IT WAS a happy return for Harris Gaitatzis, whose penalty was the only goal as Sydney Olympic beat his former side Blacktown City at Lilys Football Centre.
It wasn’t a particularly pretty game as Blacktown City failed to test Olympic’s veteran keeper Paul Henderson, who was a dominant aerial presence when he had to be.
Evan Kostopoulos pulled the strings for Olympic who played some decent attacking football throughout, showing that they have fully recovered from the distraction of Sotirios Kygriakos’ guest stint.
His two games may have been good for publicity but on the park it seemed to have more negatives than positives.
Blacktown City meanwhile were second on the ladder at the start of play, but couldn’t produce some of the swashbuckling attacking play of the early part of the season.
Blacktown City had an early opportunity when William Angel gave possession away to Travis Major but he over hit the cross into the penalty area.
It was the same story when an accurate long ball, from Zac Cairncross, a rarity in itself, found Matthew Lewis on the left, but his first time cross was also well over-hit.
Cairncross probably should have given Blacktown City the lead when his header from a Yianni Fragogiannis free kick went over, before Olympic’s Evan Kostopoulos unleashed a rasping drive from 30 yards that flashed inches wide with Nenad Vekic beaten.
The clearest chance of the first half was Blacktown City’s.
34′ minutes were on the clock when Ryuji Miyazawa, who had a quiet game, crossed from the left. Arriving in the nick of time was Travis Major, but he could only direct his header straight at Henderson. It was a guilt edged chance for the Blacktown City co-captain.
The second half saw Olympic begin to take control with Kostopoulos at the heart of everything good.
His vision and poise on the ball was a highlight of a relatively dour match and it was he who won the penalty from which Olympic one the game.
On the hour mark, Michael Gaitatzis shot over from distance and then, two minutes later, Kostpoulos ran at Blacktown City left back Giorgio Speranza.
Speranza lunged in and a penalty was given by referee Enrico Guerra, here from Umbira in Italy as part of the referee exchange program.
Harris Gaitatzis made no mistake, tucking the spot kick into the bottom corner even though Vekic guessed the right way.
The goal seemed to spark the game into life.
Lewis had a penalty appeal turned down by Signor Guerra just moments after the Blacktown City goal, before Sasa Macura had a shot blocked; unfortunately it was by his own team-mate Major.
In the 72′ minute Major had a chance of his own, sidefooting wide after a good cross by the lively Danny Choi.
Olympic though were absorbing the pressure and threatening on the break themselves.
A free kick from Troy Danaskos was headed narrowly over by the ever-involved Kostopoulos and then substitute Dimitri Hatzimouratis headed over a cross from Harris Gaitatzis.
Blacktown City were trying to take control of the game in the last ten minutes but were undermined by a succession of aimless long balls from Cairncross.
Choi was slid in on goal in the 88′ minute and just as he was to pull the trigger, Brayden Sorge made a perfectly time block.
Then, from the resulting corner Jacob Poscoliero had a header cleared off the line.
It wasn’t meant to be for Blacktown, but it is a sign of Olympic’s progress so far under Grant Lee.
Match Stats
Blacktown City 0
Sydney Olympic 1 (Harris Gaitatzis 62′ [PEN])
Sunday, 27th April, 2014
Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills
Referee: Enrico Guerra
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Andre Giev
Fourth Official: Roberto Matae
Blacktown City: 1.Nenad Vekic; 3. Giorgio Speranza (18.Daniel Araujo 77′), 4.Yianni Fragogiannis, 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 11.Danny Choi, 15.Marco Travaglini (5.Jacob Poscoliero 46′), 16.Kearyn Baccus, 19.Zachary Cairncross (C)
Substitutes not used: 12.Joel Hardwick, 13.Blake Tuxford (GK), 14.Nicola Kuleski
Yellow Cards: Danny Choi 24′, Giorgio Speranza 62′, Zac Cairncross 76′
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Brayden Sorge, 3.Troy Danaskos, 7.William Angel (19.Go Shirai 38′), 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 14.Peter Markovic (C), 15.Yianni Spyrakis, 18.Taiga Soeda, 23.Evan Kostopoulos, 33.Christos Tomaras (24.Amaury Gauthier 51′), 39.Michael Gaitatzis (9.Dimitri Hatzimouratis 77′)
Substitutes not used: 5.Bradley Treloar,12.Kresimir Kardum
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3- Evan Kostpoulos (OLY)
2- Harris Gaitatzis (OLY)
1- Kearyn Baccus (BLK)
– By Matthew Lopez, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Lilys Football Centre
Archives for April 2014
Ten-man Suns hold out Tigers
LAMBERT Park in Leichhardt hosted the round seven clash of the IGA National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 between APIA-Leichhardt Tigers and Rockdale City Suns which ended scoreless after a hard-fought clash.
The match was officiated by Giuseppe Repace from Umbria in Italy who is here in Australia on an exchange program and in the 17’ minute the official sent off goalkeeper Tomislav Arcaba because he was adjudged to have handled the ball outside the area. On the advice of the assistant referee, Rockdale City’s ‘keeper took an early shower.
