Round 9 Review – League Two Men’s
It rained goals and also rained, literally, in Round Nine of the 2024 Football NSW League Two Men’s season as some of the biggest scorelines of the season saw teams pick up big wins.
The Match of the Round this week saw Granville Rage hit Hawkesbury City FC for six in a match which had it all.
Sunday, 7th April 2024
Match of the Round: Granville Rage 6-1 Hawkesbury City FC
Granville Rage picked up their biggest win of the season after a spirited second-half performance saw them take down a 10-man Hawkesbury City FC 6-1 at Rydalmere Park.
Both teams looked nervy in the opening stages, with misplaced passes and a few mistakes with the ball in both attack and defence.
The Rage had the opening chance of the match in the 8th minute when Rage attacker Timothy Borg-Williams was found with a ball in behind following a goalkeeper long ball; Borg-Williams had his effort cleared off the line by a Hawkesbury defender.
A cagey next 13 minutes saw both teams cancelled out before Borg-Williams was involved again; he had the ball in space down the right wing and passed the ball inside to Nikola Todoroski, who had his strong effort from inside the box saved with a strong reflex stop by Hawkesbury goalkeeper, Daniel Schwarzer.
The Rage took the very next opportunity that came their way, however, in the 23rd minute – another long ball from Ante Tomic found Todoroski, who settled in the box, feigned to shoot far post, and slotted the ball over Schwarzer in at the near post to give the Rage a 1-0 lead.
The Rage gained confidence from there and started to press high to win the ball up the field and had the next chance three minutes later through Tomic, who had a shot from a tight angle fizz past the left post.
Hawkesbury, however, had started to launch many attacking raids and made one of them count in the 33rd minute; a ball down the left flank saw Hawkesbury in space, before the ball was played across the 18-yard-box to Harry Drew, who struck the ball first-time towards the left post and found the back of the net to level the match.
Hawkesbury had the momentum before half-time from there and had shots through Drew, who missed just wide of the right post from outside the box following good build-up play, and Duncan Stewart, who had his shot saved by Rage goalkeeper, Samuel Bortolazzo.
The Rage had chances through Welkson Souza Bispo, who forced Schwarzer to tip the ball over the bar, Borg-Williams, who’s header went over the goal, and Tomic, who’s free-kick from 25 yards was parried by Schwarzer – both sides went into half-time level at 1-1.
The Rage came out firing in the second half and took the lead in the 50th minute when a short free-kick taken by Tomic saw Todoroski in space; he took a right-footed shot at goal from inside the box, which took a big deflection off Hawkesbury defender, Tobias Elliott-Orr, and found the back of the net at the near left-post, which gave the Rage a 2-1 lead.
Granville added a third goal less than a minute later from the restart when Jamie Nicolaou got to the byline and cut the ball back to Borg-Williams, who slotted the ball home to give the Rage a 3-1 lead in rapid time.
The Rage’s positive play continued in the next few minutes with attempts from Nicolaou, who forced Schwarzer to tip the ball over the bar, and Timothy Trainor, who had an attempt just go past the left post.
The match then took a turn in the 58th minute when Hawkesbury’s Stuart Gosling came in with a late two-footed challenge on the Rage’s Welkson Souza Bispo; Gosling was shown a straight red card and Hawkesbury were reduced to ten men for the remainder of the contest.
The Rage contained Hawkesbury well on the counter with well-timed tackles, the visitors with three shots in five minutes as they looked to get back into the match with ten men.
The Rage had three chances in the same period as they looked for a fourth goal, which they found in spectacular style in the 74th minute.
Tomic received the ball near the half-way line and spotted Schwarzer off his line; he launched an audacious left-footed shot from 50 yards towards goal, which just flew over the head of Schwarzer and found the top-left corner for a goal of the season contender to give Granville a 4-1 lead amid wild Rage celebrations.
The Rage grabbed their fifth four minutes later when Borg-Williams had the ball down the left flank and set up substitute, Nikita Andricopoulos; he took a shot which deflected off Schwarzer, into his chest, and rolled into the back of the net.
The Rage had dominated the match following the Hawkesbury red card and put in a fluid second-half performance to put their chances away.
Borg-Williams had another shot saved at the near post late before he had another effort go just over the goal.
Hawkesbury had a chance in stoppage-time through substitute Daniel Morsillo, who fired a first-time shot at the near left-post, but his effort was saved well down low by the outstretched Bortolazzo.
The Rage wrapped up the scoring with the final action of the match in the second minute of stoppage-time when a solo run from Borg-Williams saw him sail through the Hawkesbury midfield and defence; he evaded two players and got into the box before he calmly slotted a right-footed shot into the bottom-left corner to round out the 6-1 victory for the Rage, who put their foot down in the second half.
