In another week of fantastic NSW Premier League Grade 20s action, Blacktown City were the standout team of Round 7, scoring five at Lily Home Stadium against Sydney Olympic.

It was comfortably the highest scoring match of the weekend, as the rest of the games were all decided by either one or two goals.

Bonnyrigg White Eagles pulled off the upset of the weekend, defeating the previously impressive Blacktown Spartans on Saturday evening.

A hat trick from Harry Brown, an own goal and a neat finish from Dillon Vorster saw Blacktown City demolish Sydney Olympic 5-1 in what was a comprehensive attacking performance. Blacktown City were dominant from start to finish and only a James Demetriou goal took the gloss off what was an otherwise perfect Sunday afternoon at a sunny but windy Lily Homes Stadium.

Blacktown City were immediately in the ascendancy at Lily Homes Stadium, Mark Strachan's side displaying why they are atop the league table. Sydney Olympic could barely get a foot on the ball as the league leaders knocked the it around with ease.

It took just a quarter of an hour for the home side to open the scoring, thanks to a neat finish from Harry Brown, who showed excellent technique to score his first goal of the afternoon.

Blacktown broke down the right hand side, where David Cain's cross found David Adjasson in acres of space on the far side of the penalty area. He was able to chest the ball down into the path of Brown, who executed a perfect volley into the far bottom corner of the Sydney Olympic goal.

Olympic were struggling to get a foothold in the match as Blacktown City exuded an air of confidence both with and without the ball.

Olympic were restricted to just one shot on goal in the first half, Amaury Gauttier firing over from 25 yards on the half an hour. A minute later the same player was booked for a nasty looking studs up challenge, perhaps borne out of the frustration of the first half performance.

Blacktowm City should have added to their one-nil lead, but Harry Brown, so impressive in the opening half, lobbed wide when one on one with the Olympic keeper.

City were gaining much joy down the right hand side of their attack and David Cain wasted a good chance to double Blacktown's lead. The ball broke down the inside right channel and Cain, in a fair amount of space, was off balance as he fired high and wide.

The second half started much the same as the first, with Blacktown City well and truly in control.

Nathan Tsioulos was lucky not to be sent off as he committed a foul on the edge of the area as Harry Brown surged towards goal. Adjassou curled the resultant free kick over the bar, but Blacktown City were very much in control.

Tsioulos committed a cheap foul soon after and was walking a tightrope as Blacktown continued to run at the vulnerable defence. Tsioulos was substituted in the 68th minute as coach Jerry Bilokapic tried to make sure they finished the game with eleven on the park.

By the time of the substitution Blacktown had already added two more goals to leave Olympic with no hope of a comeback.

Firstly, Craig Stratton put the ball into his own net after good work down the left from Dolor Edosomwan, before Dillon Vorster added the third, rounding the keeper and slotting in with consummate ease.

Jason Madonis and James Demetriou were introduced by Bilokapic as he tried to change the flow of the game, but it had little effect as Blacktown City continued their dominance.

Demetriou did have a good chance to pull one back for the visitors, but when one on one with Luke Turnbull, the Blacktown City keeper made an excellent save low to his left.

15 year old Ryan Peterson was introduced by Mark Strachan with seventeen minutes to go as the other youngsters on the bench, Daniel Araujo, Dom Dileo and keeper Mitch Seagers all saw action in the final quarter of an hour.

Olympic found the time to concede a penalty as Craig Stratton was booked for a challenge in the area. Harry Brown stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, thrashing the ball high to the left.

Sydney Olympic scored a consolation goal though as the substitute Demetriou smashed a shot through the legs of the substitute keeper, Seagers, before Brown completed his hat trick, slotting in one on one to complete another hugely impressive Blacktown City performance.

MATCH STATS

BLACKTOWN CITY: L. Turnbull, H. Brown, L. Clifford, D. Adjasson, N Sansom, D. Edosomwan, L. Jenner, T. Taylor, K. Paull, A. Schroeder, D. Cain.

SUBSTITUTES: D. Vorster, D. Arajo, D. Dileo, R. Peterson, M. Seagers.

GOAL SCORERS: H. Brown 15'; Stratton (OG) 53'; D. Vorster 63'; H Brown (PEN) 75'; H Brown 85'.

