Sydney United 58 cruise past Parramatta FC
The resurgence of Sydney United 58 continued as they took out an emphatic 5-0 victory over a hapless Parramatta FC outfit at Edensor Park on Sunday making it four wins in their last four matches under coach Mark Rudan.
Sydney United 58 were quite simply a class above their opponents on a number of occasions further asserting its intentions in making an assault on the 2017 Premiership after a slow start to the season.
The goalscoring spree for the Reds started as early as the 14th minute when the home side won a free kick via Nick Olsen off a foul from Parramatta FC’s Joshua Gersbach outside the box.
Up stepped up one of the competition’s most prolific free-kick takers in Panny Nikas, who once again sported the captain’s armband in the absence of the injured Nick Stavroulakis, and as on many occasions, smashed his effort beyond a despairing Ryan Norval.
Nikas’ rocket free-kick hit the top right side of the Parramatta FC net as Norval grabbed a hand to it, but the shot was too venomous, resulting in the game’s first goal and Nikas’ seventh for the year.
It was soon 2-0 to the home side as Matt Sim broke Parramatta FC hearts in the 27th minute after a sweeping move by Rudan’s men.
After winning possession in their own half, Nikas played a neat ball to Glen Trifiro who sent Sim for a run on the left-hand side with a great pass. The former Hyundai A-League player was allowed far too much space from Jacob Ott as he unleashed a left-foot shot inside the box with Norval unable to stop.
Ten minutes later and the ‘Arjen Robben’ lookalike made it 3-0, grabbing a brace, much to the delight of the parochial home fans.
Sim played a lovely one-two pass with Trifiro inside the Parramatta FC box with the visitors too slow to react, he smashed home from close range pushing his tally to three for the 2017 season.
Half time approached and Parramatta FC coach Franco Cosentino knew his team needed to respond early in the second half if they stood any chance in nicking any points.
This did not happen.
Five minutes into the second half and the game was well and truly beyond the visitors as once again, Nikas was the orchestrator, floating a ball to Riley Woodcock, who sent in a superb cross from the right-hand side into the box. The resulting ball was met by a great Yutaro Shin header who nodded the ball into the path of an unmarked Trifiro inside the box and he did the rest by smashing it home for the Reds’ fourth of the game.
It was then game over in the 67th minute when Shin completed the rout with another neat move by the home side.
Substitute Yianni Fragogiannis played in Woodock on the right-hand side and he again, sent a teasing pass inside the box that was met by the Japanese import who made no mistake and all but wrapped up the three points for Sydney United 58.
The victory pushed the 2016 PS4 NPL Champions into fifth spot, just five shy off the top while for Parramatta FC, the loss, their sixth of the season, continues to see the team languish in the bottom half of the ladder in eleventh.
Nikas, who once again starred for Sydney United 58, was delighted with the performance of his side.
“It was a fantastic result for the club.
“Our boys worked really well today and we connected especially well in the front third as well as being strong at the back – but it was a great team performance.
“We are now looking forward to our difficult encounter against Sydney Olympic this weekend but the signs are there for all to see that we are improving each week.”
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 5 (Panny Nikas 14’, Matthew Sim 27’, 37’, Glen Trifiro 50’, Yutaro Shin 67’)
Parramatta FC 0
Sunday, April 30 2017
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: C. Fisher
Assistant Referees: M. Clark & J. McFarlane
Fourth Official: A. Lyndon
Sydney United 58: 21. Tom Manos, 17. Matthew Bilic, 20. Peter Markovic, 23. Panny Nikas, 32. Nicholas Olsen, 7. Yutaro Shin (9. Adrian Vranic 68’), 8. Matthew Sim (16. Stejpan Paric 61’), 5. Anthony Tomelic, 18. Glen Trifiro, 6. Tomislav Uskok (22. Yianni Fragogiannis 61’), 3. Riley Woodock.
Substitutes not used: 30. Lucas Pervan, 35. Andre Schroeder
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: N/A
Parramatta FC: 1. Ryan Norval, 14. Jordan Crighton (17. Keenan Gibson 77′), 11. Samuel De Oliveira, 20. Joshua Gersbach, 15. Ibrahim Haydar, 18. Tom Mallet, 5. Tomislav Mijic, 16. Jacob Ott (19. Lawrence Hanna 46’), 7. Daniel Rezo (12. Marcus Donatillo 77′), 9. Gosue Sama, 10. Marco Sama
Substitutes not used: 40. Corey Finch, 2. Spiros Agathos
Yellow cards: Jordan Crighton 38’
Red cards: N/A
Player Ratings
3- Panny Nikas (SU58)
2- Matt Sim (SU58)
1 – Riley Woodcock (SU58)
