What a week to open the 2014 National Premiers Leagues IGA NSW Mens 1 competition.
What a week to open the 2014 National Premiers Leagues IGA NSW Mens 1 competition.
There were goals aplenty, thrills and spills and a major result to talk about, namely Blacktown Spartans’ thumping of Sutherland Sharks on Saturday night.
Hopefully Round 1 proves to be a marker for the rest of the season, for we are in for a treat if the rest of the season pans out like this.
ROUND REVIEW
MATCH OF THE ROUND
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0-2 Rockdale City Suns, at Bonnyrigg Sports Centre
The Grand Final replay didn’t live up to the hype in the first 45 minutes as both sides struggled to come to terms with the heavy pitch, brought on by an epic downpour in the hours before kick off.
Matthew Nash in the Bonnyrigg goal was at his best, making several decent saves throughout the match.
The decisive turn came from the Rockdale City bench. Branko Culina timed his subs to perfection, as Ben Cornish and Nick Taneski both went on and scored within minutes.
Cornish’s goal in particular was a spectacular hit from range, while Taneski showed a wonderfully cool head to slot home the second six minutes later.
Blacktown Spartans 6-1 Sutherland Sharks, at Blacktown Football Park
This could well be the result of the season, and we’re only one week in.
Blacktown Spartans, still smarting from their IGA Preseason Cup Final defeat to Rockdale City, smashed the hapless Sutherland Sharks 6-1 at home.
Defender Nathan Millgate was the start of the show, scoring a hat trick from left back.
It was 5-1 at the break and the Sharks had no answer.
Coming into the match the Spartans had Phil Makrys, Luka Dukic and Luke Austin suspended while for the Sharks skipper Nick Stavroulakis also sat the match out.
Millgate scored first, before Panny Nikas restored parity for Sutherland.
Elsid Barkhousir made it 2-1 to Spartans, before Millgate’s second made it 3-1. The shell shocked Sharks had nothing, as David Gullo popped up add a fourth.
It was all one way traffic and when Corey Biczo scored in the 44′ minute, Spartans could take a scarcely believable 5-1 lead into the break.
Millgate added his third in the second half, to send Spartans to the top of the table in some fashion.
St George 2-2 APIA-Leichhardt Tigers, at WIN Jubilee Stadium
Mens 1 newcomers St George gave a good account of themselves, sharing the points with APIA-Leichhardt Tigers.
APIA’s Brad Bartels took advantage of a defensive error to give APIA the lead in the 27′ minute.
From there it looked like they would kick on, but St George showed spirit and determination, clawing their way back level, and then into the lead.
Their key man will be Juan Chavez, last season’s Golden Boot Winner in the Mens 2 competition, and he proved to be the lynchpin again.
He scored twice, once in either half, to put St George into an unlikely lead.
Futsalroo Daniel Fogarty showed his prowess in the outdoor arena, scoring just after the hour mark with a header.
The real hero was St George’s keeper Dion Shaw, who made a superb penalty save to deny Aman Hadid and keep the scores level and guarantee a share of the points.
South Coast Wolves 0-5 Blacktown City, at WIN Stadium
South Coast Wolves’ bright new era at WIN Jubilee Stadium got off to a horrific start, as they were smashed 5-0 by a fantastic Blacktown City outfit.
Ryuji Miyazawa was in fantastic form in preseason and it thus came as no surprise that he opened the scoring, heading in a Travis Major cross in the 13′ minute.
From there it was all one way traffic.
Zac Cairncross headed in a corner from Matt Lewis to double the lead, before Miyazawa and Major combined again, this time in reverse, to add a third.
Miyazawa fed Major, who shot from inside the area to make the score 3-0 at half time.
Lewis then got his name on the scoresheet, a mis-hit cross eluding everyone, including Wolves keeper Daniel Collison, before Major added the icing to the cake with another goal in the 90′ minute.
Sydney United 58 0-2 Sydney Olympic, at Sydney United Sports Centre
This was a real upset.
United, Premiers in 2013, were simply not at the races as Sydney Olympic ran out 2-0 winners in their Sunday afternoon clash at Sydney United Sports Centre.
Sydney United 58 were understaffed, but that is no excuse for their poor performance and on this evidence they have plenty of work to do.
Olympic controlled the early part of the game and was rewarded with a goal on the half hour mark, when Troy Danaskos crossed for William Angel to head his side in front.
United rallied in the second half, but shot themselves in the foot when Ben Jurman brought down Brendan Hooper.
Harris Gaitatzis made no mistake from the spot to double the lead, one which Olympic held onto safely, despite a second yellow card to Danaskos.