SYDNEY OLYMPIC: A. Bouzanis, B. Hooper, N. Tsioulos, B. Rodrigues, A. Elrich, M. Vass, M. Sama, D. Stivala, A. Gauttier, D. Taylor, C. Stratton.

SUBSTITUTES: J. Madonis, L. Falcone, J. Triantis, J. Demetriou, L. Rossi.

GOAL SCORERS: J. Demetriou (78').

A brace from Blacktown’s Jamie Monie secured the three points for the visitors as they defeated a winless Parramatta 2-0 at Melita Stadium.

Despite missing four key men including captain Luke Roodenburg through suspension, Blacktown put in a performance that was good enough on the day.

Lee Sterrey’s Parramatta side went out with a far more positive game plan. They’ve been accused of ‘parking the bus’ in previous matches, but there was none of that this week.

The ideas were good, but Parramatta lacked the execution and they were made to suffer for any lapse in defence.

A goal in the 6’ minute came against the run of play. Blacktown’s Travis Major sent the ball long, it deflected off Parramatta’s Irish defender Mark O’Reilly straight into the path of an unmarked James Monie who smashed the ball in the top corner.

Monie was in the right spot again in the 82’ following a cross from substitute Daniel Vollonio. He slotted the ball into the back of the net.

The match provided few talking points, but Lee Sterrey will be on the receiving end of plenty of comments when he heads to his day job on Monday.

He works with his opposite number, Blacktown coach Mark Crittenden, and he knows he’ll have to put up with the banter throughout the week.

“There’ll be good banter in the shed. It’s been on for weeks, we knew what round the match was in and a few of the workers there have been giving me plenty,’’ Sterrey said.

While it was a frustrating performance from Parramatta, there were some bright spots.

Kwabena Appiah-Kubi put in another decent performance for the home side and showed class through periods of the match, but his final ball was often lacking and he received little support up front.

The Japanese contingent on both sides proved their worth - with Blacktown’s Yuchi Yamauchi giving Parramatta’s defence several headaches, while Parramatta’s Akiyoshi Saito put in a solid performance.

Parramatta created plenty of chances, but had few clear goal scoring opportunities.

Blacktown City substitute Delor Edosomwan wasted a golden chance to take the game to 3-0 in the 89’ when his shot went across the face of goal.

Blacktown coach Mark Crittenden was pleased with the result, but wasn’t blown away by the performance:

“It wasn’t the highest quality game. I give full credit to Parramatta, their tempo was good. We were a bit off the mark to be fair but sometimes you have to grind out results,” he said.

“We had four out – Roodenburg, Gatt, Austin and Brag. I thought our two central stoppers were excellent tonight.

“It wasn’t a polished performance because Parramatta pressured us.’’

Crittenden said he had anticipated that his co-worker would change his game plan for their clash”

“I knew Lee would change. Everyone says they park the bus but I knew he would have something different tonight.”

Crittenden promised he’d go easy on Sterrey at work on Monday.

“It’s been an interesting week at work. We’re pretty good mates. We don’t talk a lot of football between - it’s more between the other workers.”

The Blacktown coach said he’s pleased with his side’s progress after six rounds, and is relishing the challenge of facing champions Sydney Olympic next week:

“We’re going well, considering we’ve had ten men in four of our games. We’re sitting where we’d like to be.

“We’re hoping for three points against Olympic next week.’’

Sterrey is disappointed to have missed another chance to grab those elusive three points, but he saw plenty of positives in the game.

“We knew they’d be sharp and they’d move into different areas. We knew the way they’d play, I know them very well. They’re a good side Blacktown, a top side,’’ he said.

“We dropped our bundle again after the second goal, but overall I’m happy with some of the new faces and I’m happy that we opened the game up.

“Our execution in the front third is terrible. We’re looking sharp in different areas. We’ve given a lot of young kids a chance at the Premier League level and I think that’s what it’s all about.’’

Sterrey said there is quality in his young side that he wants to nurture, including winger Kwabena Appiah-Kubi.

“I can’t fault his effort– it was first class. I thought Gullo was very good in the central midfield.

“Aki (Saito) has been our best player by a long mile. I think he’s an A-League player easily. We’ve got to start doing more in front of goals and in the front third.’’

Sterrey said the priority is to stay in the Premier League and continue to develop the club’s core of young players.

