces in the side, with two being under 18 years old, so I was pretty pleased with our performance. We will take positives out of the game.”

“Bankstown beat our offside trap twice early on which resulted in goals, but I thought we adjusted and looked a lot better after that.”

Gazy Auburn FC vs. Hurstville City Minotaurs: 2-5.

The Hurstville City Minotaurs have finally returned to winning ways, with a relieving 5-2 victory away to Gazy Auburn FC.

Hurstville have now claimed their first three point haul since Round 6, more than two months ago. Auburn will be very disappointed to have failed to back up last week’s surprise win over Wagga City.

Hurstville coach Peter Sarikakis was over the moon with his team’s performance, saying, “Nothing in the world feels better than winning a soccer match with the team one loves!”

“I changed a few things and told my players that they must do as I ask, or stay home – they listened and played to my instructions, thus achieving the result I knew they were good enough to achieve.”

Sarikakis hopes that his team’s joyful singing after the game didn’t do any damage to the roof of the Hills Sport High changerooms.

University of NSW vs. Hurstville FC – WASHED OUT

-by Daniel Palmer, Football NSW State League Men’s Reporter