Mounties and Nepean play out tense deadlock in fiery first leg

It’s all to play for as the Mounties Wanderers and Nepean FC played out a tense and fiery 0-0 draw in the first leg of the 2024 Football NSW League One Men’s/League Two Men’s Promotion/Relegation Playoff at Cook Park on Saturday.

Mounties had a genuine chance in the 7^th minute from a free-kick delivered in from the left, which was headed on target and pushed aside for a corner by Nepean goalkeeper, Justin Biega.

Mounties delivered the ball into the box from the left off a free-kick in the 11^th minute and once again the ball was headed just over by the hosts after the ball was punched into their player by Biega.

Nepean’s Luka Zepina was played in behind in the 17^th minute and took a shot from the right across goal, which took the slightest of deflections before it crawled past the far post for a corner.

Off the following corner, a header from Nepean had to be cleared off the line by the Mounties defence, who had just survived two close calls within one minute.

The next chance came for Mounties in the 28^th minute when a ball was played for Nikola Todoroski in behind, but he was unable to get to the ball as Biega jockeyed it behind for a goal kick.

A corner for Nepean in the 33^rd minute was headed just wide at the near post as neither side was able to break the deadlock in the opening half-hour.

Mounties’ Alistair Mckie took a shot on from distance from the left-side outside the box and his effort just sailed over the crossbar at the far-right post in the 35^th minute.

Nepean countered off a Mounties corner in the 43^rd minute but the final shot was fired wide of the left post.

In the 45^th minute, a free-kick delivered into the box by Mounties ended up with a shot for Paolo Bonanni, who hit his right-footed effort high and wide of the target.

Two minutes into first-half stoppage-time, good build-up play from the hosts saw Fletcher Williamson deliver a ball into the box from the left, which met the head of Todoroski, who could only head his effort wide.

Mounties had four shots to Nepean’s two in the first half, with the only shot on target in the first half coming for the hosts.

Neither side was able to capitalise on a few big chances each in the first half as the two teams entered the sheds level at 0-0.

Mounties started the second half quickly through Todoroski, who had the first shot of the half in the first minute which went wide of the right post.

Nepean almost had a disaster moment at the back in the 50^th minute when a goal kick was played short an was intercepted by Mounties’ Mitchell Gibbs, who took a shot on goal but missed the target in another big chance.

The match changed in the 52^nd minute when Mounties’ defender Eijin Kishimoto jumped from behind against Nepean’s Zepina in a challenge for the ball, which the referee adjudged dangerous – after consultation with the sideline official, the referee awarded Kishimoto a second yellow card, which meant Mounties were reduced to ten men for the rest of the match.

With both teams fired up in the second half, action ensued in the contest.

A header from Mounties in the 58^th minute when over the bar as they did not let their one-man disadvantage stop them from attacking.

Off the next attack for Nepean, Jack Hoban found space down the left and found Mitchell King in the box at the back post, who had his shot saved by Mounties goalkeeper, Roberto D’Angelo.

In the 64^th minute, Nepean continued to attack and had a header which was caught with ease by D’Angelo, before Mounties launched an attack at the other end but were unable to find the right ball.

Mckie did well to earn Mounties a corner in the 69^th minute as the hosts looked to press high and also play on the counter with ten men.

Following consecutive corners, Mounties missed a chance when a volley from outside the box went over the goal, with Biega out of play after punching the ball away initially.

The chances kept coming quickly as Nepean had a chance through Luka Zepina off the resulting goal kick, but he was not able to get his shot on target.

Mounties still looked to apply the pressure with ten men and they made two big changes late, with their top scorer in Yuki Kanai entering the field, looking to add to his 25 goals for the season, alongside Poda Da and Dany Ghetti.

Tensions grew late in the match, with the noise raised from the players, benches and crowd at Cook Park.

In the 84^th minute, Nepean had their next chance when Jacob Vasiliou took a shot on which missed the target from range.

Nepean had a corner late in the 90^th minute but in a match where the tensions continued to rise throughout, they were unable to find an away goal yet.

Heading into six minutes of stoppage-time, both sides continued to fly into challenges and raise the tensions.

In the fourth minute of stoppage-time, Nepean had a shot from range when Mounties failed to clear their line, but the away side was once again unable to find the target.

Despite 11 shots to Mounties and 10 shots to Nepean, there were only three shots on target combined between the two teams in the first leg.

Neither Mounties or Nepean were unable to break the deadlock in a tense and fiery first leg which finished 0-0.

Speaking post-match, Mounties Head Coach Jure Bilokapic said he was proud of the way his side played, especially with the red card in the second half.

“I thought we competed well up until the red card with all the chances, and considering they are a league above us, I thought we did pretty good.”

Bilokapic accepted the red card for Kishimoto and will hope his side can fill that spot next week.

“It was a bit tough… Is it a yellow card? It probably is, but it’s a shame it was a second yellow.”

Bilokapic will hope to devise a game plan which will suit his team on a different type of surface at Wanderers Football Park next week.

“We will come up with a game plan on the synthetic pitch, which should suit us… If we have the right game plan, we should be fine.”

Bilokapic was also happy with his team’s defence against a strong Nepean attack.

“Another positive is that we kept it to 0-0 with ten men.”

“Hopefully [next week’s] match can be a bit more free-flowing and the boys can play a bit more.”

Nepean FC will host Mounties in the second leg of the League One Men’s/League Two Men’s promotion/relegation playoff On Friday, 6^th September at 8pm at Wanderers Football Park, with everything to play for following the first leg.

Mounties Wanderers FC 0 (Eijin Kishimoto 52’ red card)

Nepean FC 0

By Football New South Wales League Two Men’s Reporter, Dylan Costa (@_dylancosta)