“We’re easily the smallest budget in the league- but the quality we’ve got in the youngsters, and the experience they’re going to get playing at this level- it’s a work in progress.

“We’ve got to make sure we stay up this year. The kids we’re giving opportunities to this year will be much better player s next year.’’

Match Stats

Parramatta FC 0

Blacktown City FC 2 (James Monie 6’, 82’)

Saturday May 5th, 2012

Melita Stadium, South Granville

Parramatta FC: 1.Matt Nash; 3.Andy Matloub, 4.Domenic Trimboli, 5.Mark O’Reilly, 19.Auos Altaee, 10.Akiyoshi Saito (2.Nicholas McInerney 82’), 16.Daniel Gullo, 11.Bruno Pivato (9.Aaron Peterson 71’), 13.Daniel Rezo (17.Hassan Daramy 60’), 8.Brian Soane, 14.Kwabena Appiah-Kubi

Substitutes Not Used: 18.Nicholas Napoli, 23.M. Sakowicz

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Ryo Watanabe, 4.Travis Major (18.Kieren Paull 86’), 6.Matt Lewis, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.James Monie, 11.Yuchi Yamauchi, 12.David Cain (39.Delor Edosomwan 80’), 14.Adam Jenner, 15.Ray Miller, (13.Daniel Vollonio 67’), 19.Zac Cairncross

Substitutes Not Used: 20.Lucas Turnbull, 17.Tom Taylor;

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings:

3 - James Monie (BCFC)

2 - Yuchi Yamauchi (BCFC)

1 - Akiyoshi Saito (PFC)

-By Alex Zerafa

 Just when you may have thought the competitions had settled into a somewhat predictable pattern, along come this week when there were a great many “surprise” results and the tables were well shaken, not stirred. Some weeks ago I indicated that this season might be the tightest for many a year and the indications at this stage are that my prediction may well come true. Only time will tell.

Overview

There would have been plenty of smiles from the folk at Sutherland Sharks after they bagged all fifteen points from their visit to Blacktown Spartans while Manly United may have been seriously pleased when they went home from their trip to Rockdale City Suns with a dozen points in their collective pockets.

Marconi Stallions were forced to share the spoils at seven points apiece from their home fixture against South Coast Wolves and Bonnyrigg White Eagles snatched ten points from their short journey to neighbouring Sydney United 58.

Parramatta FC hosted Blacktown City and the visitors made off with eleven of the available points without losing a match on the day while Sydney Olympic grabbed nine points when they paid a visit to APIA Leichhardt Tigers.

Grade 13

Bonnyrigg White Eagles are standing on the top rung of the ladder on goal difference after they produced a very respectable 3-0 success over Sydney United 58 who are fifth and Marconi Stallions are placed second following their surprising 1-1 draw with thirteenth placed South Coast Wolves who were earning their first point for the season.

Third placed Sydney Olympic took their unbeaten sequence to five matches when they battled out a scoreless draw with sixth placed APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Manly United are fourth on goal difference thanks to their very solid 5-0 victory over eleventh placed Rockdale City Suns.

Sutherland Sharks are sitting in eighth place after they posted a 4-0 result over ninth placed Blacktown Spartans while tenth placed Blacktown City recorded their fourth draw for the season when their clash with twelfth placed Parramatta FC ended at 2-2.

SAP U/15 Girls are in seventh spot after they posted a 1-0 success over South Coast Wolves and a scoreless draw with Parramatta FC

Grade 14

Rockdale City Suns are leading the way on the competition table following their 4-2 win over last week’s leaders Manly United who are now in third place while Marconi Stallions are in second spot thanks to their 2-0 success over eleventh placed South Coast Wolves.

Fourth placed APIA Leichhardt Tigers dropped back from second place when they were held to a scoreless draw by thirteenth placed Sydney Olympic and Blacktown Spartans are fifth after they suffered a 3-1 loss to ninth placed Sutherland Sharks.

Bonnyrigg White Eagles are in seventh position after they claimed the points from sixth placed Sydney United 58 with a 2-1 scoreline and twelfth placed Blacktown City produced their first win for the season when they overcame eighth placed Parramatta FC by the odd goal in five.

The tenth placed Skilleroos were 1-0 winners when they faced Parramatta FC.

Grade 15

Sutherland Sharks have established a lead on the competition table following their solid 4-0 result over fifth placed Blacktown Spartans and Marconi Stallions are placed second thanks to their 2-0 victory over thirteenth placed South Coast Wolves.