Speaking post-match, Rage Head Coach, Carlo Ianni, said he was proud of how his side got into the match after he felt Hawkesbury started on top.
“We tweaked a couple of things at half-time, to try and change the momentum and how they were getting into spaces, especially through the middle – it is a credit to Hawkesbury because they do not look like a side down the bottom of the ladder.”
Ianni said he is proud of how much his side is learning not only this season, but also from last season, and spoke on that Tomic goal.
“[Tomic] has got that in him, he is one player you can let be free and see what he can do, but credit to the team for helping him get that goal.”
The Rage face the team just above them on the ladder in 5th-placed Inner West Hawks FC next week and Ianni is ready for the challenge they will bring.
“These are the games we want to play, these sides in form; if you are beating these sides, then why not dream to see how high you can finish?”
Granville Rage will hope to win a fourth match from their past six when they host Inner West Hawks in Round 10, while Hawkesbury City FC will hope to bounce back from their sixth loss of the season when they host Gladesville Ryde Magic.
Hawkesbury will also hope to progress to the next round of the Australia Cup when they travel to face Berkeley Cale S.C. on Tuesday, 9th April, in Round Four of the preliminary rounds.
Granville Rage 6 (Nikola Todoroski 23’; Tobias Elliott-Oar 50’ own goal; Timothy Borg-Williams 51’, 90’; Ante Tomic 74’; Nikita Andricopoulos 78’)
Hawkesbury City FC 1 (Harry Drew 33’; Stuart Gosling 59’ red card)
Saturday, 6th April 2024
Fraser Park FC 5-1 Gladesville Ryde Magic
Fraser Park FC picked up their biggest win of the season to end their five-match losing streak in style following a 5-1 home victory over Gladesville Ryde Magic.
Following their Round 8 bye, Fraser Park came out firing in the match and came our firing in the 20th minute when good combination play from Matthew Lecce and Hayato Sadamori on the right saw the latter play Alexander Nicolosi in behind; he ran the length of the attacking half and cut the ball back to Shu Torihara, who tapped the ball in to give Fraser Park the early lead.
Less than two minutes later, Teddy Kayombo cleared a Magic free kick to Lecce, who played Nicolosi in behind; he ran the length of the attacking half and feigned a shot, which sent Magic goalkeeper Vasos Kartambis the wrong way, before he struck the ball over the goalkeeper to double Fraser Park’s lead.
The hosts grabbed a third before half-time, in the 30th minute, when Gregory Ehiozee headed a ball out to Nicolosi at half-way; he chipped a Magic defender and ran the length of the attacking half before he cut the ball back to Lecce, who scored to give Fraser Park a 3-0 half-time lead.
Fraser Park kept pushing and grabbed a fourth goal in the 73rd minute when Samuel Paslis switched the play from left to right for substitute Alexis Wenzel, who chested the ball down for substitute David Ustimenko, who slotted the ball home against his former side to give Fraser Park a 4-0 lead.
The Magic pulled a goal back in the 90th minute following a corner, which was cleared to the Magic before Chris Gaitatzis and Genki Kohyama combined to get in behind; the latter scored to give Gladesville a consolation goal late.
Fraser Park rounded out the scoring in stoppage-time when substitute Alexander Price played a ball in behind the Magic defence to Wenzel, who controlled the ball and crossed it to substitute Francis Mcalpine, who headed the ball in at the back post to round out a strong 5-1 home victory for Fraser Park.
The win saw Fraser Park rise away from near the bottom of the ladder, while the loss for the Magic, their fourth-straight, saw them go to the bottom of the league.
Fraser Park will hope to build off that positive performance when they travel to face the formidable South Coast Flame FC next week, while Gladesville Ryde Magic will hope to end their losing streak when they travel to face Hawkesbury City FC in Round 10.
Fraser Park are also in Australia Cup action when they travel to face fellow League Two Men’s side Camden Tigers FC on Tuesday, 9th April, while Gladesville Ryde Magic also host fellow league opposition when they play Central Coast United FC in Round Four of the preliminary rounds.
Fraser Park FC 5 (Shu Torihara 20’; Alexander Nicolosi 22’; Matthew Lecce 30’; Samuel Paslis 73’; Francis Mcalpine 90’)
Gladesville Ryde Magic 1 (Genki Kohyama 90’)
Bankstown United FC 4-0 Inner West Hawks FC
Bankstown United FC bounced back from their biggest loss of the season in Round 8 after a strong 4-0 home win over a ten-man Inner West Hawks FC.
