Welcome to Wonderkid Watch: A weekly piece that keeps you up to date with the players and stories emerging from A-Leagues clubs playing at NPL level in Australia.
Hat-trick hero ignites Wanderers
Nathaneal Blair is taking NPLM NSW by storm this season following his exploits over the weekend.
The 19-year-old striker scored a hat-trick for Western Sydney Wanderers in their 4-1 win over 10-man NWS Spirit on Saturday.
It was Blair’s first hat-trick in the NPL, having come off a six-goal campaign in the league last term, after scoring twice in the final nine minutes.
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He has now scored six goals in his past three matches for the Wanderers, who are two points off the pace with a game in hand.
“We backed ourselves,” Blair said via NPL NSW. “We’re all fit. When you play through feet and trust each other, the results will come.
“I’ve been working hard, especially on my finishing so I’m glad I could get three. I mean that’s six in three, so you’ll definitely take that.”
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Blair is contracted to Western Sydney until the end of 2023-24, having signed a two-year scholarship contract in 2022. He made three appearances for Marko Rudan’s team last season.
This season, he came off the bench late in the Wanderers’ 2-1 Isuzu UTE A-League win over Adelaide United last month.
And it all comes after Blair spent a year away from football before returning to play for APIA Leichhardt in 2022 prior to joining the Wanderers.
“I had heard from my coach that some of the teams were interested in me, watching my games, but obviously to be called and told that they want to sign you – there’s no feeling like it,” said Blair at the time of him signing a scholarship contract with the Wanderers in June 2022.
“I was actually at work at Bunnings when I got the call with the Wanderers saying we’re interested, we want to sign you. So obviously I finished that phone call and then went back to serving customers.
“There’s a lot of hard work for me to do. I’m looking forward to the pre-season but I’ve got to make sure I keep my head down and push myself. Hopefully the results will come.
“I’d like to think I bring some character. I enjoy people, I work hard and I’d like to think I can score some goals. I think potentially it’s because I model what a number 9 can do. I’m strong, fast and I like to shoot on goal. If I can spend some time honing my skills here, I really think I can be really useful for him (head coach Mark Rudan) in the upcoming season.
“My own personal goals are just to end up scoring some goals. I like to score them and with that I can bring success to the team.”
Elsewhere in NPL NSW, Sydney FC came from behind to dismantle Central Coast Mariners 4-1.
Tiago Quintal was among the goalscorers for the Sky Blues on Friday night before he was among the substitutes for the first time for Saturday’s Isuzu UTE A-League clash against Brisbane Roar.
In Football NSW League One, Bulls FC Academy drew 2-2 after rallying from two goals down over the weekend.
The Bulls – Macarthur FC’s youth team – trailed 2-0 after 25 minutes but Zane Helweh reduced the deficit prior to half-time before Joel Bertolissio equalised nine minutes from the end as the team dropped points for the first time this season.
Janni Rafty and Will Dobson scored for Newcastle Jets in their 2-2 League Two draw with South Coast Flame.
Victory continue to fly high in Victoria
Melbourne Victory remain the team to beat and undefeated in VPL1.
Victory showed no mercy in their 4-0 rout of North Geelong Warriors over the weekend.
Matt Bozinovski, Eli Adams, Jesse Hoey and Damien Bozinvoski scored for the league leaders, who are yet to taste defeat in five matches in the state’s second tier below NPLM VIC.
Tobenna Obani scored for Melbourne City but they lost 3-1 to Langwarrin, who are level on 13 points with Victory.
Patrick Beach was in goals for City after he was called up by the Olyroos for this month’s West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Under-23 Championship in Saudi Arabia.
In NPLM SA, Musa Toure was on target for Adelaide United.
Adelaide suffered their third straight loss to begin the season after going down to Para Hills Knights 2-1, having conceded in the 93rd minute.
Reds sensation Toure – who has scored one goal in seven A-Leagues appearances this season – had equalised for Adelaide with a goal from outside the box in the 13th minute before Para Hills won it at the death.
Over in NPLW NSW, Bulls FC Academy made it two wins from two matches with a 4-2 victory over Football NSW Institute.
Isabella Coco-Di Sipio and Amber Luchtmeijer scored within a minute of each other in the 18th minute to cancel out FNSW’s opener, while Daniella Naeimi also struck as Luchtmeijer added another in the second half.
As for Emerging Jets, they lost 5-0 against newly promoted UNSW FC.
