Round 15 Review – League Two Men’s
With half of the season completed, there were some more big results among the top sides with every team looking ahead to the second half of the 2025 Football NSW League Two Men’s competition.
The Match of the Round this week saw South Coast Flame FC bounce back from their biggest defeat of the season with their second-biggest win of the year at home to Fraser Park FC.
Saturday, 17th May 2025
Match of the Round: South Coast Flame FC 6-0 Fraser Park FC
South Coast Flame responded from their 7-3 loss to Gladesville Ryde Magic last week with their second-biggest victory of the season, a 6-0 home win over Fraser Park FC, who they beat at home for a fourth-straight year, with a hat-trick hero to boot.
Fraser Park’s Harry Skotadis had an early chance in the 2nd minute smothered by Flake goalkeeper Nenad Vekic as they looked to start the match strongly.
However, South Coast took the lead two minutes later when Liam Unicomb got in behind the Fraser Park defence and crossed the ball to William Provino, who had his shot saved before Adam Timpano-Voloder followed in on the rebound to score with the hosts’ first shot of the match.
Following that, the Flame continued to attack and had chances to Jyden Harb and Timpano-Voloder saved, respectively, before Provino also had a chance in behind but had the ball smothered from the final touch.
Fraser Park had chances of their own to Skotadis, who had respected chances saved well by Vekic and shot wide right.
Harb had another chance for the hosts in the 23rd minute when he got in behind one-on-one with Fraser Park goalkeeper Jayden Pham, but had his attempt saved well by the visitors’ shot stopper.
The Flame doubled their lead in the 28th minute, however, when Matthew Mazevski played a ball over the top to Unicomb, who played the ball first-time to Timpano-Voloder; he settled inside the box and found the bottom-right corner with a composed finish for his and the Flame’s second goal.
Fraser Park had four of the final five shots to end the first half, with a chance to Skotadis going over, a shot from Fenn Hodgson-Yu saved by Vekic and a chance to substitute Andrew Vlahadamis deflected wide right for a corner, but the Flame took a 2-0 lead into half-time.
South Coast started the second half strongly with a shot to Unicomb deflected over by the Fraser Park defence and a header from Timpano-Voloder saved well by Pham in the 47th minute.
Four minutes later, the Flame took a 3-0 lead in style when Harb stepped up to take a free-kick from 25 yards; the league’s top scorer this season curled the ball over the Fraser Park wall and into the top-right corner for his 16th goal of the year and the Flame’s third in the match.
Four minutes after that, the Flame added their fourth when Harb pinched the ball off the Fraser Park defence, ran to the byline and squared the ball to Timpano-Voloder in the middle, who completed his hat-trick with a tap-in at the far-left post to take home the match ball.
Fraser Park’s biggest chance in the match came in the 62nd minute when South Coast’s Luke Hoefsloot dragged down Fraser Park’s Matthew Lecce in the penalty area; Skotadis stepped up to take the spot kick but had his attempt saved by Vekic, who saved the shot sent down the middle of the goal with an outstretched left hand to keep the Flame’s clean sheet intact.
The two teams traded shots with Fraser Park’s William Wright having a shot on target saved by Vekic, before South Coast substitute Kade Kinsella had a shot smothered by Pham.
The Flame scored their fifth goal in the 73rd minute when Harb got past the Fraser Park defence down the left and crossed the ball into the middle for Kinsella, who tapped the ball home for a 5-0 Flame lead.
Both sides once again traded chances, with Fraser Park’s Benjamin Astudillo curling a shot over the top-right corner of the goal following a short corner in the 80th minute, before South Coast’s Harb shot wide right of the goal at the other end a minute later.
The Flame wrapped up the scoring in the 85th minute when substitute Daniel Merola pinched the ball from the Fraser Park defence as they were trying to play out from the back and spotted Pham off his line; he chipped the ball just over the fingertips of Pham and into the back of the net to round out a 6-0 win for the Flame.
Speaking post-match, the Flame’s hat-trick hero Adam Timpano-Voloder was happy to not only respond from last week with a big win but was very happy his team managed to grab a clean sheet.
“Our biggest mindset, and this goes for most of the season as well, was to not concede today; we knew the goals would come and they did today, so we are pretty happy.”
For Timpano-Voloder, it was his first hat-trick for the Flame, and he will hope to build confidence from his own performance.
“I just have been lacking a bit of confidence in front of goal and today it was nice to get an early one; I felt pretty confident after that and trusted my instincts to hopefully get a couple and I was lucky to get my first hat-trick of the year, so I am pretty happy with that.”
As for finished the first half of the season positively, Timpano-Voloder was happy the team was able to do so.
“We knew that finishing off the first half of the season with a win was really big to set us up and keep us in contention for promotion.”
The victory for the Flame saw them respond positively to their big last-start loss as they moved up one spot to end the first half of the season in 3rd, three points behind 2nd-placed Prospect United SC, while the loss for Fraser Park saw them go five matches without a win as they stayed in 10th.
