Round 4 – State League Men Review
The State League Men’s competition has never attracted so much attention as it provided an entertaining contest on Saturday afternoon at Central Coast Stadium.
Our match of the round also provided some quality football abelt in front of a lot less people. Elsewhere FC Gazy Auburn earn their first points, Nepean bounce back, UNSW and Bankstown continue their faultless start. Never short of a storyline this competition.
Match of The Round
Hurstville City Minotaurs 1-3 Prospect
This week saw us travel to St George Stadium to see two sides who have made solid yet unspectacular starts to the season. Ultimately though it was the visitors Prospect United who claimed the three points in an almighty scrap.
Prospect United came into the game after a disappointing loss to Hurstville FC last week and were keen to bounce back with a win. Goals to Nicholas Valjak and Thomas Kasunic ensured they did just that.
For the Hurstville City Minotaurs, well you could tell they were the side backing off a cup game mid-week. Things could’ve been different though if they converted on a few opportunities in the first half. Riad Agnache did manage to get a consolation late on with the goal of the game.
If you were at the game, you would never have picked it to have four goals in it early on. The two sides struggled to establish any period of dominance, it was a scrap with planes taking off in the corner of your eye providing entertainment.
This all changed on 25 minutes when out of nowhere the game got the goal it desperately needed. Ben Lam found space wide on the left flank found Valjak with a cross who controlled the ball, composed himself and finished.
The Minotaurs did respond, with target man Ketung Manyiel receiving a ball from central midfield, turning his defender before having his shot deflect wide.
Manyiel was proving a handful during this period, able to use his pace and physicality to trouble the opposition with another audacious shot going wide.
It was Riad Agnache who came closest for the hosts though, his shot from outside the area forced a spectacular save from Prospect’s keeper.
Then came Minotaur heart break. Prospect won a free kick just to the left of the 18-yard box and Valjak turned provider as his delivery found a flick on from Kasunic.
The second half again took a while to get going. Challenge after challenge, interception after interception with very little to speak of in terms of goalmouth action.
Until Valjak pounced again with 15 minutes to go that is, the striker or winger at this point was found with a through ball placed in between the defense and goalkeeper. He rounded the keeper and the game was settled.
Hurstville City Minotaurs didn’t give up though and were rewarded for their efforts just before the final whistle. Agnache found took the ball on his right and launched a tremendous curling effort into top bins.
Prospect coach Darren Camilleri wants better from his side, “We were the better team out there; however, we could’ve won that by a few more goals”.
He praised brace scorer Nicholas Valjak, “He is our guy when we get into the final third, loves a one on one contest and has a decent shot on him, we need to get the ball to him more”.
Hurstville City Minotaurs all-rounder Peter (The General) Sarikakis lamented his teams luck, “We were made to pay for missing a few chances early. We missed our first-choice keeper and captain, that was probably the difference out there”.
Match Stats
Sunday 15th April, 2018
St George Stadium, Banksia
Hurstville City Minotaurs: 1 (Riad Agnache 89’)
Prospect United: 3 (Nicholas Valjak 25’ 76’, Thomas Kasunic 40’)
Referee: Amol Verma
Assistant referees: John Garcia & Wayne Crabb
Hurstville City Minotaurs: 2. Male Balazs, 4. Davide Gritti (23. Duru Dali), 5. Lorenzo Fatica, 6. Peter Flerniatis, 8. Edoardo Panizzari (11. Kushaal Ram), 10. Sam Mehane, 12. Alexi Brakatselos (9. Jordan Young), 15. Ketung Manyiel, 19. Dimitrios Zakilas, 21. Allesandro Nigro, 39. Riad Agnache.
Subs not used: Ellim Aden
Yellow Cards: Fatica, Gritti
Red Cards:
Prospect United: 2. Peter Friday, 3. Michajlo Jonjic, 4. Alexander Bit, 5. Sebastian Kalos, 7. Nicholas Valjak, 8. Thomas Kasunic, 9. Joshua Roffaell (6. Slaven Ljuboja), 11. Efosa Amegor (10. Wiltar Jajaw), 12. Nathan Niski, 14. Benjamin Lam (13. Brett Stephens), 33. Simone Malcotti
Subs not used: 1. Mario Farias, 15. Rocco Romeo
Yellow Cards: Stephens
Red Cards:
Around the Grounds
Wagga City Wanderers 1-4 FC Gazy Auburn
FC Gazy Auburn managed to jump-start their season on the road as they overcame hosts Wagga City Wanderers.
