Men’s State League 1 Review Round 7
North Shore and Rydalmere remain perfect while Hills still head the table in an action packed round seven of the Men’s State League 1 detailed below in our weekly review.
MATCH OF THE ROUND
Granville Rage 0 Hills Brumbies 2
A spirited performance from the Rage put pressure on the competition leaders but an eighth goal of the season from Daniel Morsillo secured a fifth straight win for the rampaging Brumbies.
It was a scrappy opening from both sides, as the Brumbies used the width of the field to give Glen Kelshaw and Keunike Maralit (before injury) space to create. Despite this, Hills were kept to mostly long range efforts in the opening fifteen minutes.
Granville were almost the first to trouble the scorers when Daniel Vukovic stepped out, spun to beat his defender but wasn’t able to keep the shot down to force Cheyne Miller into action.
An impromptu drinks break after Maralit was injured forced Mark Giovenali to go to his bench early. Christopher Bedzo replaced the winger and was a handful down the flanks like his predecessor.
His strength was underlined in the opening goal – the cross was swung in diagonally for a Bedzo knock down steering it to Josh Kakoschke to force it home for the 1-nil Brumbies lead.
Bedzo continued to test the Rage defense almost making it 2-nil as Gregory Giovenali had the ball bobble before teasing it wide. Hills dominated the later stages but were unable to add to their advantage.
The Rage came out fired up after the break, earning a succession of corners early in the half. David Harding was controlling the passing game, linking up well with Stephen Vukovic well.
Vukovic had the Rage’s best chance in the 51st minute from the spot after he was taken down. The forward put his spot kick wide and was played in again and flashed wide a minute later.
Hills were almost anonymous for much of the second half, missing passes and gifting possession to Granville, pushing for the leveller.
Their attacking intent spelled their downfall, as the Hills put the game to bed on the counter as Daniel Morsillo curled his effort in the net after some strong work from Bedzo.
Afterwards Mark Giovenali was relieved.
“We will take the three points but it was disappointing overall against a fired up [Granville] Rage side.”
The Granville coach lamented his side’s chances afterwards.
“It was a fairly close game; there were a fair few errors on our behalf which led to the loss.”
Match Stats
Granville Rage 0
Yellow card: D. Vukovic
Hills Brumbies 2 (Kakoschke ’32, Morsillo ’87)
Yellow cards: Brennan, Faulkner and Kelshaw
Balmain Tigers 3 (Cook, Gavin and Gowdy) v Hawkesbury City SC 0
It was all round domination from the Tigers, taking apart the City side in the afternoon sunshine. The home side were without three regular starters but weren’t perturbed as they put a smile on Coach Joe Di Giulo’s face with their display.
Jonathan Gowdy started the scoring with his third strike of the season before Joel Cook and Gavin Wenyon completed the rout to put the Tigers within touching distance of the top five.
Gladesville Ryde Magic 0 v Rydalmere Lions 1 (Avery)
The Magic were unable to make it six points in a week, after winning 2-1 in a catch up fixture they were caught out by a Rydalmere team, playing for the first time in a fortnight. It was 17 year old Aaron Avery who scored the sole goal in a tense game highlighted by the spirit shown by Rydalmere despite a sending off for Khalid Allybokus to maintain their unbeaten run alongside North Shore.
Western NSW Mariners FC 2 (Hobby and Scimone) v Dulwich Hill 1 (Calcagno)
Dully weren’t able to turn dominance into goals, as they fell to a late Matt Hobby goal to go almost a month without a win. Western NSW was kept in the contest in the opening half thanks to good leadership from Matt Corben and Charlie Bailey at the back.
The solidity at the back gave them free reign to create chances leading to Adam Scimone’s goal for the 1-nil. Dully pressed again equalising in the 82nd minute through Frank Calcagno but were heartbroken when Matt Hobby was played in by Ricky Guihot to give the Mariners the win.
Nepean FC 0 vs Stanmore Hawks 3 (Bakoulis 2 and Philippou)
The Hawks put together back to back wins for the first time this season to compound the misery for a depleted Nepean side struggling in the last few weeks. Coach Soteri Mavrou was pleased in how Stanmore continued from their win last weekend led by Sam Awad in the midfield. Costa Bakoulis shot to second in the top goalscorers (5) with his goals either side of half-time as Neil Philippou’s fourth goal rounded out the display.
Inter Lions 1 (own goal) v North Shore Mariners 6 (Hardy 3, Cole 2 and Purcell)
The Mariners laid down the gauntlet out in the race for top position, doling out the goals in the second half to wound the Lions. Inter were fortunate to be level at the break thanks to an own goal.
North Shore asserted their dominance in the second half with a Ry Hardy hat-trick Michael Cole brace and Tadgh Purcell goals to get them back on track after their Westfield FFA cup exit.
-by Justin Davies, Men’s State League 1 Reporter
