Menai Hawks clinch Robertson Cup in style
Sutherland Shire Association’s Menai Hawks cruised to clinch the 2017 State Robertson Cup with a 6-1 thrashing of Southern Districts’ Mounties Junior Soccer Club at the Deploy State Cup Finals day at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday.
It was a procession for the Hawks as they scored three goals in each half headlined by a hat-trick to Jared Snellenburg to make it a hat-trick of Deploy State Cup victories for the Sutherland Shire FA side – a massive achievement for any grassroots club in NSW.
From the opening whistle it was an intense start from the Hawks.
Jack Thorne tested the Mounties keeper within the opening sixty seconds then followed it up with a teasing free-kick in the 7th that inched wide.
Snellenburg opened the scoring for the Hawks in the eighth minute when he found himself on the end of a sublime movement from Menai as he arrowed home for 1-0.
Mounties were shocked by the onslaught so chances were rare as hen’s teeth in the first half.
Their best came from a free-kick that created chaos in the box but couldn’t find a head.
Soon they would pay for their miss as Thorne’s shot was parried by Mounties’ Jake Hewetson right into the path of Liam Sparke to finish well and an emphatic 2-0 start for the Shire side.
There was no moment to breath for Mounties as the Hawks continued to pressure their every touch of the ball even the goalkeeper. Pierce Coles-Sinclair collected the third as he beat Mounties keeper Hewetson to the ball.
It wasn’t all doom in the first half for Mounties as they clawed one back with a swift counter in the 37thminute. Antonio Pavez smashed his effort into the roof of the net to give his side a glimmer of hope at 3-1.
Chances continued to present themselves for Menai as both James George and Aaron De Le Harpe narrowly avoided the net as Mounties clung on for dear life.
It seemed the contest was over in the 59th minute when Thorne was pushed over in the box. The winger dusted himself off but Hewetson produced a heroic save to keep it at 3-1.
Menai Hawks weren’t put off by that miss as they pounded Hewtson in goal. Coles-Sinclair almost fooled the keeper with a vicious swerved shot that needed a diving save.
The floodgates opened in the final ten minutes though for Menai Hawks as their suffocating pressing had exhausted a talented Mounties side.
Snellenburg completed his brace in the 80th minute with a poacher’s effort then made it a memorable hat-trick five minutes later with a stooped header for 5-1.
Aiden Brough saved the best for last as he waltzed through the Mounties team in added on time before placing a smart shot to complete the scoreline for a jubilant Hawks side.
For his excellent performance throughout Jack Thorne was awarded a special Man of the Match Deploy ball thanks to the day’s major sponsors Deploy.
Afterwards Hawks coach John Diaz was almost speechless to make it a trifecta of Deploy State Cup Finals.
“To win three State Cups has never been done before so I am so proud of the boys.
“We were ruthless and that is the way I like to play and watch football. It helps that I have had them since under 14s but it was good to watch.”
Match Stats
Sunday 16th July 2017
Valentine Sports Park
Referee: Laken Ledden
Assistant Referees: Hadi Al-nakeeb and Lewis Hudson
Menai Hawks 6 (Snellenburg 3, Brough, Coles-Sinclair and Sparke)
Mounties Junior Soccer Club 1 (Pavez)
Menai Hawks: 6 AGIUS Andrew 14 ALMEER Salman 2 AZZOPARDI Liam 15 BROUGH Aiden 16 BURROWS Jack 9 COLES-SINCLAIR Pierce 7 DAVARAM Connor 5 DE LA HARPE Aaron 13 FOSCA Connor 11 GEORGE James 10 ROLL Jacob 4 SAMIOS Nicholas 12 SNELLENBURG Jared 8 SPARKE Liam 17 THORNE Jack 1 TOWELL Joshua 3 WILLIAMS Jacob
COACH: DIAZ John
ASSISTANT COACH: TOWELL Ben
MANAGER: SAMIOS Stephen
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil
Mounties Junior Soccer Club: 13 BERETTA Angelo 2 BERETTA Domenic 14 BERTI Daniel 10 CASTAGNELLA Joseph 21 CHETTY Krishna 6 FEDELE Joseph 1 HEWETSON Jake 7 LABAS Tomas 11 MENOLOTTO Aiden 5 MONTIBELER Gabriel 3 MULOSKI Daniel 22 NAIDU Milan 8 PAVEZ Antonio 23 REILLY James 15 SAMARDZIC Andrew
COACH: BERTI Lidano
ASSISTANT COACH: MENOLOTTO Daniel
MANAGER: FEDELE Tony
Yellow cards: A. Berretta and Fedele
Red cards: A. Berretta
-By Justin Davies
