Welcome to Blacktown City FC - Season 2012

Round 3 Waratah Cup - Sydney United 58 v BCFC

Round 3 of the Waratah Cup sees BCFC visiting Premier League rivals Sydney United this Wednesday 16th May at Sydney United Sports Centre, kick 19:15.

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Blacktown City FC v APIA-Leichhardt Tigers, Sunday 20th of May, 3:00 pm Lily Homes Stadium

Last Week:

• Blacktown City FC 2 Sydney Olympic 2
• APIA-Leichhardt Tigers 1 Rockdale City Suns 1

Lily Homes is the venue for Blacktown City’s encounter with APIA-Leichhardt as third meets eighth on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides are coming off draws in Round 7, with the former Champions still undefeated this season.

Blacktown City had to dig deep against the ten-men of Sydney Olympic to overturn a two-goal deficit – Mark Crittenden’s men have made it a habit of coming from behind this season.

Japanese imports Yuchi Yamauchi and Ryuji Miyazawa have been brilliant for Blacktown City, as have Travis Major and Ray Miller. Each of these players will need to be at their best against the Tigers.

The Tigers have shown their ability to move the ball around the park with Stephen Kayes and Franco Parisi looking the goods out of midfield, meanwhile Andrew Bevin has been taking all the plaudits with his fabulous work up-front.

Should the Tigers settle in this encounter, especially in midfield, Blacktown City will have a tough time breaking down the play in transition, with the Tigers defence looking very strong with Adel El Jamal and Mark Byrnes giving very little away.

Another tough encounter this weekend, where a win for either side will provide momentum as the halfway stage of the season draws closer.

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U20s Blacktown City vs APIA Leichardt Tigers, 1PM, Lily Homes Stadium

Top of the table Blacktown City host APIA Leichhardt Tigers at the picturesque Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Blacktown were hugely impressive in thumping Sydney Olympic 5-1 last weekend, whilst at the same time they seemed to have a few extra gears to go to if they were required.

APIA dug deep to secure their first win of the season against Rockdale City Suns last weekend and Rod William's side will have to be on their game to stop the rampant Blacktown City attack. The home side possess goal scoring threats all over the park and their movement and pace will certainly be a huge test for the struggling APIA side.

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Nine man Olympic hold on for point against Blacktown City

Blacktown City FC hosted reigning champions Sydney Olympic in a clash of two of the NSW Premier League heavyweights at Lily Homes Stadium on a chilly but sunny Sunday afternoon, in a match that promised much and didn’t disappoint the fans.

Despite all the action and entertainment, the 90’ minutes left a strange taste in the mouth of both teams as nine man Sydney Olympic ground out a 2-2 draw.

The opening stages, as you would expect, were hard fought and not until the 5’ minute did an opportunity of any sort arrive when Chris Triantis spun on the edge of the box for Olympic but fired narrowly over the crossbar.

Blacktown responded with Yuchi Yamauchi slipping the ball into the path of Ray Miller who side-footed tamely toward goal as James Monie and Brett Studman collided and went to ground, although both were able to carry on after treatment.

It promised to be a hard test for the visitors who were missing both first choice centre-backs, possibly for the season.

Travis Major was sent clear through in the 11’ minute for City but striking across the ball saw another wasted opportunity curl away from Paul Henderson’s goal with the goalkeeper left open as the home side began to settle the quicker.

Monie linked with Major in the 17’ minute to cross to the back stick for a Miller header to again sneak past the woodwork as Olympic began to feel the pressure.

Ryuji Miyazawa jinked his way through the Olympic defence with 25’ minutes on the clock and was finally stopped by desperate defence only for the ball to fall to Yamauchi who fired on target with Henderson at full spread to block the attempt.

Major had a header that worried Henderson again for the home side as yet another chance slipped by the post to the relief of Olympic and chagrin of Blacktown and surely it was only a matter of time until the deadlock was broken.

David Gullo received a second yellow card in the space of 5’ minutes, firstly for dissent and the second for a miss-timed tackle, and was ordered from the field in the 35’ minute to leave visiting Olympic down to ten men in an already re-shuffled pack.

Despite the setback, the visitors did produce one of the better chances of the half on 38’ minutes when a cross was met by Matthew Mayora inside the area, only for another effort to be headed wide of the upright as ten man Olympic sparked into life.

Mayora has returned to Sydney after a short stint in the Indian Premier League.

The same player had another moment to break the deadlock in stoppage time when pouncing on a poor back pass, though lifted the ball over ‘keeper Brody Crane, who had had little to do in the opening stanza. The attempt lacked power and was cleared off the line and the sides went to the break scoreless.