On came reserve keeper David Bradasevic and Tony Lo was sacrificed as the visitors went down to ten players.
In the 24’ minute Matthew Mayora had the best chance of the first half when he ran clear and tried to chip the new goalkeeper Bradasevic who brilliantly turned it away for a corner.
In the 29’minute a delightful free-kick from the ever skilful Franco Parisi reached Marc Warren in the box who headed the ball into the side netting for the Tigers.
In the 33’ minute a corner reached Michael West who headed just wide of the crossbar and in the 41’ minute Matthew Castelnuovo received the ball square from the left and fired a shot that ended up just wide of the intended target.
Rockdale City Suns resisted and went into the break even with the Tigers but the second half was a different story and perhaps the visitors could have even sneaked a victory.
In the second half Mayora fired over the crossbar from just outside the box in the 52’ minute of play as the Tigers looked set to continue their dominance before Rockdale came back strongly indeed.
In the 68’ Takuya Murayama charged dangerously into the box for the visitors and, unfortunately, rushed his shot and sent the ball over the crossbar when he could have taken an option to find one of the two unmarked teammates who were clearly in a better position to fire home.
APIA replied immediately with a lovely cross by David D’Apuzzo from the left which was neatly turned away by a diving Bradasevic and in the 70’ minute Warren fired agonisingly over the crossbar for the Tigers. They were close chances for the Tigers.
In the 72’ minute Nikola Taneski, against his former club, won the ball neatly and then stabbed his shot just over Andrew Bazi’s net. It was the closest the Suns had been all game.
In the 76’ minute Taneski then created a brilliant chance when he galloped through space and found Daniel Barac who fired a rocket that was delightfully saved by Bazi coming off his line.
In the 85’ minute Bradley McDonald unleashed a rocket from outside the box which sailed just over the crossbar and this was to be the last chance of the game.
After the game both coaches were full of praise for their respective sides and rightly so they were both feeling somewhat unlucky not to have secured maximum points.
Billy McColl of the APIA-Leichhardt Tigers commented: “Disappointed – playing at home against ten men, but until we put the ball in the back of the net, we’re going to either draw or lose,” he said.
“As I said to the boys at the end, I was very happy with the individual performances in the team, we were structured but we did have to put the ball in the back of the net and then you get the three points.
“Rockdale is a very good team and every game is hard but we are looking forward to the challenge of Bonnyrigg next week where we are hopefully going to win,” he said with a smile.
His counterpart, the experienced Branko Culina, was also very pleased with his team.
“We had clear chances even though they had possession which is normal in a situation like this but we certainly wanted to win,” he said.
“I am disappointed that we dropped two points today because it was an extra two points that we expected.
“We were still closer to winning than they were. APIA is definitely not a bad side and they keep buying players. I watched them last week against Olympic and they were in the game for a long, long time.
“It is difficult when you play almost 80 minutes, when you take the extra time into consideration, with ten men but I am still very proud of our players,” he concluded.
Match Stats
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 0
Rockdale City Suns 0
Saturday, April 26th, 2014
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Giuseppe Repace
Assistant referees: Lance Greenshields, James Tesoriero
Fourth Official: Kurt Ams
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers: 21.Andrew Bazi; 2.Travis Oughtred, 3.Jamie Lobb, 5.Michael West, 6.Marc Warren (7.Stephen Kayes 73’), 8.Bradley McDonald, 10.Franco Parisi (14.Blake Powell 66’), 12.Daniel Bragg, 13.David D’Apuzzo, 15.Matthew Mayora, 17.Matthew Castelnuovo.
Subs not used: 1.Stefan Giglio, 18.Blade Richards, 20.Ali Nasreddine
Yellow Cards: David D’Apuzzo 70’
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale City Suns: 1.Tomislav Arcaba; 3.Steven Hesketh, 4.Sean Symons (16. Daniel Barac 64’), 5.Paul Reid, 6.Takuya Murayama, 8.Paul Kohler, 9.Tadhg Purcell (17.Hristijan Tanoski 83’), 11.Nikola Taneski, 12.Idriss El Hafiane, 20.Tony Lo (24.David Bradasevic 17’), 23.Askin Oygur
Subs not used: 13.Ben Cornish, 14.Joshua Da Silva
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Tomislav Arcaba 17’
Player Ratings:
3- Nikola Taneski (RCS)
2- Marc Warren (ALT)
1- Paul Reid (RCS)
– By Joe Russo, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Lambert Park
Bonnyrigg White Eagles snap up Vrankovic
Bonnyrigg White Eagles have completed the signing of former player and rising young gun David Vrankovic for the remainder of the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 season.
The 20-year-old Australian Youth International has been part of the Melbourne Heart setup in the Hyundai A-League since 2012 and has made 13 appearances for the club.
