Round 6 – National Premier League NSW Men’s 3 Review
The 2018 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW competition continues to produce unexpected results, and Round Six was no exception, with none of the seven teams playing away from home managing to bring home a win.
In fact, there were victories for six of the seven home teams, with Bankstown City Lions the only side not record a win on their own patch, and furthermore, four of those six teams turned on the after burners by scoring four or more goals for their home fans.
If that wasn’t enough for you, four of the top six sides on the ladder failed to register a victory, making for what looks like a very congested competition.
Hawkesbury City FC edged out SD Raiders by the solitary goal in a heavyweight clash at Richmond; Dunbar Rovers defeated Sydney University 2-0 in a derby of sorts at Hensley Athletic Field; Dulwich Hill sent Western NSW Mariners packing on the back of a 5-1 thumping at Arlington Oval; Granville Rage turned it on at Garside Park by beating in the in-form Stanmore Hawks 4-1; Camden Tigers made light work of a ten-man Fraser Park winning 4-0 at Ron Dine Stadium on the back of a Jayden Russell hatrick; Inter Lions became the only side in the competition this round to take an away point when they held the high flying Bankstown City Lions 2-2 at Jensen Park.
FNSW reviewed in detail the game at Jubilee Oval between St George City FA and Gladesville Ryde Magic.
MATCH OF THE ROUND – St George City FA vs Gladesville Ryde Magic
St George City FA produced a masterclass display at Jubilee Oval on Saturday night, thumping Gladesville Ryde Magic 5-0 in a performance with saw them dominate all over the park.
It has taken six weeks, but St George City FA have been tweaking and building towards a performance like this, and it was the hapless Gladesville Ryde Magic who felt the brunt of it.
Both teams were missing some key first grade regulars. Playmaker James Spanoudakis and the suspended Kerim Kumsuz were both out for St George, leaving a substantial gap in the midfield, whilst for Gladesville, Johhny Gowdy (suspended), Johhny Martinez, Aaron Khan and Sergio Tarazona were also out, the last three still recovering from injury.
St George City meant business from the outset and took the lead as early as the 6th minute.
Central striker, Geoffry Lino, who was in everything for St George on the night, was played in to space behind the Magic defence, slotting it past Gladesville’s keeper, Kyriakos Tohouroglou, with a clinical left foot strike.
Gladesville were shell shocked, but couldn’t find their way back in to the match as the home side chased everything and simply did not allow Magic any opportunity to settle.
St George City then put the game well and truly to bed with a devastating 11-minute spell either side of half time where they found the net on a further four occasions.
It became 2-0 in the 38th minute courtesy of tall flanker, Sam Messam, who made an incisive cross field run before striking a left foot shot from the edge of the box in to the bottom corner past a stranded Tohouroglou in the Magic goal.
Just as the players were preparing for the half time whistle, Geoffry Lino was brought down inside the penalty area and the home side had a spot kick.
Young striker, Steve Kuzmanovski, drilled the penalty in to the top corner to send St George City in to the sheds 3-0 to the good.
Gladesville did not know what had hit them, and the break had come at a great time, stopping St George’s momentum. Or so it seemed, but St George had other ideas, and started the second half exactly where they finished the first period.
Geoffry Lino received the ball on the right edge of the penalty area, choosing to cut inside a Gladesville defender before drilling a rocket in to the far corner of the net, sending his team mates in to a frenzy of celebration.
A mere sixty seconds passed and it was that man again, Geoffry Lino, who was causing all the damage. Lino beat his marker on the edge of the penalty area before sending in another bullet of a shot, with his effort this time cannoning against the cross bar.
Sam Messam reacted quickest to the rebound, racing in to knock the ball over the line with his head, making it 5-0.
From that point on it was a mere formality with Gladesville resigned to a heavy loss, and doing their best to resist the remaining tide, whilst St George City looked in control and played out time.
It was a beaming St George City coach, Manny Spanoudakis, who reflected on his team’s wonderful performance post-match.
“I was very happy with the work rate of the entire team. We pressed Gladesville from the start and did not give them a chance to settle, and we executed well in front of goal and made the most of our chances,” said Spanoudakis.
