And just like that, we’ve ticked over the halfway point of the National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition.
The competition is seriously starting to heat up and we are finally starting to get an idea of who will and won’t make the cut when finals football comes knocking down the line.
Inter Lions registered a comprehensive 5-1 victory away to Western NSW Mariners at Proctor Park; Hawkesbury City and Dulwich Hill took a share of the spoils as they drew 1-1 at David Bertenshaw Field; Stanmore Hawks recorded the same score line at home to Bankstown United; Sydney University punished Granville Rage with an emphatic 6-0 victory away from home; Bankstown City escaped with a 5-2 win against Dunbar Rovers in a high scoring affair at Jensen Park while Camden Tigers beat Parramatta FC 2-1 in their encounter at Ron Dine Stadium.
Melita Stadium was the venue for the match of the round this week as high-flying SD Raiders and Gladesville Ryde Magic battled it out on Saturday night.
SD Raiders 1 Gladesville Ryde Magic 1
Gladesville Ryde Magic ensured a happy return home as they salvaged a draw 1-1 with SD Raiders at Melita Stadium on Saturday night.
A fiery affair between two of the competition’s heavyweights made for exciting viewing as two quality outfits went ahead to ahead on a brisk Saturday night at Melita Stadium.
The hosts were a threat down the right wing from the outset with pacey number seven Daniel Bittar providing all sorts of problems for Magic’s defence.
Raiders enjoyed the upper hand for the first quarter of the hour and their goal arrived on 16 minutes via none other than Anthony Proia after the lethal front man slotted it through the Magic shot stopper’s legs at the near post after being played through by Matias Toro Suazo on the right flank.
A dead ball opportunity for Magic saw them come close to restoring parity only three minutes later as Chris Triantis’ free kick on the edge of the box floated just over the crossbar.
The visitors came out of the sheds firing and matched the hosts’ intensity for the second half with the passion from both sides clear to see with a host or robust challenges and contentious tackles evident after the restart.
Triantis was at it again for the hosts on the hour mark, when he stung the palms of Raiders’ goalkeeper Michael Rutherford with a driven effort from just inside the 18-yard area.
Ben Welch and Proia combined for the hosts on 72 minutes to force quite a stunning double save from the Magic custodian.
Magic’s equaliser eventually arrived on the 84th minute and came via the penalty spot after Triantis stepped up and fired the ball into the centre of the goal.
The visitor’s penalty came under quite controversial circumstances as substitute Damien Smith was deemed to hand ball in the box. Not only did this lead to the penalty but it also marked the end of the game for the Raiders’ man with referee Roberto Mattei issuing a straight red card for the infringement.
The hosts felt hard done by the decision and thought that they may have done enough to regain the lead with three minutes remaining as Daniel Marjanovic’s header appeared to strike the arm of Magic’s Kosta Nikas.
Their penalty shouts fell on deaf ears and the game ended at one a piece which was enough for Magic to keep Raiders at bay in fourth while they remain in third position.
Match Stats
National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s
Round 13
Saturday, June 1, 2019
SD RAIDERS FC 1 (Proia 16’)
GLADESVILLE RYDE MAGIC 1 (Triantis 84’ pen.)
SD RAIDERS FC; 1.M.Rutherford(gk), 2.S.Irwin, 3.D.Marjanovic, 4.G.Ljuboja, 7.D.Bittar(16.D.Smith 79’), 8.J.Raiti, 9.B.Welch(12.L.Rossi 90’), 11.S.Toshihisa, 21.D.Molina, 22.A.Proia, 23.M.Toro Suazo.
Substitutions Not Used – 5.J.Letta, 29.N.Bratic, 99.M.Paz
Yellow Cards – 7.D.Bittar 29’, 8.J.Raiti 36’, 4.G.Ljuboja 62’, 23.M.Toro Suazo.
Red Cards – 16.D.Smith 84’.
GLADESVILLE RYDE MAGIC; 2.C.Newton, 3.S.Tarazona, 4.A.Khan, 5.L.Harte, 6.Z.Kolundzic(15.K.Nikas 67’), 9.C.Gaitatzis(34.M.Suzuki 90’), 11.C.Triantis, 13.B.Kerr, 14.A.Mickael, 18.C.Haddad, 33.K.Tohouroglou(gk).
Substitutions Not Used – 1.G.Koliomihos, 12.A.Jolly.
Yellow Cards – 9.C.Gaitatzis 67’, 11.C.Triantis 70’.
Red Cards – N/A.
Western NSW Mariners – Inter Lions FC 1-5
Western NSW Mariners were put to the sword by Inter Lions as they fell to a 5-1 defeat at Proctor Park on Saturday afternoon.
