Round 14 Review – NPL 4 NSW Men’s
Round 14 of the National Premier Leagues 4 NSW Men’s competition has given us a new leader with Newcastle taking over in outright first place.
In the Match of the Round, Fraser Park and UNSW had to settle for a draw, resulting in the current premiers falling to second.
Elsewhere, Western NSW secured a thrilling draw with Camden, Hawkesbury celebrated their first home win of the season over South Coast, Parramatta dispatched Nepean, Hurstville and Western Rage shared the points, Newcastle secured top spot with a tough win over Prospect.
Match of the Round
Fraser Park FC 1-1 UNSW FC
Fraser Park and UNSW have shared the points in thrilling draw at Fraser Park on Saturday night.
It was back and forth encounter that saw both sides press hard in search for an early opening goal with no success.
Contrary to the reverse fixture, UNSW were a much improved side and looked likely at stages, to run away with all three points before Fraser Park’s equaliser.
Mike Kenny sensationally got the visitors on the board in the second half after catching Patrick Ferrera off his line seeing his long range effort sail in.
Substitute Miki Bisceglia got his side back on level terms in the final stages of the game after finding himself on the end of the delightful ball from Christian Desa, gifting him a near open net to aim at.
UNSW threatened the hosts in the early stages of the game, in-form striker Kevin Lopes had two dangerous chances from close range but couldn’t keep them down sending them both narrowly over the bar.
The visitors continued to push against the tough Fraser Park defence and came agonisingly close to the opener.
Kenny ran through on goal, finding himself in a one-on-one with Ferrera, the Fraser Park shot-stepper brilliantly denied the forceful effort then recovered to deny to follow up shot from Cristhian Martinez to keep his aside a bay.
Ferrera’s heroics were undone shortly after when Mike Kenny outrageously caught him off his line from halfway and lofted the ball over his head to give his side the lead.
With set-piece specialist David Adjassou out with a sickness, Shu Torihaya stepped up to deliver his side’s free-kicks.
He came close to giving his side the opener as his dangerous cross sailed over the UNSW defence to find Cam Philpot, his piercing header looked destined to find the back of the net but was denied by a world-class save from Conor Winn.
Winn was called into the action moments later, history repeated itself this time as Philpot’s efforts were denied by an outstretched Winn.
Fraser Park capitalised on their late game momentum to salvage a draw after Desa’s darting run gave him the space to pick out an oncoming Bisceglia at the back post who netted the equaliser.
Both sides would have to be disappointed in their missed chances to secure the win, however the draw seemed the fairest result.
Fraser Park’s Alex Araujo was optimistic with his side’s performance however was dissatisfied with his side’s lack of opportunities.
“It was a good game from both sides, there wasn’t a lot of chances created, obviously UNSW scored a great goal when we had committed numbers forward in our set piece, but then we didn’t create enough chances either”, He said.
“I guess the only time we started really creating chances is when we had to change the system with two at the front and that made a massive difference, if we had another five minutes probably could have done it”.
Match Stats
Fraser Park FC 1 (Bisceglia)
UNSW FC 1 (Kenny)
Western NSW FC 3-3 Camden Tigers FC
Western NSW have upset the Tigers with an impressive performance to share the points in Bathurst. Looking to improve on the heels of last week’s bitter result to Prospect, Mark Rooke’s men rose to the occasion taking the lead twice in the first half. Camden however were a determined outfit and fought from behind to walk away with a point.
The Tigers weren’t up to their usual standard of play and have lost their five game win streak as a result. Western NSW were helped with two first-half goals from Luke Mutton and Brayden Quigg, before Camden answered back both times through Harrison Jones and Stephen Lloyd. The Tigers were ahead in the second half, with a goal from Matthew Lane, before an own-goal sealed the draw for the hosts. Western NSW will now hope to bring their momentum into next week’s tough matchup away to Parramatta, whereas Camden will have to turn around and focus on a trip to Bensons Lane to face Hawkesbury City.
Hawkesbury City FC 3-1 South Coast Flame FC
Hawkesbury City have triumphally secured their first home win of the season with a win over South Coast. The Flame looked to spoil the party for the hosts when Cody Waller secured an early goal to put his side ahead. The Hawks came out of the break with a point to prove and started off rapidly with an early goal to Marco Turpeinen. They quickly found themselves in the lead through Zac Miletic, the result was secured in the dying stages as Kwadwo Boamah-Addai netted the third for the Hawks.
South Coast will walk away from this feeling the score got away from them in the end as they saw their chances to secure a draw fizzle out as a result of an impressive display from Daniel Schwarzer between the sticks. Hawkesbury will now look to build on this as they remain at home for the final stretch of the season, they host the ever dangerous Camden next week.
Nepean FC 0-3 Parramatta FC
Parramatta have done the double on Nepean, securing their second three goal win over Nepean. The Eagles have overcome a massive slump in form to recapture their early season form. The visitors blew out to a three goal halftime lead with goals from Zoran Kalundzic and Michael Fakiye before a late own goal rounded out the scoring. Parramatta have now opened up a three point gap on fifth placed Hurstville as they look to lock down their spot in finals.
Nepean have hit a road bump in form and will need to turn their results around quickly to remain on par with the contending teams in the battle for fifth. Nepean Head Coach Joe D’Ermilio noted that his side needs to improve on capitalising on their chances as their opponents continue to make them pay for their first-half mistakes. They now turn their attention to hosting South Coast next weekend.
Western Rage 1-1 Hurstville FC
Western Rage have fought from behind to secure a late draw with Hurstville. Hurstville will have to see this as a huge missed opportunity to move above the packed race for fifth as they could have been three points clear of Nepean in sixth. The sides remained at a deadlock until the midst of the second half after Elvir Catovic’s sensational strike sent Husrtville into the lead. The Rage fought hard until the dying stages and were rewarded with their equaliser that secured the points.
The young Western Rage side showed great resilience to fight back for the draw, they’ll look to take their confidence into next week’s tough Monday night game as they host Newcastle. Hurstville were disappointed to not have extended their lead when given the chances and will have to quickly put this in the past as they prepare to host Fraser Park.
Prospect United SC 1-2 Newcastle Jets FC
For the second consecutive week, Newcastle have rounded out the weekend fixtures with a come from behind win, this time at Blacktown. Prospect found an early lead through Kurdvan Abduljabbar who netted his third goal in just his fifth appearance since signing from the Rage. Newcastle answered back minutes later through William Ingram as the sides began to battle for the lead. The Jets fought it out until the end when Lachlan West made his impact felt of the bench, netting a late winner.
Newcastle now sit in outright first place for the first time since Round 2 and may prove tough to catch from this point on. Both sides will have a quick turnaround as they prepare to face off again on Friday night in Newcastle. Prospect missed their opportunity to gain crucial ground on the stacked midfield and now face two games in four days over the long weekend as they catch up on the lost games.
By NPL 4 NSW Men’s Writer, Dominic Criniti @DominicCriniti
