It was another entertaining weekend of football in the National Premier Leagues across Australia. KEEPUP brings you the best bits.
A celebration for the ages!
There are all kinds of goal celebrations – acrobatic, robotic, subdued or traditional – but, Green Gully’s Nahuel Bonada took it to a whole new level over the weekend.
The Argentine striker scored the winning goal on Saturday night, popping up in the 82nd minute to sink Altona Magic 2-1 in NPLM VIC and give fourth-placed Gully a third consecutive win.
Bonada got in behind Magic’s defence and beat the defender and goalkeeper to the ball, as he finished into an empty net before running over to the small section of travelling fans and launching himself into the fence!
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It was the first goal of the 2023 season for Bonada, who made a name for himself in Victoria on the back of his 12-goal campaign for Dandenong Thunder in 2021.
Born in the Argentine city of Cordoba, he moved to Australia and signed for NPLM SA outfit West Adelaide in 2019 before starring at South Australian rivals MetroStars.
After impressing in the NPL with 11 goals in 15 appearances for MetroStars, Bonada caught the eye of A-Leagues clubs and he subsequently spent more than a month on trial with Central Coast Mariners in 2020, scoring in a pre-season friendly against Western Sydney Wanderers.
“I really enjoyed it,” he told kick360 in 2021. “I was there for a month and a half, it was so enjoyable, I enjoyed the training and being in that environment where you have everything, the environment of professional football is unbelievable.”
During his time in Victoria, the 27-year-old also scored against a current Isuzu UTE A-League goalkeeper.
Bonada’s sublime chip left now-Newcastle Jets keeper Michael Weier with no chance in a game between the Thunder and Hume City.
“I scored one against Hume that I chipped the keeper to the second post from outside the 18-yard box and I chipped it to the second post to the keeper,” he recalled to kick360.
“Why that goal, well the keeper was very good, now he’s at Newcastle, and also the goal was beautiful. For me, it was a really, really amazing goal, I couldn’t believe it when I scored to be honest!”
Then when the NPLM VIC season was cancelled in September 2021, he joined Hume City. Initially, it was only to keep fit and train during lockdown.
Instead, he came off the bench in an FFA Cup (now known as the Australia Cup) Round-of-32 clash against Port Melbourne and scored. But that is not all.
Amid his goal celebration, Bonada was sent off in a case of mistaken identity. Fortunately, the red card was eventually overturned upon appeal and he was able to face Melbourne City in the last 16. A Mathew Leckie goal, though, did give City a 1-0 win en route to the quarter-finals.
“It was 30 minutes of craziness. It was so crazy because the first yellow card, people who watched the game, everyone was telling me the first yellow card wasn’t a yellow card and should been a yellow for the Port Melbourne player,” he told kick360.
“For the second yellow, when I scored, I ran to celebrate to the bench to celebrate with the team, the bench, everybody there. There was trouble behind the scenes, [Umut Bodzugan] pushed the keeper, or kicked the keeper or something like that, and the assistant referee thought that was me.
“When I came after the celebration, I went to the halfway line to restart the game again, the referee was calling me over saying come, come. I said ‘me?’ He said to me you can’t do that inside a soccer pitch, in my head I was thinking I did something wrong when I was celebrating but I was really sure that I didn’t do anything. It was a mistake that they made, after the game they apologised.”
Elsewhere in NPLM VIC, South Melbourne were upstaged by rivals Heidelberg United 2-0, while 10-man Avondale FC crushed Moreland City 7-0 with former Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar forward Joey Katebian on target.
Sydney FC’s teenage hero
There was a huge upset in NPLM NSW over the weekend, and it was thanks to a 16-year-old Sydney FC attacker.
Mitchell Glasson was the hero for the Sky Blues, scoring a 90th-minute winner to sink league-leading Sydney United 1-0 on Sunday afternoon.
He came off the bench and headed home a last-gasp header to knock United off top spot.
Glasson was also on target in the previous round, completing the scoring in a 3-1 victory over Central Coast Mariners Academy.
“I think it’s huge, 16-year-old Mitch Glasson comes on as a sub and scores a header like that it’s class, what was also pleasing was the way the boys defended with real desperation to limit their chances,” head coach Jim Van Weeren said via NPL NSW, with the Sky Blues sixth and six points off the pace.
Glasson was selected in the Under-17 Joeys squad for the 2023 Antalya Youth Cup, where Australia came up against Czech Republic, Morocco and Uzbekistan.
He scored in the 2-1 win over Morocco.
And going back even further, Glasson joined forces with Adelaide United’s teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda as the Joeys produced a merciless performance to rout Northern Mariana Islands 23-0 in an AFC U17 Asian Cup 2023 qualifier in October.
In the Shepperton fixture, Irankunda scored four goals and, not to be outdone, Glasson also bagged four!
Also involved in that campaign was Miguel Di Pizio, who scored twice against Northern Mariana Islands.
He pulled the strings for the Central Coast Mariners in their NPLM NSW fixture against Mt Druitt Town Rangers in what was his first start at NPL level.
The Mariners lost 4-1 at Pluim Park, but Di Pizio registered an assist – teeing up Sasha Kuzevski’s 12th-minute equaliser.
Kuzevski has made eight appearances for Nick Montgomery’s first team this term.
Elsewhere, defending champions Blacktown City made a statement with a 5-1 win over reigning premiers Sydney Olympic.
A-Leagues legend fuels Sydney Olympic
Teresa Polias has been a regular guest on the Official Liberty A-League Podcast this season, as well as Dub Zone, but the A-Leagues legend is still producing the goods on the football pitch too.
Polias, who holds the record for most Liberty A-League appearances alongside Michelle Heyman, is playing for Sydney Olympic in NPLW NSW and they made it two wins from two games to start 2023.
Her corner teed up the game-winning goal as Ash Irwin headed home to give Olympic a 1-0 win over Blacktown Spartans.
Olympic are top of the table, two points ahead of Manly United, Northern Tigers, Bankstown City, APIA Leichhardt and Bulls FC Academy.
In Victoria, the NPLW VIC season got underway over the weekend.
Defending champions Calder United drew 3-3 with Box Hill United as captain and Western United train-on player Isabella Sewards scored in a game that saw the home side salvage a draw courtesy of a 95th-minute penalty.
An ex-Roar youngster lighting up NPL QLD
Moreton Bay United are taking NPLM QLD by storm, topping the standings behind the form of their striker Marquez Walters.
Walters previously played for Brisbane Roar’s youth team, but the 21-year-old is now making a name for himself at Moreton Bay.
On the back of his eight-goal campaign in 2022, he has scored four goals in four games this season.
He scored a brace in Moreton Bay’s 5-2 win over Eastern Suburbs.
Moreton Bay are top of the table ahead of Sunshine Coast Wanderers on goal difference, two points clear of Gold Coast United and Lions FC.
Lions FC edged Brisbane Roar Youth 1-0 thanks to a goal from former Wellington Phoenix and A-Leagues full-back Louis Fenton.
Meanwhile, the NPLM WA and NPLM Tasmania seasons began across the weekend.
Reigning champions Floreat Athena were upstaged 3-2 by Inglewood United, Top Four Cup holders Perth RedStar drew 1-1 with Perth SC and Armadale crushed Cockburn City 6-1.
Scottish striker Daryl Nicol, meanwhile, was at it again with a goal for RedStar, having scored 111 goals in 146 matches in the NPL WA heading into Round 1.
In Tasmania, defending champions Devonport City were held to a surprising 1-1 draw against Zebras while South Hobart, Launceston City and Glenorchy Knights were victorious.