The hosts wanted to come out dominant from the start and did when they opened the scoring in the 6th minute; Corey Freeman drove down the right wing and cut the ball back to Mitchell Cross, who finished from the edge of the six-yard-box to give Bankstown an early 1-0 lead.
A physical start to the match saw four Bankstown players receive yellow cards, but the turning point in the match came in the 37th minute when Inner West’s Peter Yannopoulos was shown a straight red card for dangerous play after he put his forearm into Bankstown’s Tyron Geany around the chest, which bumped up into his chin.
Bankstown continued their strong start to the half following that red card and had a second goal in the 38th minutes; a throw-in from their defensive half saw them work the ball up the field to Freeman, who crosses the ball in for Cross for a near-identical sequence of play to the first goal as he finished to double the hosts’ lead at half-time.
Hawkesbury did not sit back after the break and took the match to Bankstown but were undone in the 53rd minute when a ball fell to Mitchell Edmunds, who drove into the box and beat Inner West goalkeeper, Harrison Myers, with a shot from an angle from 12 yards to give Bankstown a 3-0 lead.
The hosts contained the Hawks’ attacking threat and stopped any attacking chances they had in the match.
Bankstown added a fourth goal in the 71st minute when a ball wide found Marie Gauthier, who cut inside, beat two Hawks players, and scored into the top-right corner of the goal from 18 yards to round out a 4-0 home victory for Bankstown.
The win for Bankstown was their fifth from their past six matches as they continued to fight in the upper half of the ladder, while the loss for Inner West was their second in a row as they suffered their worst loss of the season and lost more ground in the upper half of the ladder.
Bankstown will hope to round off their tough run of fixtures with a win when they travel to face another side fighting near the top of the league in Mounties Wanderers FC in Round 10, while Inner West Hawks will hope to snap back-to-back losses when they travel to face Granville Rage.
Inner West Hawks FC are also in Australia Cup action in the fourth round of preliminaries when they travel to face Coogee United on Monday, 8th April.
Bankstown United FC 4 (Mitchell Cross 6’, 38’; Mitchell Edmunds 53’; Marie Gauthier 71’)
Inner West Hawks FC 0 (Peter Yannopoulos 37’ red card)
Prospect United SC 0-4 Hurstville FC
Hurstville FC won a second match in three weeks after they dispatched a Prospect United SC side which had won three of their past four matches before the contest, 4-0 away from home.
Prospect were missing striker Anthony Idehen following his suspension, while playmaker Adam Filippone damaged his MCL ligament at training mid-week and was also missing for the hosts.
There were also changes for Hurstville, who had mutually agreed to part ways with Head Coach Davor Basic mid-week and looked for a positive performance against Prospect.
Prospect started the first half well in the first 30 minutes and forced Hurstville to turn the ball over a lot, but from there Hurstville started to get into the match and won corners and free-kicks, which Prospect defended well.
Hurstville’s persistence paid off before half-time, in the 43rd minute, when Declan Sheldon received the ball high up the pitch and cut inside before he smashed a shot into the bottom corner; Hurstville took the 1-0 lead into the break following a first half in which neither side created any clear chances.
The visitors started the second half with high intensity and were rewarded in the 48th minute when Jacob Ritchie was fouled in the Prospect box; Conor Earley stepped up and converted the penalty to double the visitors’ lead.
Prospect began pushing players forward, which meant Hurstville were able to win a lot of the ball and started to hurt the hosts in transition.
Hurstville were awarded another penalty in the 70th minute when substitute Jacob Botic, who had brought energy off the bench along with Mouhamed Hamdache and Andre Guzman, was brought down in the box; Earley stepped up and converted the spot kick once again to give Hurstville a strong 3-0 lead.
Hurstville grabbed a fourth on the counter in the 76th minute when Botic broke through the Prospect defence and finished for the visitors.
Hamdache and Andre Guzman had good chances late for Hurstville but could add to Hurstville’s lead; Prospect threw bodies forward late but were unable to find a goal themselves as Hurstville picked up a big 4-0 away victory.
The win for Hurstville saw them rise off the bottom of the ladder following their second win of the season, while the loss for Prospect saw a run of back-to-back wins end.
Hurstville will hope to come together and build off that spirited performance when they travel to face Camden Tigers FC next week, while Prospect have their bye in Round 10.
Prospect United SC 0
Hurstville FC 4 (Declan Sheldon 43’; Conor Earley 48’ pen, 70’ pen; Jacob Botic 76’)
Camden Tigers FC vs Central Coast United FC, Mounties Wanderers FC vs South Coast Flame FC, and Parramatta FC vs Sydney University SFC were all washed out and will be rescheduled to play at a later date.
By Football New South Wales League Two Men’s Reporter, Dylan Costa (@_dylancosta)