In a match played in challenging windy conditions at Rawlings Park, the visitors got off to the perfect start with Javier Salinas opening the scoring shortly after a penalty from the Wanderers failed to hit the target.
The visitors doubled their lead before the break as Andrew Alvarenga found the net after another defensive lapse from the hosts.
And the onslaught continued into the second half, Javier Salinas doubling his tally shortly into the second half. However, a defensive mistake brought the host back into it, a Tyler Allen cross deflecting off a defender into the visitor’s net.
Any life restored to the game was extinguished shortly after with FC Gazy Auburn scoring again. The fourth coming from Panyar Maliet which rounded out an impressive performance for FC Gazy Auburn who travelled home happy with the result.
Central Coast United 5-0 Hurstville FC
It was a big occasion for Central Coast United as they hosted Hurstville Fc for the first State League game on Central Coast Stadium.
The fans turned up for the match in their droves before the F3 A-league derby and were not disappointed as the hosts dismantled a tired visiting side 5 goals to nil.
Alex Arbelo opened the scoring five minutes into the came with a low placed shot finding the bottom left corner. He struck again on 26 minutes as United continued to work the visitors hard.
Floodgates well and truly opened after the hour mark when Scott Mcginley headed an Ian Mcandrew corner into the net.
Central Coast United were ruthless as Josh Swadling capitalized on Hurstville FC throwing men forward soon after. Before Arbelo rounded out the scoring and his hattrick in added time pouncing again in the box.
Central Coast face the other Hurstville (the minotaurs) side next whilst Hurstville FC travel to Nepean without a cup fixture midweek.
South Coast Flame 1-2 Bankstown United FC
South Coast Flame needed to bounce back after a harsh lesson last weekend as welcomed another high-flyer Bankstown United.
Unfortunately for the Flame though, it looked like a case of Deja vu early on when they conceded a couple of goals early on. A cross from Jovan Miladinovic found the far corner of the net after two minutes before Mitch Cross extended his goal tally to seven for the year.
The game turned on it’s head shortly before the break as Andrew Lazarou was issued a second yellow.
Bankstown United’s defense proved hard to break throughout the second half though, the visitors repelling chance after chance with the main threat coming from Matt Mazevski’s creativity.
The Flame did manage to breach the visitor’s defense after 85 minutes with second half substitute Cameron Hanson finished off a scramble in the lead up to earn what turned out to be a consolation goal.
Bankstown next week face a must-see game against UNSW FC, whilst South Coast travel to Wagga.
Nepean FC 3-0 Western Condors
Things were starting to get tense at Nepean, well before this game it was. The hosts managed to bounce back to form as they hosted the Western Condors.
Discipline was an overarching issue for teams this weekend and the condors found themselves down to ten early.
That shouldn’t take away from the hosts performance though. They welcomed back Clement Waoci who had a hand in all three goals. He wasn’t first on the scoresheet though, that honour went to Alex Moore who scored after 5 minutes.
The lead was doubled before the break with Waoci finding the net for the first time this campaign and he double his total shortly into the second half.
It wasn’t easy going though, the Condors readjusted and we’re smarter tactically in the second half unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
However, Nepean well and truly bounced back after a disappointing start to the season including a midweek cup exit.
Balmain Tigers 0-4 UNSW FC
Balmain Tigers hosted UNSW FC after securing a confidence boosting win last week. This was however a step too far for the Tigers facing a side who is yet to drop a point.
I’m beginning to think UNSW coach Gabe Knowles can talk a teenager into waking up early on a Saturday morning. His team talks must be something to behold given this recent trend of scoring early. This time it was Nima Beik’s turn to open the scoring.
Beik doubled his tally just before the break with a near post volley and there really isn’t much hope of pegging them back from that.
This was all helped by a red card to the hosts after 24 minutes, Balmain did create chances despite this in the first half but couldn’t take advantage.
In the end, UNSW ended up scoring twice more with goals coming to Luiz Lobo and Cristian Soares to round out a 4-0 score line.
BY Justin Smith
