Round 8 Review – League Three Men’s
Round 8 of the League Three Men’s competition was an absorbing, captivating weekend, with some big results both in terms of goals and importance.
UNSW FC drew with Newcastle Jets midweek, before defeating Western Rage 6-2 on Saturday night.
Prior to the match, a late Nepean goal secured them a 1-0 victory over Parramatta FC, while South Coast Flame won their second consecutive match against Hurstville FC.
To conclude the weekend, Prospect United defeated Fraser Park 2-1 in a tight contest.
UNSW FC 1 – 1 Newcastle Jets
UNSW FC drew 1-1 with Newcastle Jets on Wednesday evening in a postponed match from round four to begin the run of games this week.
Kevin Lopes opened the scoring early for UNSW in the 7th minute, following the ball with pressure from Newcastle’s defensive line to the goalkeeper, before stealing possession and passing ball into an empty net.
Newcastle equaliser in the 26th minute, with starting debutant Angus Muddle getting on the end of a good move from the away side to equalise the scoring.
A red card in the 53rd minute to Newcastle saw UNSW control the second half, coming close on a number of occasions to gain all three points.
Newcastle coach Ric Marchioli stated to Football NSW that he was “proud of the grit and tenacity shown especially after going down to 10 men early in the second half.”
Parramatta FC 0 – 1 Nepean FC
Nepean FC has edged out Parramatta FC in a tense match on Saturday evening, prevailing by a solitary goal.
Nepean’s goal came in the dying stages of the match, with Majid Eslami receiving a through ball and capably finishing in the 90 minutes to give three points to his side.
Both sides had chances earlier in the game, with Nepean dominating at stages and Parramatta threatening with periods of their own.
Nepean coach Joe D’Ermilio is happy with the progress of his side so far this season.
“We’re starting to find some form and if we continue to move in this direction we should be in a good position for the year,” he said.
“It’s hard to find a standout player (from this match) with everyone across the board putting in an awesome shift.”
Parramatta will next take on Hawkesbury City on Saturday, while Nepean will host Camden Tigers on the same day.
Western Rage 2 – 6 UNSW FC
UNSW FC have downed Western Rage to extend their unbeaten streak to three matches in the League Three Men’s competition.
UNSW opened the scoring through Matias Da Silva Santos in the 8th minute, before Kevin Lopes doubled the away side’s advantage, getting on the end of a scramble off a corner.
A red card to Ogun Dullak of Western Rage in the 24th minute complicated the comeback task for the home side, and Da Silva Santos scored a quickfire brace to gain himself a hattrick before halftime, with Kevin Lopes assisting all three goals.
After the break, Western Rage scored through an own goal off a freekick to bring the score to 4-1 in the 71st minute.
Two minutes later, UNSW extended their advantage through Corby Fowler, before Dylan Walz finished a rebound after Mark Murphy’s freekick was parried in the 89th minute.
Western Rage reduced the deficit in the 90th minute, with Andrew Forster scoring for the home side to finish the match.
UNSW will next look towards their match against Prospect United on Friday, while Western Rage will face NPL Men’s side Wollongong Wolves in the Australia Cup on Tuesday night.
South Coast Flame 3 – 1 Hurstville FC
South Coast Flame have made it two consecutive victories in a row, prevailing against Hurstville FC on Sunday afternoon.
Hurstville started the better of the two sides, and had a golden chance in the 7th minute, with a chipped shot from Julian Bittar smothered by Flame goalkeeper Luke Morgan after a flick on from Jesse Gagro.
Hurstville had another opportunity, crafted by Gagro once again, with Yianni Nioplias hitting the crossbar from six yards out.
South Coast Flame came back into the game and created an opportunity of their own, with Zander Alston coming close to putting the home side ahead in the 28th minute after good play between Jack Balmforth and Fabian Iacovelli.
In the 42nd minute, South Coast Flame opened the scoring through Iacovelli, after Alex Galbraith cutback the ball after some clever footwork.
In the 57th minute, the home side doubled their advantage, with Matt Mazevski slotting home a penalty won by Balmforth.
Hurstville found a way back into the match through Gagro, with his effort from the edge of the box finding its way into the bottom corner.
Despite having a man sent off 10 minutes after the goal, Hurstville continued to look forwards in search of an equaliser, and Flame capatalised on a counter attacking opportunity with Taylan Skurtevski heading the ball home from close range after a cross from Balmforth.
Hurstville will next travel to Fraser Park, while South Coast Flame will take on Newcastle Jets away from home.
