Round 12 saw Blacktown Spartans return to the winner’s circle and in doing so retain their five point lead at the top of the table.
Round 12 saw Blacktown Spartans return to the winner’s circle and in doing so retain their five point lead at the top of the table.
Blacktown City kept the pressure on with a win while at the other end of the table APIA-Leichhardt gained a much needed three points at home on Saturday night.
Sydney Olympic 2-1 Sydney United 58, at Belmore Sports Ground
These two played just ten days ago in the Waratah Cup quarter a final, a match in which Sydney Olympic was victorious.
The Reds were out to make amends on a gloomy day at Belmore Sports Ground and they got themselves off to the perfect start when Mirjan Pavlovic headed them into a third minute lead.
He was well and truly unmarked when Ante Tomic swung in a set piece and Pavlovic had no problem hitting the target to open the scoring.
It was a lead United held into the break despite Olympic banging on the door. They had chances, most of them falling to Evan Kostpoulos, but they just couldn’t breach the United defence.
That changed in the first sixty seconds of the second half when Dmitri Hatzimouratis made a fool of the usually reliable Nathan Sherlock, twisting him inside and out before firing past United’s stand-in keeper Anthony Costa.
The turnaround was complete when, in the 70th minute, Bradley Treloar took advantage of some poor judgement from Costa and a slice of luck to lash home a loose ball in the area and give Olympic a win that they thoroughly deserved.
Sutherland Sharks 1-2 Blacktown Spartans, at Seymour Shaw Park
Sutherland were seeking atonement for their 6-1 loss in Round One to the same opposition and they were desperately unlucky not to gain it.
Sutherland looked the goods for all three points once Nicholas Olsen had given the home side the lead in the first half.
Spartans skipper Carlos Saliadarre made a string of superb saves between the sticks to keep his side in it, and that they eventually took three points was very much down to the performance of their gloveman.
Tomislav Cirjak scored with nine minutes to go to level the score and just when the game seemed destined to end one a piece the in-form Corey Biczo popped up to score in stoppage time to give Spartans the win and break Sutherland hearts.
APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 3-1 St George, at Lambert Park
APIA’s long climb towards finals football started on Saturday evening as they put St George to the sword at Lambert Park.
APIA have assembled their best squad in many a year, with Hyundai A-League experience in Marc Warren, Blake Powell and now Joe Gibbs all on board.
Two of the three scored in this match but it was Brad McDonald who gave APIA the lead with a good finish.
St George rallied though and equalised through David Talevski in the 54th minute.
The match seemed to be following a familiar pattern for the Tigers but Gibbs on his debut popped up to score with only seven minutes to go before Powell added the icing to the cake in stoppage time; giving APIA renewed hope that they can make something of this season.
Rockdale City Suns 0-1 Bonnyrigg White Eagles, at Ilinden Sports Centre
This was the very definition of a “smash-and-grab” victory as Bonnyrigg kept a seventh clean sheet in eight matches before striking late to beat Rockdale City Suns.
Suns’ coach Branko Culina has lamented all season at the wastefulness of his side and it was no different here as Rockdale City spurned a number of great chances to put the ball in the back of the net.
They have the quality but are failing to execute at the moment and it cost them three points here.
With just four minutes to go Bonnyrigg was awarded a penalty and Robbie Younis made no mistake from the spot to keep the White Eagles juggernaut rolling.
Manly United 0-1 Marconi Stallions, at Cromer Park
Manly United’s struggle goes on but Marconi’s new coach Paul Carter has enough to worry about to having taken on head coach role at the Stallions during the week.
They won 1-0 at Cromer Park thanks to a second half penalty from the experienced Matthew Thompson.
This match, low on highlights, confirmed that both coaches have a lot on their plates heading into Round 13 and Manly coach Paul Dee will hope that the wins start to come soon as his side is rooted to the bottom of the table.
Blacktown City 3-0 South Coast Wolves, at Lilys Football Centre
Blacktown City so far look the most capable of chasing down Spartans, especially after their win against them last weekend.
They kept their foot on the pedal against South Coast Wolves, giving the visitors from Wollongong no chance to steal a point or three at Lilys Football Centre.
Travis Major, re-cast as a centre forward this season by Mark Crittenden, has taken to his role fantastically and he scored another goal in the final few minutes of the first half, heading past Thomas Hamilton.
The goal gave Blacktown City the confidence to push on and they played with style and confidence, as they have for much of the season.
Late goals to substitute Danny Choi and Ryuiji Miyazawa added a nice glossy finish to a good afternoon for Blacktown City, who burst Wolves’ Nahuel Arrarte inspired bubble.
