Round 7 Review – National Premier League NSW Men’s
There were goals aplenty in the 2018 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW competition over the weekend, with Round Seven producing no less than 43 goals as defensive structures went well and truly out the window.
No goalkeeper managed to keep a clean sheet across the league!
Last week it was the home teams that reigned supreme, with six teams victorious on their own patch, but this week, only the home fans at Jensen Park and Christie Park were cheering, with five away teams picking up the spoils on their travels.
43 goals at an average of over 6 goals per game is simply remarkable – let’s take a closer look at how each match unravelled in Round Seven.
St George City ran riot in Mudgee, overcoming a 0-2 deficit at the half hour mark to demoralise the Western NSW Mariners 9-2, with Geoffry Lino helping himself to four goals; Dunbar Rovers picked up a valuable three points at Arlington Oval when they downed Stanmore Hawks 5-3; Dulwich Hill continued their recent positive form by winning 3-1 at SD Raiders on the back of a Ben Vidaic hatrick; Granville Rage came from behind three times to eventually defeat Fraser Park 5-3 and make it back to back wins; Bankstown City came from a goal down at half time to defeat Camden Tigers 3-2 at Jensen Park with Ante Tomic the chief destroyer netting three goals; Gladesville Ryde Magic returned to the winner’s list with a 3-1 victory over Inter Lions in the late game on Sunday afternoon.
FNSW reviewed in detail the game at Arlington Oval between Sydney University and Hawkesbury City.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
Sydney University vs Hawkesbury City
Hawkesbury City continued on their merry way, coming from behind to take all three points on offer on Sunday afternoon in a 2-1 victory over Sydney University at Arlington Oval.
Much has been said of the boys from Richmond, and many have been waiting for the bubble to burst. Coach Dean Bertenshaw continues to juggle playing personnel – across three grades mind you – and often has bare minimum at his disposal, but the players keep showing up, and show up they did once again at Arlington Oval on Sunday.
Having said that, it took the Hawks an entire half to get going this time, and Sydney University took advantage, starting well, and even taking the lead.
Uni’s Conor Quilligan provided a sign of things to come when his free kick early on thumped against the Hawks cross bar and out to safety, whilst Scott Tonkin’s header was brilliantly parried shortly afterwards by Alex Gornall, the young Hawkesbury keeper deputising for skipper, Daniel Schwarzer, and on debut.
Scott Tonkin then played provider, setting up Quilligan with an intelligent play, and the young Sydney Uni midfielder stroked the ball home to edge the ‘students’ in front after 23 minutes.
That was the way it remained until half time, and Sydney University were good for their 1-0 lead given their first half dominance.
Hawkesbury changed formation at half time, and brought on substitutes, Majid Eslami and Daniel Zahra, both of whom were contributing factors to a second half turn around for the visitors.
Hawkesbury equalised in the 49th minute, and it came off the back of a swift combination between Daniel Morsillo and Jaoquin Veliz Coccolo. Majid Eslami made the dash to the back stick and slotted it in for 1-1, and it was game on.
Hawkesbury kept at it and eventually snuck in front on 73 minutes.
Daniel Zahra played Daniel Morsillo in to space, and the Hawks in form striker raced away to score from close range, a goal that would eventually seal all three points for Hawkesbury.
The loss continues the struggle for Sydney University, who have managed two wins and five losses from their opening seven matches. Now on six points, the ‘students’ remain in 11th position on the ladder, and it doesn’t get any easier next week when they travel to meet the in-form Dulwich Hill.
Hawkesbury City are certainly flying high at the moment, having produced one of their best starts to a season.
The Hawks remain unbeaten, only one of two sides yet to taste defeat, and with five wins and two draws, sit equal first on the competition ladder on 17 points.
Hawkesbury’s performances have no doubt been formed on the back of their steel like defensive structure, having conceded a miserly 4 goals in the 7 games thus far. At the other end of the park, young Daniel Morsillo continues to find the net, this week’s winning strike being his 7th goal of the season.
