Finals Series Round 2 Review – PS4 NPL 2 NSW Men’s
Premiers Marconi Stallions will face Mt Druitt Town Rangers in this Sunday’s PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues’ 2 NSW Men’s Grand Final at Sydney United Sports Centre, after semi-final wins over North Shore Mariners and St George respectively.
Marconi put in a gritty performance to edge out the brave Mariners 2-1, while in the Match of the Round, a fired-up Mt Druitt were too strong for St George in a 4-2 victory.
St George 2 Mt Druitt Town Rangers 4, Lambert Park
Mt Druitt Town Rangers are through to their first-ever NPL 2 Grand Final after a convincing 4-2 victory over St George at Lambert Park on Saturday night.
On a gorgeous evening in Leichhardt, Rangers extended their dominance over Saints this season to three matches, with Daniel Rezo scoring a double, and Alex Vlismas and Jamie Dib grabbing a goal each; while for St George Anthony Morabito and Stevan Ilic were the goalscorers.
Mt Druitt has ridden the crest of a wave in the past two months, losing just once in nine games, and their superlative form continued on Saturday as they showed the hunger and desire needed to overcome a dangerous Saints outfit.
Often criticised for their direct (yet effective) style of football, the secret to Rangers’ success is quite simple: it’s all about attitude, team unity and the desire to play for each another. That uncomplicated formula proved to be enough to bring Saints’ season to a premature end.
As expected, Saints started the game determined to utilise ace striker Juan Carlos Romero, who sent his first shot wide after just four minutes.
A minute later the Spaniard chased a long ball into the box and unleashed a rocket off his left foot, only to see Rangers’ outstanding keeper Carlos Saliadarre pull off a fine save.
Mt Druitt may have been under the pump in the early stages of the match, but they slowly played their way back into the game.
Indeed, Mt Druitt opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Lachlan Roberts passed short to Alex Vlismas, who prodded the ball past Saints keeper Andrew Depta from close range.
Two minutes later Daniel Rezo played a beautiful ball to winger Lachlan Roberts, who was inexplicably chopped down by Depta inside the box, an incident that proved to be something of a game-changer. Referee Fisher had no hesitation in awarding a penalty and Rezo slotted home from the spot to give his side a handy 2-0 lead.
Coach Aidan Desmond urged his boys to “Keep the tempo high,” but for a short period, St George enjoyed some dominance and pulled one back just shy of the half hour mark.
Jacob Sullivan passed to Romero, who fired in a low cross for the industrious Anthony Morabito to tuck home. At 2-1, the game had suddenly taken an interesting turn.
Two minutes later Mt Druitt thought they’d pushed their lead to 3-1 but match officials denied their claims that a header had crossed the line. That setback didn’t matter as Rezo set the record straight when he capitalised on a nice run by Alex Vlismas and some good interplay in the box to give Rangers a 3-1 lead.
At this stage of the game, Rangers were looking composed and in control and playing their way into the more dangerous positions.
Rezo continued to search for another goal and in the 38th minute a defensive mistake almost let him in for his hat-trick, but Depta came to Saints’ rescue with a telling save.
The two sides went to the sheds with Mt Druitt holding a commanding 3-1 lead and when they returned for the second half, Rangers continued to show their dominance, stringing together some nice passages of play. But it was St George on one of their rare forays into enemy territory that scored the first goal of the half.
Firstly, Ali Nasreddine and Morabito combined to set up Romero, whose shot rebounded off the post. But six minutes later striker Stevan Ilic came off the bench to fire Saints back into the game, smashing a close-range pile-driver past Saliadarre to bridge the gap to 2-3.
The introduction of favourite son Ilic and silky midfielder Nico Paras proved to be effective, giving St George coach Terry Palapanis confidence that his side could snatch a result.
Saints lifted their intensity but a shocking tackle by Tarik Ercan on Lachlan Roberts in the 66th minute seemed to steel the Rangers’ resolve. Ercan sent Roberts flying and almost cut the talented Ranger in half, escaping with a yellow card, a decision that didn’t sit well with Rangers’ supporters who’d made the long journey from Sydney’s west.
But in the end, Mt Druitt completed their third win over Saints this season, when sub Jamie Dib beat Depta just shy of fulltime to extend his side’s lead to 4-2.
Mt Druitt then held on grimly for the remaining seven minutes to deservedly book their place in the Grand Final.
As expected, Mt Druitt coach Aidan Desmond was delighted with his side’s performance.
“It was everything we thought it was going to be,” Desmond told Football NSW. “We knew St George were going to come out and take the game to us, we knew it’d be a physical contest. They enjoy a battle and they made it a battle. But we got in there and came over the top of them and thoroughly deserved the win.”
When asked what the difference was between the two sides, Desmond replied: “Our ball movement through the centre at the top and engaging our wingers and getting in behind them was the difference.
“We’re a young side and there’s a couple of boys with experience in there but there are six boys 21 years of age or younger and while tonight they showed a bit of naivety, their willingness to want to hang in there and win the game, you can’t fault that.”
Desmond added that reaching the Grand Final was a huge achievement for the club.
