Round 19 Review – State League Men’s

Both St. George FA and Hurstville FC dropped points in the race for the Premeirship this weekend, with neither able to capitalise on the misfortunes of the other.

Match of the Round – St. George FA vs. Camden Tigers FC: 3-3.

St. George FA have experienced their first draw of the season, with their thirteen round winning streak finally brought to an end by the Camden Tigers FC.

Things could have ended much worse for St. George, who despite leading 2-0 at halftime, required a late own goal from the Tigers to avoid defeat.

St. George started the game where they left off last week, taking control of the middle of the park and dictating the pace of play. The Tigers were not overawed by the league leaders and looked dangerous when in possession; moving the ball forward quickly and stretching St. George’s defence.

St. George seemed too good, however, and looked well on their way to another victory when they opened the scoring thanks to a strike from young James Spanoudakis. It was a goal typical of their season, at the end of some great buildup play culminating in John Tsironis backheeling to Spanoudakis for the finish.

They added to their lead before half time, after John Tsironis connected with a well targeted cross from David Dascal – heading home smartly.

A series of refereeing decisions infuriated the Tigers, as the game became more and more heated. St. George too had some tight calls against them, which added to the tense atmosphere.

At half time, St. George had been dominant in spite of a spirited performance from Camden; one could sense that the second period would host many more goals.

Camden came out of the changerooms firing on all cylinders, determined to overcome the deficit and inspired by the fiery atmosphere.

Incredibly, the Tigers scored three goals within the opening twenty minutes of the second half as they ran over the top of a stunned St. George.

A smart finish from Stephen Lloyd early on fired up the visitors, who then went on to equalise moments later thanks to a strike from Dean Mugridge. The Tigers then won a penalty, much to St. George’s dismay, which was converted coolly by the industrious Bailey Simpson.

St. George were stunned into action, and pushed forward desperately in search of an equaliser. Eventually, they broke through after a heart breaking own goal from Camden; Mitch Green unfortunately bundling it into his own net off a whipped cross from Sean Richardson, which would have found St. George’s onrushing strikers at the backpost regardless.

Both sides came close to scoring a dramatic winner as the game sped towards the final whistle; notably, St. George striker Sam Messam rattled the post in a heart-in-mouth moment for Camden. Neither side could break through, and in the end each deserved their share of the points.

St. George coach Manny Spanoudakis was critical of the refereeing, saying, “I must say that the level of refereeing contributed to both teams’ frustrations and was substandard and extremely disappointing.”

“We were outstanding in the first half, totally dominated all aspects of the game and scored two excellent goals. In the second half we got sucked into the whole emotion and intimidation of Camden’s physicality; full credit to Camden.”

“The result was all part of the beauty of football; one small bump on the road of our journey. Maybe this was the wakeup call we needed three weeks out from the Finals.”

Camden Tigers coach Dean Bradley says that he didn’t have to tell his boys too much at half-time to inspire the turnaround, “We were all very calm and knew a goal would get us back in the game.”

“We have a great bond at Camden and as coach I trust my players’ ability and commitment – I asked them to lift the work rate by 10% and stay patient.”

“St. George are a class side with experience and great shape and are deservedly at the top of the table… I can’t be prouder of my young team who trust me and listen when I instruct them.”

Bradley adds with tongue in check that in their eyes, it was a 4-2 win although acknowledges that St. George will probably see it differently.

Match Stats

St. George FA                                      3 (Spanoudakis, Tsironis, O.G. Green)

Camden Tigers FC                               3 (Lloyd, Mugridge, Simpson)

Saturday, 6 August 2016

Valentine Sports Park 3

St. George FA: 12. B. Armstrong, 31. M. Bozic, 41. T. Dal Broi, 15. D. Dascal, 18. M. Fsadni, 5. J. Janic, 11. S. Messam, 8. N. Napoli, 7. S. Richardson, 22. H. Silva Neto, 10. J. Spanoudakis, 2. S. Thomas, 3. B. Tsanidis, 20. J. Tsironis, 16. M. Vass, 6. A. Webster.