“Gladesville are a very dangerous team, and you can be sucked into thinking that you are in control of the game, only for them to punish you. We were conscious of this and tried to ensure that we limited their opportunities. I am happy with the performance, the result, and the fact we kept a clean sheet,” concluded Spanoudakis.
It may seem like worrying times for Gladesville Ryde Magic, who started the season in full flight following three wins in their opening three matches. But they do however currently sit in 5th spot on the ladder on ten points, although they have not managed to win since Round Three, including two heavy defeats at Hawkesbury and St George. They will have to draw on all of their experience and obvious talent to put a stop to their descent.
It was a refreshing performance by St George City FA, who were able to show what they can do when they show up. The win and subsequent three points now seeing them sit in 4th spot on 11 points, and ominously, they have moved within three points of the competition summit.
National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s
Round Six ; Saturday, April 14, 2018
ST GEORGE CITY FA 5 (Lino 6’ / 48’ , Messam 38’ / 49’, Kuzmanovski 45’ + 2’)
GLADESVILLE RYDE MAGIC 0
Referee – Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees – John Lalic and Aaron Wunderlich
ST GEORGE CITY FA;
1.C.Marques, 4.L.Burke, 11.A.Euripidou (12.M.Loupis 66’), 6.M.Kokubo, 17.S.Kuzmanovski (13.R.Thomson-King 61’), 18.G.Lino (9.E.Koumis 82’), 8.A.Malmierca, 7.S.Messam, 3.K.Mori, 2.S.Thomas, 5.B.Tsanidis (capt).
Substitutes Not Used – 45.A.Josipovic.
Yellow Cards – Nil
Red Cards – Nil
GLADESVILLE RYDE MAGIC;
33.K.Tohouroglou, 5.L.Harte, 6.A.Mickael (18.P.Voukidis 65’), 9.C.Gaitatzis (capt), 10.C.Tomaras (27.B.Kennedy 77’), 13.B.Kerr, 14.A.Jolly, 17.M.Gaitatzis, 25.I.Munoz, 2.C.Newton, 11.C.Triantis.
Substitutes Not Used – 30.N.Pearson, 20.N.Gongolidis.
Yellow Cards – 14.A.Jolly 25’, 5.L.Harte 45’.
Red Cards – Nil
Dunbar Rovers – Sydney University 2-0
Dunbar Rovers prevailed in a tense arm wrestle at Hensley Athletic Field on Saturday afternoon, overcoming Sydney University 2-0.
Sydney Uni’s coach, Will Cullen, as well as former players Adam Smith, Stephen Liu and Tim Bowman all fronted up for the ‘students’ against their old club, who also had former Dunbar great, Robbie Deasy, missing through injury.
Dunbar settled the better in the blistery first half conditions, with Henry Kamleitner going closest to opening the scoring, the Dunbar attacker hitting a cracking effort that was touched over the cross bar by Uni keeper, Oliver Gibson.
Ryan Shaughnessy, who netted an impressive hatrick in the FFA Cup in midweek, continued his streak of goals after half time, producing an unstoppable shot early on that gave Dunbar Rovers the lead.
Only minutes later and Shaughnessy was at it again, doubling his and his team’s goal tally when he netted direct from a corner.
That was all she wrote as Dunbar Rovers recorded their second win of the campaign, moving to 7 points in 9th position, one place and one point ahead of Sydney University.
Hawkesbury City – SD Raiders 1-0
If anyone is still in two minds over the credentials of Hawkesbury City, those doubts were dispensed on Saturday afternoon when they beat the competition leaders, SD Raiders, 1-0 in a fierce battle at David Bertenshaw Field.
Hawkesbury City put on a gala night with a feast of activities, and the attendance of over 500 were craving a home win to top things off.
Both sides were depleted somewhat with a host of regulars out, including Stivala, Marjanovic and Mesiti for the Raiders, and McCrory and Gray amongst those missing for the home side. The Hawks were also backing up after a gruelling 120 minutes in the FFA Cup on Wednesday night.
SD Raiders controlled the best part of proceedings during the opening forty-five minutes, their swift ball movement stretching the Hawkesbury formation across the paddock, with the referee using his whistle on numerous occasions to keep things in check.