Inter found themselves two goals to the good after 20 minutes after Julian Rinaldi’s effort rocketed into the top corner of the goal before Nico Paras finished off a great sequence of play that featured over 10 passes in the buildup.
The visitors made it three only thirty seconds after the restart thanks to a penalty which was converted by Paras after teammate Dom Di Mento was adjudged to have been brought down in the box.
The Mariners reduced the deficit on 70 minutes after James Christie made the most of Inter’s lapse in concentration at the back.
Di Mento’s header with ten minutes left on the clock made it 4-1 while Paras’ hat trick arrived in the 86th minute to round off the scoring and cap off a memorable away day for Inter.
Hawkesbury City FC – Dulwich Hill FC 1-1
Hawkesbury City and Dulwich Hill could not be split as they played out a 1-1 stalemate at David Bertenshaw Field on Saturday night.
An even first half saw neither side able to find a breakthrough however it was the home side who created the biggest scare after Daniel Morsillo’s header beat the keeper, hit the inside post and rolled along the goal line before the ball found its way back to keeper in the centre of the goal.
Hawks’ were the first to provide the breakthrough in the second half as Morsillo got the better of Dully’s number one after 50 minutes.
Dully returned to equal terms with 20 minutes remaining after Jayme Canhada Alves bundled the ball over the line to make for a tense finish.
A last-minute free kick from Dully’s Peter Crevani saw the visitors come close to pinching it however he fired just wide as the game ended all square.
Stanmore Hawks FC – Bankstown United FC 1-1
Stanmore Hawks lost ground on first place as they took a share of the points with a 1-1 draw against Bankstown United on Saturday night.
Stanmore opened the scoring on 17 minutes via captain Jovan Blagojevic after the ball fell kindly to him following a rebound off a Bankstown defender.
United restored parity with the last kick of the first half and what a strike it was. Mark Kamara banged it in from 25 yards out after the Hawks defence attempted to rid the danger following a United corner.
Granville Rage – Sydney University SFC 0-6
Sydney University trounced Granville Rage 6-0 in their fixture at Garside Park on Saturday night.
The visitors got on the scoresheet twice in the first half and cruised to victory in the second half by adding a further four goals to round off the scoring for the evening.
This defeat condemned Rage to yet another heavy loss and means they have conceded a worrying 13 goals over the last fortnight.
On the other hand, Uni responded incredibly well to secure such a victory, considering they were thrashed 8-0 by Stanmore last round.
Bankstown City FC – Dunbar Rovers FC 5-2
Bankstown City dished out another high scoring defeat, this time to Dunbar Rovers as they triumphed 5-2 at Jensen Park on Saturday night.
The hosts opened the scoring two minutes in after Ante Tomic stepped up to slot it home before some great ball control saw Nikola Todoroski fire in his side’s second on the 20th minute mark after he volleyed in Marko Filipovic’s cross.
The Lions took a healthy 3-0 lead into the break thanks to Tomic’s second goal of the contest after he ran onto Tommy Markovski’s cut back on the left flank after 28 minutes.
A second half resurgence saw the home side’s lead cut to down to 3-2 as Paul Orgad struck on 57 minutes after the ball was cut back to him by Alex Crane.
Crane turned from provider to goal scorer ten minutes later after he turned in Aram Tayebi Derazkala’s cross.
Tadgh Purcell thought he completed the comeback a couple of minutes later but his free kick went narrowly wide.
Despite being pinned in their own half for the majority of the second half, the hosts were able to increase the gap to 4-2 with a quarter of an hour left to go as Tomic grabbed his hat trick with a scorcher from just inside the box that nestled into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Dunbar had a goal chalked off for offside in the final 10 minutes before the Lions made sure of the points thanks to yet again goalscoring machine Todoroski who got on the end of Jeffrey Issa’s cross with five minutes left to play.
Camden Tigers FC – Parramatta FC 2-1
Camden Tigers enjoyed a happy return to their hunting ground as they edged out Parramatta 2-1 at Ron Dine Stadium on Saturday night.
The Tigers opened the scoring after 21 minutes through Bailey Simpson before Parramatta’s Victor Anyimba cancelled out their lead on 38 minutes.
The scores remained locked at 1-1 for only a matter of minutes as Dean Mugridge popped up on the stroke of half time to score his second in two weeks to restore his side’s lead.
Camden consolidated their lead in the second half and held on to register all three points despite an attacking onslaught by the Eagles in the final stages of the encounter.
-By NPL 3 NSW Men’s Chief Writer Samuel Greco Schwartz (Twitter handle: @SamuelGS97)