The visitors were forced to switch formation early in the second period but still left one up front and looked to close down the midfield supply line, but Matt Lewis sent in a teasing curler in the 50’ minute again met by a Major header that whistled wide of the target.

Sydney Olympic’s resistance reaped reward on 53’ minutes when Chris Triantis was the recipient of a fortunate passage of play to steer wide of Crane and give the visiting side the lead.

The script didn’t go according to plan for Blacktown when Zac Cairncross hauled down Mayora inside the box and Makrys strode up to net the spot-kick to give Olympic an improbable two goal lead in the 57’ minute.

Blacktown were now forced to throw caution to the wind and attempt to utilise their one man advantage however were unable to make inroads until Emmanuel Giannaros was adjudged to have brought down Lewis in the box. The Blues’ defender was shown a straight red card for his attempt, leaving Sydney Olympic with nine men in the 62’ minute.

Major placed the resultant spot-kick to the right of Henderson and reduced the deficit to a single goal as a thrilling second-half unfolded.

The roles were reversed as the visitors were now being forced to defend with two men down and Henderson was called into action to push away an Adam Jenner effort at full stretch as Blacktown powered forward in search of an equaliser.

All present at Lily Homes thought it arrived when Miyazawa was put through on goal, however a last ditch tackle cleared the danger.

Monie restored parity, he thought, in the 70’ minute before realising he had been flagged offside as Blacktown pressed Olympic to defend deeper in their own half of the pitch.

Cairncross then had the chance to level it up from a Lewis cross on the left that was again headed wide of the sticks as chances were created but went begging.

It was all square in the 82’ minute when the ball broke to Miyazawa who was able to spin in the box and fire home from close range.

Daniel Vellonio was introduced for the home side when replacing Ray Miller and his first action was in a collision with Henderson that required a few minutes of attention on the park but was able to carry on after treatment.

There was plenty of passion shown by both sides, and the coaches, as City tried to press home the advantage with increasingly heavy tackles that meant the final 4’ minutes of added time would be action packed.

In stoppage time, Cairncross fired against the post before Monie had another chance that went awry for the home side who would rue their profligacy in front of goal.

Henderson was then forced to push the ball over the crossbar from a deflected header as Olympic used all their reserves to hold City at bay.

The referee’s final whistle was music to the ears of the Sydney Olympic players and coaching staff.

Peter Tsekenis commented afterwards:

“We had no choice but to leave one up front with two players sent off and I cannot fault the commitment of the team but whether it should have come to that is debatable.

“I don’t feel either side played particularly well in the first-half and it was always going to be a battle with nine men for most of the match,” he concluded.

Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden agreed when adding:

“The first-half we were very flat and I feel it might have something to do with playing with just ten men in four of our seven matches this season catching up on us.

“Give Olympic credit, reduced to ten men and for us to then find ourselves 2-0 down was very disappointing but they played very well and probably better than us at times.

“You always feel when against ten and then nine men that you will get something from the match and at the end we were probably unlucky not to come away with all the points after hitting the post a free header at the back stick we couldn’t put away.”

Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 1 (Travis Major 63’ (pen), Miyazawa 82’)

Sydney Olympic 2 (Chris Triantis 53, Phillip Makrys 57’ (pen) )

Sunday 13th May, 2012

Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills

Referee: James Lewis

Assistant Referees: Adam Coombes & Christian Mehl

Fourth Official: Chris Peck

Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Ryo Watanabe, 4.Travis Major, 6.Matt Lewis, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.James Monie, 11.Yuchi Yamauchi (8.Daniel Bragg 46’),14.Adam Jenner, 15.Ray Miller (13.Daniel Vellonio 84’),16.Luke Austin,19.Zac Cairncross

Substitutes Not Used: 20.Lucas Turnbull, 18.Keiran Paull, 38.Harry Brown

Yellow Cards: Austin 52’

Red Cards: Nil

Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 3.Brett Studman, 7.Phil Makrys (C), 8.Peter Triantis, 10.Chris Triantis (14.Sam Awad 85’), 11.William Angel, 12.Troy Danaskos, 18.David Dascal, 19.Daniel Gullo, 24.Matthew Mayora (21.Marton Vass 74’)

Substitutes Not Used: 9.Aman Hadid, 16.Joel Wood, 41.Anthony Bouzanis

Yellow Cards: Makrys 27’, Gullo 31’

Red Cards: Gullo 35’, Giannaros 62’

Player Ratings:

3 – Travis Major (BCFC)

2 – Chris Triantis (SO)

1 – James Monie (BC)

-By Micky Brock