South Coast will hope to continue to climb the ladder when they host 7th-placed Granville Rage next week, while Fraser Park will hope to end their winless run when they host 13th-placed Camden Tigers FC.
South Coast Flame FC 6 (Adam Timpano-Voloder 4’, 28’, 55’; Jyden Harb 51’; Kade Kinsella 73’; Daniel Merola 84’)
Fraser Park FC 0
Nepean FC 1-4 Dunbar Rovers FC
Dunbar Rovers FC went a seventh-straight match without defeat and picked up an important three points after a 4-1 away win over Nepean FC.
Nepean started with intent and had three one-on-one chances but were unable to score, while the also had two shouts for handball turned down.
The visitors also started strongly and were rewarded in the 10th minute when Guilherme Mazurkievicz Pansonato scored with a powerful shot to give Dunbar a 1-0 lead.
A turning point in the match came in the 36th minute when Nepean had a penalty attempt saved by Dunbar goalkeeper Benjamin Wrigley to keep the visitors in the lead.
Nepean defender Edward Stewart came off injured two minutes later and was replaced as Nepean looked to keep their heads up in the match.
In the second minute of first-half stoppage time, Dunbar doubled their lead when Paul Gautier found Pansonato, who completed his double and scored his seventh goal of the season to give the visitors a 2-0 half-time lead.
Jason Trajkovski added a third for Dunbar in the 68th minute when he intercepted a Nepean back pass and dribbled past Nepean goalkeeper Luke Cotten to score for a 3-0 Dunbar lead.
He also completed his double in the 75th minute when Gautier played a ball through to Aoba Forsyth, who then squared the ball to Pansonato to score for a 4-0 Dunbar lead.
Trajkovski was sent off in the 81st minute for a second yellow card offence and Nepean capitalised with a consolation goal in the 88th minute to Leonard Abdo, who scored off a corner to make the final score read 4-1 in Dunbar’s favour.
The loss for Nepean saw them go four-straight matches without a win as they fell from 11th to 12th, while the win for Dunbar saw them go seven matches unbeaten as they moved up from 8th to 6th.
Nepean will hope to respond next week when they travel to face 9th-placed Gladesville Ryde Magic, while Dunbar will hope to continue their strong form with the top sides in their sights when they host the league leaders, Hurstville Zagreb FC.
Nepean FC 1 (Leonard Abdo 88’)
Dunbar Rovers FC 4 (Guilherme Mazurkievicz Pansonato 10’, 47’; Jason Trajkovski 68’, 75’; 81’ red card)
Camden Tigers FC 1-2 Gladesville Ryde Magic
Gladesville Ryde Magic won a third match from their past four and went four matches unbeaten after they held on late for a 2-1 away win over Camden Tigers FC.
The Magic raced out to a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute when a mistake from Camden was capitalised on by Yukihiro Ayukawa, who backed up his hat-trick last week with another goal this week to give the visitors the early advantage.
Gladesville’s Daniel Sramek made the most of another Camden mistake in the 28th minute and scored to give the Magic a 2-0 lead at half-time, having had six shots to three.
In the second half, Camden had four shots to one and grabbed a goal back in the 75th minute from the penalty spot, which Avisai Vunisasaro converted to give the hosts hope of a late comeback.
Gladesville held on, however, and picked up their second away win of the season from eight attempts in their 2-1 success over Camden.
The loss for the Tigers saw them go six-straight matches without a win as they remained in 13th, while the victory for the Magic saw them stay in 9th.
Camden will hope for a strong response when they travel to face 10th-placed Fraser Park FC next week, while Gladesville will hope to continue to fire when they host 12th-placed Nepean FC.
Camden Tigers FC 1 (Avisai Vunisasaro 75’ pen)
Gladesville Ryde Magic 2 (Yukihiro Ayukawa 6’; Daniel Sramek 28’)
Inner West Hawks FC 3-2 Sydney University SFC
Inner West Hawks FC went a seventh-straight head-to-head match unbeaten against Sydney University SFC after they held on late with ten men to secure a big 3-2 home win.
University started strongly with multiple shots in the opening ten minutes, but at the other end the Hawks were awarded a penalty in the 13th minute following a handball in the box by the University defence off a Jacob Palamidas cross.
Peter Yannopoulos stepped up and converted the spot kick, scoring to the right and sending University goalkeeper Jasper Sarkies the wrong way to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
University responded with shots to Jethro Thornton, Gregory John and Joseph Roddy but were not able to level the match.
The Hawks added a second goal before half-time in the 43rd minute when build-up play from Tony Lo and Palamidas saw the latter play the ball to Peter Phillips, who took a shot from just inside the box which deflected into the back of the net for a 2-0 Hawks half-time lead.
University grabbed a goal back after the break in the 66th minute when Thornton converted his chance after the Hawks failed to clear the ball following a free kick.
Yannopoulos restored the Hawks two-goal lead in the 75th minute when Hawks’ goalkeeper Gene Marantos played the ball to Palamidas, who in return played the ball from inside his own half in behind to Yannopoulos; he got to the ball ahead of the backtracking Benjamin Phillips and onrushing Sarkies and tapped the ball into the empty net for a 3-1 lead.
