Finals Series Round 1 Review – PS4 NPL NSW Men’s
Week one of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition finals series started with a bang.
It was edge of your seat action in both the Elimination Semi-Final and the Preliminary Semi-Final as Manly United ousted Sydney Olympic, while Blacktown City’s late season form slump was extended another week thanks to a loss at the hands of Rockdale City Suns.
APIA Leichhardt Tigers will now take on Rockdale City Suns in the Major Semi Final while Blacktown City entertain Manly United in the Minor Semi-Final with both matches set to be played on Saturday evening.
There was lots of big moments in both games and sets the tone for the competition to take it up a notch next week for the Major and Minor Semi-finals.
Elimination Semi-Final
Manly United 2 – Sydney Olympic FC 1 at Cromer Park
Manly United have moved into the second round of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition finals series after defeating Sydney Olympic FC 2-1 on Saturday night at Cromer Park.
The hosts were the better side across the 90 minutes, but the boys from Belmore Oval kept asking questions.
Olympic managed to hold out the home side for close to an hour but Manly finally found a breakthrough after 50 minutes when Leigh Egger tapped home from close range after a Jamie Lobb free-kick
The visitors hit back straight away when lazy Manly defending saw a loose ball fired into the box, and Olympic skipper Yianni Spyrakis pounced to square proceedings.
The dominance of United was too much for Olympic in the end and in the 76th minute Pandurevic released Kieren Paull, who incredibly found himself with only Henderson to beat from the edge of the area.
Manly’s right back was in foreign territory, but he showed he can also finish, taking a touch before finding the back of the net.
While the defeat meant an early start to the offseason for Sydey Olympic, for Manly it means a trip to Lily’s Football Centre during week two of the finals series and a clash with Blacktown City FC.
Preliminary Semi-Final
Blacktown City 2 – Rockdale City Suns 4 at Lily’s Football Centre.
A devastating first half spell from Rockdale City Suns was enough to defeat Blacktown City at Lily’s Football Centre in Sunday’s PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition Finals Series Preliminary Semi-final at Lily’s Football Centre.
Paul Reid’s side were handed the perfect start when Jonathan Grozdanovski pounced on a goalkeeping error from Tristan Prendergast and raced to a 3-0 lead before the half-hour mark thanks to an expertly taken double from Jordan Figon.
Blacktown pulled a goal back through Matthew Lewis on the cusp of the interval and restored genuine optimism when Yuta Konagaya added another early in the second half but the visitors survived several scares and made sure of the victory late on through Harris Gaitatzis’ penalty.
The result means Rockdale will play premiers APIA Leichhardt in next Saturday’s major semi-final at Lambert Park.
Blacktown meanwhile will need to muster their strongest league performance in some time against Manly United when they return to Lily’s for Saturday’s do or die clash.
Week one of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition finals series started with a bang.
It was edge of your seat action in both the Elimination Semi-Final and the Preliminary Semi-Final as Manly United ousted Sydney Olympic, while Blacktown City’s late season form slump was extended another week thanks to a loss at the hands of Rockdale City Suns.
There was lots of big moments in both games and sets the tone for the competition to take it up a notch next week for the Major and Minor Semi-finals.