Prospect United 2 – 1 Fraser Park
Prospect United secured a hard fought three points to conclude round eight of League Three Men with a 2-1 victory over Fraser Park.
Prospect United got the match underway with a sustained period of possession and created havoc early with a long ball troubling Fraser Park’s goalkeeper.
However, Fraser responded with some positive play of their own, and won a freekick just outside the box from an acute shooting angle off a handball.
Miki Bisceglia lined up to take the set piece, and curled a beautiful strike into the top left corner with his left foot to open the scoring for his side, to the delight of the fans at Fraser Park.
Fraser used the momentum from their goal to maintain control of the match over the next few minutes, with the front three rotating well and combining with short, incisive passes through the lines.
Prospect remained threatening and came close to troubling Fraser goalkeeper Patrick Ferrara with multiple shots from outside of the box.
The game remained even with both sides struggling to connect that final pass to get in behind the opposition’s defence, with neither goalkeeper troubled over the next ten minutes.
However, Prospect United clinically found an equaliser in the 15th minute, with Luka Zepina running in behind, beating his man and striking a firm shot across goal to draw the scores level early in the match.
Zepina remained bright down the right flank for Prospect, utilising his speed and skill play multiple dangerous passes into the box.
Fraser attempted to draw in the press from Prospect and play through it or look to retain possession and play directly over, and on multiple occasions throughout the first half, it worked a treat.
They created an opportunity through strong play from Sebastian Cal, with the midfielder running past multiple opponents before playing a pass across the box to Alessandro Macri, who dragged a first time shot wide of the far post.
Meanwhile, his opposite number, Poda Da of Prospect United also showed ability to win the ball and retain possession under pressure, impressing with his skilful touches, tenacity and movement.
Zepina almost had a brace with 13 minutes of the half to play, capitalising on a mistake to run in behind and take on his opponent, before scuffling the ball narrowly wide from just wide of the right post.
Fraser thought they had struck ahead, with a volley from the left hand side taken with aplomb across goal, but the offside flag was up.
Prospect went down the other end a minute later, with some beautiful play from Christian Martinez finding Praneet Singth.
The Prospect forward hit a low cross to the opposite post, but no. 2 dragged his close range shot wide.
Prospect sustained their dominance with Martinez’s shot from a corner forcing a good save from Ferrara.
A minute later, off another corner, Prospect United took the lead for the first time in the match, with a deflected Zepina cross falling to Roy Romeo inside the box; the wing-back capitalised with aplomb from close range.
Just after the goal, Fraser almost found an equaliser, as they dragged a shot from just inside the penalty area narrowly wide of the far post.
The opening ten minutes of the second half were relatively subdued, as both sides struggled to create high quality goal scoring chances.
Prospect won the ball off Fraser’s backline in the 60th minute and Zepina was given time and space to shoot in a long range 1 on 1 against the goalkeeper, but he couldn’t generate any power in his shot to trouble the goalkeeper.
Just a minute later, the game sparked to life with Martinez hitting the post with time in the box, before Fraser transitioned down the other end and a cutback square ball from Bisceglia was cleared behind in the nick of time by Prospect’s defence.
Off the resulting corner, a goal line scramble couldn’t find a Fraser played, and Prospect cleared to keep their lead.
Shu Torihara went close a few minutes later off a one on one but couldn’t steer the ball past Prospect goalkeeper to bring the scores level.
Fraser continued to build pressure in search of an equaliser, with Prospect defending well while remaining dangerous on the counterattack.
Prospect found themselves in behind and looked to seal the three points with a tap in, but Billy Mylonas made a fantastic recovery, stealing in front of the ball and making a crucial tackle to keep his side in the match.
The game state very much remained the same in the next five minutes, with Fraser building up with possession from the back before Prospect looked to transition in attack when winning the ball.
Prospect couldn’t capitalise on the consistent two verses three and at times two verses two opportunities on counter attacks but couldn’t find the decisive pass to allow a clear shot.
Fraser kept attacking territory with a string or corners as they remained in search of an equaliser in the last ten minutes.
Prospect did well to block the numerous chances Fraser created off their set piece opportunities and secured their find number victory of the campaign after injury time.
Both sides’ youth players impressed throughout the match, showing their quality in a tense 90-minute affair to the pleasure of the fans.
Postponed: Camden Tigers vs Newcastle Jets
Bye: Hawkesbury City
By Football NSW League 3 Men’s Reporter, Jack George (@JackGeorge0004)
