Super League Round 13 Review

posted by Artie on June 13, 2011

West Sydney Berries moved to the top of Super League with a thumping 4-1 win over Central Coast, becoming the fourth club this season to head the table.

Previous leaders Macarthur Rams fell at home to Northern Tigers, who claimed their second win in a row while Sydney University surprised Granville Rage with a four goal first half burst.

Fraser Park alleviated some of their worries with a strong 2-1 win against St George, who consequently dropped out of the five for the first time this season.

Feature Match of the Week

Fraser Park v St George FC

Fraser Park won their first match since round four when they overcame St George 2-1 at home to give themselves a little breathing space as they look to move away from the relegation zone.

Fraser’s squad has been strengthened since the arrival of new coach David Perkovic with Maurice Aliberti, from Granville Rage, and Troy Eedy, from Dulwich Hill, arriving in the past week to join earlier recruit Danny Wilson. The addition of another Japanese recruit, Yuya Tamari, has also added some further class. While Eedy did not gain start time in first grade, Aliberti, Tamari and Wilson did, and the change was noticeable.

They started impressively too, dominating the opening exchanges and keeping St George penned in their own half for large parts of the initial period. There was little though in the way of goalmouth action, both defences holding firm on a heavy pitch.

It was a simple loss of possession though that created the first goal. The Saints turned over the ball too easily, as they mounted an attack, and Fraser Park took advantage. On a quick counter attack, Tony Faria wide on the left shot across the face of goal, the ball somehow creeping into the far bottom corner, catching the Saints defence off balance.

If that wasn’t bad enough for the visitors, it turned even worse minutes later when James Kovas received a straight red card for stomping during a challenge. Down the ten men with still an hour to play, it didn’t look good for St George.

The Saints had rarely troubled Ivan Kovacevic, a long range strike from David Smith being the closest to a Saints attack on goal. But just moments before the break, Smith again tried from distance and Kovacevic fumbled, allowing the ball to bundle into goal.

At the break, the 1-1 gave St George some hope but Fraser Park opened the second half still keen for the three points. They struck the upright a quarter of an hour in, this being their closest chance but as the half wore on and the score remained tied, St George began to increase the pressure, and despite being a man down, took the game to Fraser Park. Denis Cutura came on for Ivo de Jesus with twenty five minutes to go, and it seemed for a time that perhaps St George would pinch the win. Kovacevic came to the rescue, saving from a Cutura strike while the keeper again did well in claiming a Reuben Lagos free kick which was hurled dangerously into the area.

Fraser’s attacks were generally annulled, particularly by Mark Bariamis, who tackled superbly in closing down the danger on numerous occasions.

But then there was another simple turnover of possession, and St George again paid the price.

As the Saints cleared needlessly, and aimlessly, across midfield, directly to Fraser Park, Fraser remounted another attack, and a superb cross from the left was headed firmly at the far post by Leigh Gunn.

Fraser Park celebrated wildly, the goal coming with under ten minutes to go. They sensed victory and though St George tried to recover, any hope was surely lost when Simon Verrender received a second yellow card, with two minutes left on the clock.

The win, and the performance by Fraser Park, will provide encouragement for a brighter second half of the season, while St George will need to get over this mid season slump in a hurry if they want to retain hopes of a title.

Fraser Park 2 (Tony Faria 30’, Leigh Gunn 81’) v St George 1 (David Smith 45’)

11 June 2011

at Fraser Park

Referee: Andrew Best

Assts: Alec Smith and Chris Peck

Fraser Park: 1. Ivan Kovacevic 22. Yuya Tamari 4. Maurice Aliberti 6. Anthony Barletta 10. Paulo Oliviera (3. Andrea Russo 73’) 24. Danny Wilson (21. Anthony Villazon) 18. Masanari Omura 2. Ryuta Nambu 20. Carlos Villazon 9. Leigh Gunn 16. Tony Faria (17. Wassim Hijazi 77’)

Subs not used: 27. Tomas Patrovsky 12. Troy Eedy.