University set up a tense finish when substitute Sam York scored in the 87th minute off a Daniel Barrett cross, but the Hawks held on for a big 3-2 home win over the students.
The victory for the Hawks was their first in three matches as they rose from 12th into 11th, while the loss for University saw them remain winless at the bottom of the ladder.
Inner West will hope to build off this win when they host 4th-placed Parramatta FC in a battle of the birds next week, while University will hope to put together a strong performance when they host the team just ahead of them on the ladder, 14th-placed Central Coast United FC.
Inner West Hawks FC 3 (Peter Yannopoulos 13’ pen, 75’; Peter Phillips 43’; Matthew Morris 78’ red card)
Sydney University SFC 2 (Jethro Thornton 66’; Sam York 87’)
Granville Rage 2-4 Hurstville Zagreb FC
Hurstville Zagreb FC ended the first half of the season with a six-point gap at the top of the ladder after they won their first match in six head-to-head attempts against Granville Rage.
Hurstville started with a rapid goal in the 2nd minute when Michael Neill whipped a corner into the box which was met at the far post by Hesan Soufi, who headed the ball over Granville goalkeeper Branko Vidakovic and into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
The visitors were awarded a penalty in the 12th minute following a handball in the box; Nikola Todoroski stepped up and converted from the spot to double Hurstville’s lead at 2-0.
Hurstville continued to attack and were awarded another penalty in the 25th minute when Neill was fouled by Vidakovic; he stepped up and converted the penalty he earned to give the hosts a 3-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Todoroski had the ball in the box and cut it back to Hesan Soufi, who scored his seventh goal of the season and grabbed a double for a 4-0 Hurstville lead.
The Rage had two big chances to get a goal back before the break but were denied by Hurstville goalkeeper Luke Babic as the visitors took that 4-0 advantage into half-time.
After the break, the Rage started fast before Hurstville substitutions helped them steady the contest, where they had a breakaway but could not score from a one-on-one chance.
The Rage capitalised off a Hurstville error at the back in the 85th minute, Timothy Borg-Williams on hand to score and give Granville a consolation goal late.
Two minutes later, Borg-Williams completed his double after he scored off a corner to reduce the margin to two goals late.
With plenty of stoppage time late, the Rage threw bodies forward in hopes of grabbing two late goals and created two chances late, but Hurstville defended them out to see out a big 4-2 away win.
The loss for Granville saw them drop from 5th to 7th at the halfway point of the season, while the win for Hurstville saw them extend their margin from three to six points atop of the league ladder.
Granville will hope to respond when they host 3rd-placed South Coast Flame FC next week, while Hurstville will hope to continue to build their lead at the top of the league when they travel to take on 6th-placed Dunbar Rovers FC.
Granville Rage 2 (Timothy Borg-Williams 85’, 87’)
Hurstville Zagreb FC 4 (Hesan Soufi 2’, 28’; Nikola Todoroski 12’ pen; Michael Neill 25’ pen)
Bankstown United FC 3-1 Prospect United SC
Bankstown United FC won a second match from their past three after they held on late for a 3-1 home win over Prospect United SC.
The hosts started strongly after they were awarded a penalty for a foul in the 21st minute; Marie Gauthier stepped up and scored from the spot for his eighth goal of the year and his seventh from his past eight matches to give Bankstown a 1-0 lead.
Bankstown continued to attack and had two shots blocked by desperate Prospect defence, while at the other end Dimos Vlachos had a strike for Prospect from just outside the box go just wide as they looked to level the match.
After the break, in the 55th minute, Prospect gave away the ball outside their box and Bankstown capitalised when they played the ball in behind for Sean Robertson who scored to give Bankstown a 2-0 lead.
Prospect fought back and had chances to Ritchie Stewart go wide from eight yards, a header from Jamie Dib saved by Bankstown goalkeeper Sebastian La Luz and Jacob Micallef hit the crossbar, respectively.
The Prospect pressure paid off in the 85th minute when Vlachos took a shot on from 25 yards which took a slight deflection off the top of the head of the Bankstown defence and flew into the back of the net to reduce the deficit to one goal late.
Prospect pushed players forward late, and Bankstown capitalised in the third minute of stoppage time through Gauthier, who completed his double and scored his ninth goal of the season to give Bankstown a 3-1 win.
The win for Bankstown saw them move up from 7th into 5th on the ladder, while the loss for Prospect saw them stay in 2nd but fall six points behind league leaders, Hurstville Zagreb FC, while their lead to the teams behind them stopped to just three points.
Bankstown will hope to build of this win when they host 8th-placed Hawkesbury City FC next week, while Prospect have the week off with a bye in Round 16.
Bankstown United FC 3 (Marie Gauthier 21’ pen, 90+3’; Sean Robertson 55’)
Prospect United SC 1 (Dimos Vlachos 85’)
Parramatta FC vs Hawkesbury City FC was washed out and will be played at a later date.
14th-placed Central Coast United FC had a bye in Round 15.
By Football NSW League Two Men’s Reporter, Dylan Costa