Yellow Cards: 18. M. Fsadni, 16. M. Vass

Red Cards: N/A

Camden Tigers FC: 29. A. Bullow, 12. S. Doherty, 15. M. Green, 26. L. Hastie, 20. M. Johnston, 1. J. Knight, 9. S. Lloyd, 17. J. Mcphillips, 10. D. Mugridge, 14. B. Page, 34. L. Pereira, 16. J. Russell, 8. M. Serone, 31. B. Simpson, 6. B. Szumski, 3. J. Watson.

Yellow Cards: 9. S. Lloyd

Red Cards: N/A

Bankstown United FC vs. Western Condors: 5-0.

Bankstown United have strongly signalled their return to form with a commanding 5-0 victory against the Western Condors this Saturday.

With the game moved last minute to Playford Park, United were brutally clinical against the Condors in wet conditions.

Braces to Rodney Mongan and Kodai Hayashi were accompanied by a strike from Luke Jones to secure a confident three points. The Condors, traditionally extremely resilient in defence, were no match for a highly motivated Bankstown outfit.

Bankstown coach Petar Finka says, “even with a disrupted preparation this week due to weather and the last minute relocation of the game, the squad stepped up.”

“It’s good to be able to have some consistency in the starting line up.”

The Condors will be extremely disappointed with their performances in the past few weeks, where they have experienced their worst spell all season.

Wagga City Wanderers vs. Hurstville City Minotaurs: 1-3.

The Hurstville City Minotaurs made the long trip back to Sydney with all three points in the bag this weekend, having upset the Wanderers away from home.

Two goals to Jason Gonzalez and a fifth goal in six games for Felipe Ibar was more than enough for the Minotaurs, despite a late penalty goal from Scott Dunn providing consolation for the home side.

Wagga City coach Andrew Douglas says, “Considering we had seven starters out, I thought our performance was reasonable.”

“We blooded two new players [Daniel Okot on the wing and Sam Jenkins in centre half] who I felt had good performances.”

“We took a while in the first half to get going, but I thought our second half was dominant and we were unlucky not to get more reward.”

Indeed, Hurstville scored all three of their goals in the first half. The Wanderers effectively “won” the second half 1-0.

University of NSW vs. Nepean FC: 0-3.

Nepean FC returned to winning ways this weekend, cruising past the University of NSW 3-0 away from home.

Coach Magdy Andrawes says that he feels this win has been a long time coming, saying, “It’s good to get what it felt like we deserved during the last two games.”

“It’s a relief to finally score some goals and great to keep a clean sheet.”

Andrawes acknowledges that despite the positive result, his team still has a lot to work on in the final rounds of the season.

“We need to be able to focus for the full 90 minutes and reduce the number of mistakes to as low as possible, especially at both ends of the pitch.”

“We have four matches left to do this… I’m sure all of the hard work we do now will go a long way to help set us up to be better prepared for next season.”

Roberto Polistina was the standout player for Nepean FC, scoring two goals. The third was added by Akwasi Agyei.

SD Raiders FC vs. Hurstville FC: 0-0.

In a game with so much at stake, it is no surprise that the SD Raiders and Hurstville FC took conservative approaches this weekend at Ernie Smith Reserve.

Despite the lack of scoring, this fixture was an incredibly high quality football match with a tense atmosphere that felt like it could be broken in two at any point.

Ultimately, neither side was able to seriously challenge the opposition goal throughout the ninety minutes in a game characterised by extremely compact defending.

Hurstville FC will be disappointed that they missed an opportunity to gain points on St. George FA, who also drew this weekend. The Raiders will also see this as a squandered chance to move into second place.

Gazy Auburn FC vs. Prospect United – WASHED OUT

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