Yellow Cards: Nil

Coach: David Perkovic

St George: 1. Daniel Nash 4. Daniel Fallico (7. George Lagoudakis 81’) 2. Michael Smith 14. Mark Bariamis 8. Jason Gonzalez 22. Brad Gibson (10. Peter Vassilis 77’) 6. Reuben Lagos 3. David Smith 5. Simon Verrender 25. Ivo de Jesus (9. Denis Cutura 64’) 11. James Kovas

Subs not used: 12. Luke Turnbull 18. Simon di Natale

Yellow Cards: David Smith, Simon Verrender

Red cards: James Kovas 32’, Simon Verrender 88’

Coach: Kory Babington

Sydney University v Granville Rage

Sydney University swept back into form with a 4-0 hammering of Granville Rage, the win relieving some pressure after a few recent indifferent results.

It was four goals in the first half which stunned the Rage, a team who prior to the match had the best defence in the league. With only ten goals conceded in the season to date, the Rage must have wondered what hit them.

James O’Rourke got the first, getting the last touch to a corner after fourteen minutes to give Uni the lead. The second arrived just three minutes later when Uni won possession in midfield, and hoisted a long ball to Liam McConaghy. David McMurray was the recipient as McConaghy whipped in a cross, putting it away for number two.

That wasn’t the end of it though, as the Rage tried to recover. Another two goals in four minutes ran the scoreline out to 4-0 before the half was up. Leon Pirello made it three before McConaghy himself got on the scoresheet, turning on the edge of the box and shaking off a couple of challengers before scoring under Jason Holmes.

“We really got on a roll early”, said John Calleja, “and I think Granville were just shell shocked. They seemed shattered [by the goals].”

“We played a bit like we did against St George, gave up the ball a bit but when we attacked, we felt we could expose them. The Rage didn’t deserve it really, it was hard not to feel a bit for them.

“But it was a great first half performance, although the second half was frittered away a little. We didn’t go on with it but I can’t get too disappointed with that”.

Sydney University 4 (James O’Rourke 14’ David McMurray 17’ Leon Pirrello 38’ Liam McConaghy 41’) Granville Rage 0

Dulwich Hill v Blacktown Spartans

Blacktown Spartans’ season just keeps getting better. With a run to the quarter finals of the Waratah Cup, they have also hit the top five for the first time this season after a comprehensive win over Dulwich Hill.

It might have been a 3-1 scoreline, but the Spartans scored all four goals, and could have had a couple more in probably their most impressive game this season.

Dulwich Hill took the lead early but while Robbie Shields may have been credited with the goal, there was no doubt, at least from the Spartans point of view, that it was an own goal. Shields shot across goal, but with no Dully team mate in attendance, it was left to the Spartans’ Danny Wells to turn the ball into his own net.

It didn’t take too long for Blacktown to draw level though. A powerful bomb from Tom Spencer, thirty metres out, got the Spartans the equaliser and then Simon Zahra shot into the bottom left, from the top of the box, to give Blacktown the lead, just after the half hour.

A further second half goal to Spencer, after a Mario Ghobrial break, made sure of victory.

“That was our best football of the season”, stated Ben de Hann. “It was a fantastic game and we totally outplayed them. They were three great team goals, and our passing, overlapping, and even just keeping the football was our best of the year.”

“And we missed some absolute howlers too. We seemed to score the hard ones but miss the easy ones”.

Blacktown face Northern Tigers on Tuesday and it is a game that de Hann is keen to play, notwithstanding the weather.

“We really want to play the game. We are still in the cup and that is on next week, and you can guarantee that there will be another wet weekend somewhere. You just don’t know what will happen if you play too many catch up games, players get injured and suspensions start to play their part at this time of the year too. We would really like to get another three points to really put some pressure on the five”.