Having gone through the NSWIS and AIS program as well as playing for Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets’ youth squads, Vrankovic’s signing has come at an ideal time for Brian Brown’s squad who have slowly found their feet in the IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 competition.
His first task will be the big round 7 clash this Saturday as the White Eagles face the Marconi Stallions at the Bonnyrigg Sports Ground.
-By Mark Stavroulakis
Team of the Week – Round Six
As adjudged by Football NSW journalists, here is Team of the Week for Round Six.
FULL LINEUP
GK Matt Nash (Bonnyrigg White Eagles)
RB Anthony Tomelic (Sydney United 58 FC)
LB Chris Tadrosse (Bonnyrigg White Eagles)
CB Brett Studman (Blacktown Spatans)
CB Askin Oygur (Rockdale City Suns)
LM Ray Miller (Blacktown Spartans)
RM Travis Major (Blacktown City)
CM Paul Reid (Rockdale City Suns)
CM Evan Kostopoulos (Sydney Olympic)
ST Mark Cindric (Sydney United 58 FC)
ST Robbie Younis (Bonnyrigg White Eagles)
Suns and Stallions settle for point
Rockdale City Suns FC played out a 1-1 draw with Marconi Stallions FC at the Ilinden Sports Centre in the closing match of round six on Easter Monday.
There was little to separate the two teams in the first half, an evenly clashed match with very few chances on goal.
It took until just past the half hour mark for there to be a breakthrough and it came with the first real opportunity of the match.
32’ minutes were on the clock when Marconi’s rising youngster Jake McGing, running down the right wing, beat his man before crossing to an unmarked Marco Sama in the penalty box.
It appeared to take an eternity, but the Marconi number 9 remained composed before slotting the ball past Rockdale ‘keeper Tomislav Arcaba.
The goal brought to a halt a scrappy opening in which neither side was able to stamp its authority on proceedings.
Ten minutes after going behind, Rockdale City had claimed the equaliser.
This time, it was Rockdale’s number 9 who found the back of the net.
Ex-Marconi striker and Irishman Tadhg Purcell was a full 25 metres out when his bullet of a shot saw Marconi keeper James Chronopoulos, fingertip the ball onto the cross bar before it ended up in the back of the net.
It was a fierce strike and it meant that the scores were level heading into the half time interval.
It was a different scenario in the second half, with Rockdale controlling the midfield and creating a series of chances.
In the 61’ minute, Suns’ in form player Sean Symons should have put the home team in front with a point blank shot, only to hit it straight at Chronopoulos.
This was followed in the 77’ minute when Purcell looked to have beaten the keeper, only to see the ball stop short of the line. It was a narrow miss and one that would prove costly, although a point was still taken.
Rockdale continued to pile on the pressure, which saw them almost rewarded in the 91′ minute.
A great run by the energetic Purcell ended with him crossing the ball from outside the box, finding the in-form Nikola Taneski, but he could only shoot wide of the far post, as Marconi breathed a sigh of relief.
Taneski felt that his side had played well enough to take all three points, but that they let themselves down in front of goal.
"The boys were a bit disappointed with the result, I think we deserved more, but our play in the final third let us down," Taneski said.
"It definitely wasn’t a bad performance. We were a bit disappointed with the result, we pushed on, but the final ball was missing.
"We still have a lot of things we need to work and improve on, we need to kill matches better and when the chance comes up, we need to put the game away."
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns FC 1 (Tadhg Purcell 42’)
Marconi Stallions FC 1 (Marco Sama 32’)
Monday 21 April, 2014
Ilinden Sports Centre
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Kearney Robinson and James Tesso
Fourth Official: S.Green
Rockdale City Suns FC: 1.Tomislav Arcaba; 13.Ben Comish (16.Daniel Barac), 12.Idriss El Hafiane, 3.Steven Hesketh, 8.Paul Kohler, 6.Takuya Murayama, 23.Askin Oygur (C), 9.Tadhg Purcell (18.Woo Seung), 5.Paul Reid, 4.Sean Symons (19.Tony Lo), 11.Nikola Taneski
Substitutes Not Used: 22.David Bradasevic (GK), 25.Nicholas Petrillo
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Marconi Stallions FC: 22.James Chronopoulos (C); 21.Zakeriya El-Rich, 6.Jared Lum, 18.Jake Mcging (18.Shu Sasaki), 15.Tomislav Mijic, 7.Sean O’Connell, 9.Marco Sama (12.Harry Brown), 10.Milorad Simonovic (8.Lochlan Reus), 2.Mitchell Thompson, 11.Jakob Williams, 5.Brenton Rhodes
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Bright Appiah, 40.Aaron Liddell (GK)
Yellow Cards: Tomislav Mijic 30’, Brenton Rhodes 41’, Harry Brown 70’, Shu Sasaki 86’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3- Tadhg Purcell (Rockdale)
2- Paul Reid (Rockdale)
1- Shu Sasaki (Marconi)
– By Anneliese Scenna, National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 Reporter, at Ilinden Sports Centre