Match Stats
National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s
Round Seven
Saturday, April 22, 2018
SYDNEY UNI 1 (Quilligan 23’)
HAWKESBURY CITY 2 (Eslami 49’, Morsillo 73’)
Referee – Sebastian Brennan
Assistant Referees – Brandon Lovric and Aidan Lee
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY; 21.O.Gibson, 19.T.Bowman (10.R.Shields 72’), 5.S.C.Dowd, 17.P.Kardasis (36.S.Mehmet 63’), 4.J.Karpes, 3.S.Liu (14.N.Sharpley 75’), 15.C.Qulligan, 18.B.Serafin, 2.A.Smith, 9.S.Tonkin, 33.F.Worral.
Substitutes Not Used – Nil
Yellow Cards – 5.S.C.Dowd.
Red Cards – Nil
HAWKESBURY CITY; 20.A.Gornall, 17.D.Bourke, 15.J.Ekehov, 5.T.Elliott-Orr, 14.B.Gibson (8.D.Zahra 46’), 3.M.Liddal, 7.J.Mawein, 2.D.Morsillo, 6.P.Sharma (18.M.Eslami 46’), 10.J.Veliz Coccolo, 4.K.Walker.
Substitutes Not Used – 1.D.Schwarzer, 9.M.McCrory.
Yellow Cards – 4.K.Walker 15’.
Red Cards – Nil
Western NSW Mariners – St George City FA 2-9
St George City FA well and truly flexed their collective muscle in Mudgee on Saturday, eventually winning in a canter to register a 9-2 win against the Western NSW Mariners.
The way they go about their setup is a huge credit to the entire Western NSW Mariners entity, often spreading the game across many regional towns, and this week they brought competitive football to the highly professional venue of the Glen Willow Stadium in Mudgee, which presents a pristine surface that A League clubs would enjoy playing on.
You wouldn’t have known what was to come following the opening half hour, when remarkably, the Mariners took a 2-0 lead.
Jaiden Culbert opened proceedings, smashing home after the ball fell at his feet inside the six yard box, and Matt Hobby doubled the home side’s advantage shortly afterwards, cutting inside from the right wing before driving it home for 2-0.
That’s where it all fell apart for the Mariners, with St George City taking the match by the horns, and responding immediately to restore parity before the half time break.
Steve Kuzmanovski took matters in to his own hands, firing in a free kick from 30 yards to put the visitors on the board, and Geoffry Lino then equalised before the break to send the teams in at 2-2.
St George City then went on the rampage after the break, scoring a further seven goals without reply.
Geoffry Lino netted a second half hatrick to finish with a four goal haul for the match, Sam Messam scored before being subbed, with his second half substitute, Michael Loupis, coming off the bench and helping himself to two goals with some clinical finishing. Alvaro Malmierca netted the final goal to end proceedings at the remarkable score of 9-2.
The win and subsequent three points sees St George City FA move up to 14 points in 3rd place on the ladder, three points from the summit, which sets up an intriguing clash next week when they meet 4th placed SD Raiders in a eagerly anticipated clash.
Stanmore Hawks – Dunbar Rovers 3-5
Dunbar Rovers produced a stern performance at Arlington Oval to defeat Stanmore Hawks 5-3, the win catapulting the Rovers above the Hawks on the competition ladder on goal difference with both sides now on 10 points.
Dunbar went in front early after Ryan Shaughnessy netted after combining effectively with Ruben Mendes.
Stanmore drew level at the half hour mark from a free-kick, but parity did not last long as first, Henry Kamleitner, edged the visitors in front, before Ryan Shaughnessy knocked in Eric Tomasek’s assist to extend the lead to 3-1.
Ruben Mendes got his second on the back of a great individual run, giving Dunbar Rovers what looked like an unassailable 4-1 lead at half time.
Stanmore Hawks however had other ideas, and scored two goals after the break to reduce the deficit to 3-4, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons, but Yoel Silvestre came off the bench for Dunbar to make it 5-3 and put the game to bed.
Goalscorers for Stanmore on the night were Harrison Brown, Mark McAlpine, and Tadhg Purcell, but it wasn’t enough to get the Hawks any points, and they drop to 8th position on the ladder, whilst Dunbar continue their ascent by moving in to 6th spot.
SD Raiders – Dulwich Hill 1-3
Following on from a promising start to the campaign, SD Raiders suffered their second successive loss on Saturday night when they came unstuck at the hands of Dulwich Hill at Ernie Smith Reserve.
Our preview suggested that Dulwich Hill may have turned the corner the previous week when they won 5-1 against the Mariners, and they continued that momentum in to this match, seizing the scalp of the highly regarded Raiders on their own turf.