“It’s massive for the club, they’ve never been in a Grand Final at this level and we go in there knowing just how big the task is (against Marconi). Marconi have been a standout side all year but we’ll go in there and we’ll do our best and have a go.”
Meanwhile, Saints coach Terry Palapanis was understandably disappointed with the outcome.
“We lost, (so it was a) disappointing end to the season,” Palapanis told Football NSW. “They came out pretty strong and took their chances and it appeared they wanted it more than we did. We let come soft goals go in, (but) that’s the game.
“They’re a decent side Mt Druitt, they deserved to win. They beat us three times this year so they deserve to go there (to the Grand Final). We’ve got a young side and they’ve got some experienced guys, especially at the back. And they controlled the game a bit better than us. All in all, we did okay. We came second (in the league); it is what it is.”
Match Stats
St George 2 (Anthony Morabito, Stevan Ilic) Mt Druitt Town Rangers 4 (Alex Vlismas, Daniel Rezo 2, Jamie Dib)
Lambert Park
Saturday 9 September 2017
Referee: G Fisher
Assistant Referees: A Greu, R Osborne
St George: 1. Andrew Depta (GK), 14. Jacob Bandur, 7. Robbie Deasy (10. Nico Paras 58′), 8. Tarik Ercan, 20. Juan Carlos Romero, 5. Jayden McLeod, 2. Thomas Menton, 19. Anthony Morabito (12. Jordan Crighton 79′), 3. Ali Nasreddine, 6. Bruno Pivato, 11. Jacob Sullivan (9. Stevan Ilic 58′)
Unused Subs: 4. Jonathan Kontalis, 21. Matthew Williamson
Yellow Cards: 1. Andrew Depta, 14. Jacob Bandur, 8. Tarik Ercan
Red cards: Jayden McLeod
Coach: Terry Palapanis
Mt Druitt Town Rangers: 1. Carlos Saliadarre, 8. Matthew Clowes, 3. Brian Griffin-Colls, 16. Luke Grima (18. Jamie Dib 73), 2. Hiten Satoh, 7. Trent Sierra, 12. Nick Trimble, 6. Alex Vlismas, 5. Kris Vlismas, 11. Daniel Rezo (14.Daniel McCann 86′), 23. Lachlan Roberts (13. Lord Darkoh 89′)
Unused Subs: 10. Nathan Ralph, 41. Josh Wilde
Yellow Cards: 12. Nick Trimble
Coach: Aidan Desmond
Marconi 2 North Shore Mariners 1, Sydney United Sports Centre
Premiers and club champions Marconi Stallions took another step towards winning the treble when they edged out North Shore Mariners 2-1 in the NPL 2 semi-finals at Sydney United Sports Centre on Saturday.
In a tightly contested match, Marko Jesic and Sean Rooney scored for the Stallions, while Mitch Smith kept Mariners’ hopes alive with a goal of his own.
After running away with the premiership and gaining promotion back to NPL 1, only one honour is missing from the Stallions’ honours board in 2017: victory in the Grand Final.
“Unfortunately no-one remembers the minor premiers, but everyone remembers the Grand Final winners,” Stallions’ coach Peter Tsekenis told Football NSW. Tsekenis and his Sky Blues have the opportunity to add the missing piece to their jigsaw puzzle when they face Mt Druitt in next Sunday’s Grand Final.
As expected, North Shore took the game to Marconi, but after holding them at bay for most of the first half, were unfortunate to concede a penalty in the first minute of injury time. Marko Jesic slotted the spot kick home to give the premiers a fortuitous lead at halftime.
The second half was just as even as the first, but again, it was the experienced Stallions who struck gold, with ace sharpshooter Sean Rooney adding to his 2017 tally in the 81st minute.
The Mariners may have looked dead and buried on the scoreboard, but Joe Haywood’s side has never shunned a challenge and four minutes after Rooney extended his side’s lead to 2-0, striker Mitch Smith grabbed one back for the Mariners, creating a final five minutes that oozed intensity and excitement.
“We gave them an opportunity to make it interesting for the last five minutes and they took it,” Tsekenis told Football NSW. “They threw everything at us throughout the whole game. We knew we were going to be in a battle and credit to them, they made it very tough for us. We also knew we had to compete and take advantage of any opportunities that came our way.”
According to Tsekenis, the Stallions squandered several goal-scoring opportunities in the first half, none moreso than when Mirjan Pavlovic missed a sitter from point blank range. But despite their woes in front of goal, Marconi stuck to their gameplan and continued to battle.
“I think we earned the win. It wasn’t our greatest performance but it was good to see the boys put their bodies on the line. Sometimes I think having a week off leaves you a bit flat but the boys stuck to their task and got the goals they needed. And really, the ability to get a result when confronted by a team that throws everything at you was very satisfying. The other team tried to stop us from playing our game but we stuck to our guns and didn’t get frustrated. We missed a couple of sitters and could’ve easily fallen apart, but we got the goals and got the result. Good teams get to Grand Finals by doing what they need to do.”
Marconi Stallions 2 (Marko Jesic, Sean Rooney) North Shore Mariners 1 (Mitch Smith)
Sydney United Sports Centre
Saturday 9 September 2017
-By Derek Royal, Football NSW Reporter