Hawkesbury worked their way in to the match after the break, and eventually scored through Daniel Morsillo, who slipped the ball under the advancing Raiders keeper to give the home side the lead.
James Maewin almost doubled the Hawks advantage soon after when his volley cannoned back off the cross bar, whilst both teams had penalty shouts turned away as they lifted the tempo towards the end of the encounter.
But it was Hawkesbury City who prevailed, their 1-0 win not only catapulting them over the Raiders on the competition ladder, but they now sit equal first with Bankstown City on 14 points after the first six rounds of the competition.
Dulwich Hill – Western NSW Mariners 5-1
Dulwich Hill overcame an evenly-contested first half to record a 5-1 victory over the Western NSW Mariners on Saturday night at Arlington Oval.
Nikola Stanojevic got things going for Dully in the first half, but an own goal by Dully defender, Nathan Bowden-Haase, saw the teams all square at the half time interval.
Henry Wells edged Dully in front on 50 minutes, Ben Vidaic made it 3-1 in the 65th, before substitute striker, Nathan Jagelman, came off the bench to grab a late double and round off the night’s proceedings at 5-1.
Jagelman in fact scored a hatrick in the early U20s match, so it was a healthy return of five goals on the day for the former Marconi and Rockdale front man.
It was welcome return to the winner’s circle for Dulwich Hill, who move to 8 points and 8th position on the ladder.
Granville Rage – Stanmore Hawks 4-1
Granville Rage recorded their second win of the season at Garside Park on Saturday night, and what a win it was, thumping the in-form Stanmore Hawks 4-1.
Predictably it was Neil Jablonski who netted for the Hawks, his 4th goal of the season, but it too little on the night, as the Rage stormed to a 3-1 half time lead before completing the win with a fourth goal after the break.
The loss sees Stanmore remain on 10 points in 6th position, whilst Granville Rage climb to 11th position, sitting on 6 points from their two wins this season.
Bankstown City Lions – Inter Lions 2-2
The battle between the ‘lions’ finished in a stalemate at Jensen Park, with Bankstown City and Inter playing out a 2-2 draw on Saturday night.
Bankstown City started the brighter in the opening quarter of an hour or so, but couldn’t find the target as Inter started to slowly work their way in to the match.
Just on the half hour mark, Inter’s Domenic Di Mento was brought down inside the Bankstown penalty area, and Hezio Silva Neto stepped up to convert and give Inter Lions a 1-0 lead despite the efforts of Carl McMahon in the Bankstown goal, who got a hand to the kick.
Inter almost doubled their advantage shortly afterwards, but McMahon made a great diving save to divert an effort from Michael Sidoti, who hit a fierce shot after a corner was cleared to him on the edge of the box.
Bankstown restored parity right on the half time break on the back of a darting run down the line by Alexander Do Pao, his cut back clinically slotted in to the bottom corner by Ante Tomic.
Inter Lions had the better of the opening exchanges of the second half, with Rosario Occhipinti firstly going close with a header, before Domenic Di Mento did in fact find the net, seizing on a ball played in to the penalty area before stabbing his shot past McMahon in the Bankstown goal.
But Bankstown City were not to be denied, and grabbed an equaliser with minutes to spare.
Tommy Markovski made a great run down the left hand side, cutting it back for Jake Douglas to stroke home for 2-2.
The draw and subsequent point was enough for Bankstown City to take over at the summit of the league ladder, moving to 14 points, ahead of Hawkesbury City on goal difference.
Camden Tigers – Fraser Park 4-0
Camden Tigers picked up another three points in their fortress at Ron Dine Stadium, thumping bottom placed Fraser Park 4-0 on Saturday night.
Following a tightly contested and scoreless first half, the floodgates opened after the break, with Jayden Russell scoring a remarkable 8-minute hatrick to effectively end the game as a contest before the hour mark.
Russell scored on 50, 53 and 58 minutes, taking his season tally to 7 goals in 6 matches, before a late goal in the 75th minute to Bailey Simpson ended the evening’s proceedings for the jubilant home fans.
Three wins from six matches sees Camden Tigers move to 9 points, currently sitting in 7th position on the competition ladder.