It was Dully’s evergreen striker, Ben Vidaic, who did the damage, scoring a hatrick to steer his side to another three points, moving them to 11 points and 5th position on the competition ladder, and are now just a couple of points behind their match day opponents.
Fraser Park – Granville Rage 3-5
Fraser Park went in front on no less than three occasions at home to Granville on Saturday night, but somehow they still managed to lose the encounter 3-5 to a spirited and determined Rage outfit.
Fraser took the lead on 7 minutes when Michael Guse set up James Goldsmith to make it 1-0, but Rage equalised soon afterwards, Robert Morsillo netting in the 9th minute.
But it only took Fraser 5 minutes to edge themselves in front, this time it was Guse netting following an assist from Michael Houdek.
Granville replied within minutes to square the ledger at 2-2, Daniel Bortolazzo scoring in the 19th minute to give the game its fourth goal within an opening frenzied twenty minute spell.
But Fraser Park continued the ping pong, taking the lead yet again in the 21st minute, and it was that man, Michael Guse, continuing to do the damage, racing away to score when facing Rage goalkeeper, Samuel Bortolazzo, in a one-on-one.
Granville Rage came out of the sheds revved up and netted three unanswered second half goals to score a resounding 5-3 win, giving them their second successive victory.
Andre Guzman equalised in the 53rd minute, Robert Morsello scored his second to give Granville Rage a 4-3 lead in the 58th minute, and Franco Sanchez put the game to bed with Granville’s fifth and final goal in the 82nd minute, rounding off the scoring at 5-3 to the Rage.
The loss sees Fraser rooted to the bottom of the ladder with 2 draws from their opening 7 matches, whilst Granville Rage slide up to 10th spot on 9 points.
Bankstown City – Camden Tigers 3-2
Bankstown City Lions overcame a 0-1 half time deficit to defeat Camden Tigers 3-2 and remain on top of the NPL 3 NSW Mens competition ladder.
But they did it the hard way, given Camden Tigers scored to take the lead in the first half, and held on to that lead until the break.
Bankstown looked a reinvigorated side when they came out after the break, with Ante Tomic restoring parity after connecting with a Jeff Issa cross.
Bankstown City edged themselves in front shortly afterwards with a party piece, with Ante Tomic curling it in a free kick from outside the box to make it 2-1.
Camden Tigers were not to be undone and almost equalised when Jayden Russell got on the end of a cross with a great first time effort, only for Bankstown keeper, Carl McMahon, to readjust mid-air and tip the ball on to the cross bar and out to safety.
Ante Tomic then raced on to a through ball before slotting home his and his team’s third, extending the lead to 3-1.
Camden weren’t finished, and following a quickly taken Danny Martinez free kick, the ensuing play saw a deflected shot beat McMahon in the Bankstown goal, making it 3-2, but try as they may during a frantic final few minutes, the Tigers could not equalise.
The win and three points sees Bankstown City move to 17 points, sitting at the top of the competition ladder after seven rounds, ahead of Hawkesbury City on goal differential.
Gladesville Ryde Magic – Inter Lions 3-1
What happens when you change your coach and also change your venue?
You hope for a change of fortunes, and that is exactly what Gladesville Ryde Magic achieved on Sunday afternoon, returning to the winner’s list when they overcame Inter Lions 2-1.
Last week’s 0-5 reverse against St George City FA was the final straw for Gladesville Ryde Magic to part ways with their coach, Tony Caruso, and veteran goalkeeper, Kyriakos Tohouroglou, has taken over the reins. Additionally, Magic played their first match on the synthetic surface at Christie Park, and the change of scenery had the desired effect.
Laureano Gomez Castro put Inter Lions in front early on with a stunning effort, but the goal was cancelled out shortly afterwards by the reliable Ben Kerr, who equalised for Gladesville with a header.
Mickael Abanoub edged Magic in to the lead just after half time when he latched on to a Chris Tomaras pass, his first goal for the club.
Inter Lions were then awarded a penalty, but Rosario Occhipinti failed to convert, and the visitors were made to rue that miss when Gladesville skipper, Chris Gaitatzis, fired in a speculator from distance to wrap up proceedings at 3-1 for Magic.
The win and three points sees Gladesville Ryde Magic climb to 5th position on the ladder, currently sitting in 5th position.