Dulwich Hill 1 (Robbie Shields 12’) Blacktown Spartans 3 (Thomas Spencer 22’/63’ Simon Zahra 31’)

Macarthur Rams v Northern Tigers

Northern Tigers appear to be back with a vengeance after claiming an impressive win at Lynwood Park to climb well within striking distance of the top five.

Following their win against Hills Brumbies last Sunday, the Tigers repeated the dose with a strong performance against the previous league leaders.

The Tigers seem to have recovered from their goalscoring woes, with another two goals coming in this match. Thomas Mackay scored with a glancing header from a corner ten minutes before half time to give the away side the lead. It was a lead they held right till the end, despite being under some intense pressure from the Rams, before making absolutely sure of the points when Adam Hett scored with a brilliant first time strike, well into injury time.

“They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half”, said Jason Eagar, “but while they had plenty of possession and territory, they didn’t really have a lot of chances”.

“When I looked at the stats, they had only four shots on goal, and there were no really clear cut chances in the second half. But despite the pressure, we were able to roll our sleeves up and get the win”.

Macarthur Rams 0 Northern Tigers 2 (Thomas Mackay 35’, Adam Hett 93’)

West Sydney Berries v Central Coast

West Sydney Berries didn’t take long to get over the disappointment of Waratah Cup elimination, moving swiftly to the top of Super League with a 4-1 defeat of Central Coast.

One thing the Berries can’t be accused of is not scoring goals. They have scored seventeen goals in the past five games, with the goals being shared around too.

Stefan de Jesus continued his good run of form, scoring three minutes before half time to give the Berries the lead at the break. Two goals in quick succession after the restart put the Berries in a very comfortable position. Dimitri Zakilas put West Sydney 2-0 up with his eighth of the season before John Tsironis scored four minutes later to make it three.

Kodjo Adjassou, in his first league game after returning from injury, came off the bench to make it 4-0 with eighteen minutes left and the three points were safe.

Central Coast, who had made a competitive go of the match, got one back through Louis Bozanic, and later hit the cross bar, but with little time left, they were never going to come back from there.

“We really are scoring a lot of goals”, commented Steve Karavatakis. “We put a lot of pressure on teams, especially going forward, and they do tend to lose the ball”.

“Our defending has been very good too, we are playing well across the park. Jack Sobcyk has been a great signing and he is a quality player. He has been a big plus to the side”.

The loss in the Waratah Cup was a shame for the Berries, but there is an upside.

“In a way it was disappointing, but it also means that we can concentrate on the rest of the season. We have been a bit fortunate that other results have gone our way the whole season. We started off slowly but no team was going out in front which has helped us. The club want to go up and I think the club deserve it too”, he finished.

For Peter Preston, he had nothing but kind words for the Berries.

“They were just too ruthless”, he said, “especially in the front third. They had too much firepower and were a lot more clinical”.

“I thought we went with them for a good forty minutes but when they scored just before half time, it deflated us a little bit. And when they got the two goals just after half time, the game was dead.”

“They also don’t seem to care if they concede goals either, because they know that they will score. They seem quite happy to win a game 10-9 if they have to.”

As for his own side, Preston was as complimentary.

“I am as pleased as punch for my team. They tried hard and we hit the post three times. The results this weekend have favoured us a bit and how we go in the next three weeks will decide a lot for us this season. We are only one win out of the five and I can see it being very tight right until the end”.

West Sydney Berries 4 (Stefan De Jesus 42’ Dimitri Zakilas 47’ John Tsironis 51’ Kodjo Adjassou 72’) Central Coast FC 1 (Louis Bozanic 82’)

Playing Mon 13 June

Hills Brumbies v Spirit FC 3pm

Top Scorers

10 - Kris Holbrook (Granville Rage)

8 - Chris Gomez (Macarthur Rams)

Grant Maundrell (Central Coast)

Dimitri Zakilas (West Sydney Berries)

7 - Juan Chavez (Spirit FC)

Shannon Hankin (Macarthur Rams)

6 - Stefan de Jesus (West Sydney Berries)

Ante Deur (West Sydney Berries)