APIA Leichhardt Tigers are third on goal difference after they were held to a 1-1 draw when they faced ninth placed Sydney Olympic while Blacktown City are right behind the Tigers at fourth on goal difference following their 3-0 win over eleventh placed Parramatta FC.

Sixth placed Manly United came up with a 3-0 victory in their match against seventh placed Rockdale City Suns and Bonnyrigg White Eagles are in eighth position after they were held to a scoreless draw by Sydney United 58 who are placed tenth.

Grade 16

Manly United are the competition frontrunners after they registered a strong 3-0 result over Rockdale City Suns who are seventh on goal difference and Blacktown Spartans slipped back to second when they were beaten 4-0 by fourth placed Sutherland Sharks.

Blacktown City are in third place on goal difference after they claimed the points with a 2-0 result over eleventh placed Parramatta FC while Marconi Stallions are placed fifth following their 2-1 loss to ninth placed South Coast Wolves.

Sixth placed Bonnyrigg White Eagles suffered a 1-0 loss when they faced eighth placed Sydney United 58 and Sydney Olympic posted their second win in a row when they produced a 2-0 result over twelfth placed APIA Leichhardt Tigers.

Grade 18

Sutherland Sharks are the competition leaders following their 3-2 win over eleventh placed Blacktown Spartans while Bonnyrigg White Eagles are in second spot thanks to their 2-0 victory over tenth placed Sydney United 58.

Third placed Blacktown City battled out a 1-1 draw with seventh placed Parramatta FC and Sydney Olympic are fourth on goal difference after they produced a 3-2 win over twelfth placed APIA Leichhardt Tigers.

Manly United are in fifth position after their very strong 5-0 success over ninth placed Rockdale City Suns and Marconi Stallions are sixth on goal difference following their 5-2 loss to eighth placed South Coast Wolves.

-By Barry Davis

The dramatic late goals continue for Blacktown City FC as the hosts salvaged a 1-1 draw with Marconi Stallions with yet another injury-time goal at Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Joey Gibbs initially grabbed the lead for Marconi late in the first-half after Blacktown were reduced to ten men following Luke Roodenburg’s dismissal.

Despite their numerical disadvantage Blacktown took the game to Marconi in the second period and was again rewarded with a late equaliser as substitute Yuchi Yamauchi volleyed his side level via the underside of the crossbar to send the home fans into raptures.

The match began in lively fashion as both sides looked to press forward right from the kick-off.

Brody Crane was on hand to cut out the first opportunity of the game; quick off his line to intercept Nathan Elasi’s through ball to deny Daniel Severino in the opening minutes.

James Monie then miscued a couple of promising opportunities at the other end, the first of which was a scuffed effort from inside 18-yard box that really should have tested Andrew Mercuri in the Marconi goal.

The latter miss came on the quarter hour mark as Monie ran onto Ray Millers’ long ball and found himself one-on-one with Mercuri only to mishit his attempt to lob the onrushing keeper and send the ball harmlessly high and wide.

The host’s backline kept Marconi’s attack at bay at the other end on a number of occasions midway through the first-half; most notably Miller and debutant Ryo Watanabe’s timely interventions denied chances carved out by Shane Webb and Nahuel Arrarte respectively.

The match took an ugly turn as tempers flared on 27’ minutes during an off the ball scuffle as Christopher Nunes lay bleeding from the face after a heavy challenge.

The ensuing melee resulted in a straight red card for Roodenburg – Blacktown’s fourth red card in five matches – leaving the remaining ten men with a tough task ahead with over an hour of football left to play.

Nunes returned to the pitch minutes later, slotting back into the left side of Marconi’s defensive line with his facial wound repaired and a fresh jersey.

The visitors were able to find a lot more space with the man advantage; Gibbs was the main beneficiary as he found himself on the end of a trio of opportunities late in the half.

Gibbs’ first effort was a low driven shot from 20-yards that was denied only by a stunning diving save from Crane.

The Blacktown custodian stood no chance shortly after as Gibbs found himself in the right place at the right time to fire his side into the lead with a real poacher’s effort after a miscued defensive clearance provided the attacker with the golden opportunity he was looking for.

Gibbs almost doubled his tally deep into added time after skipping past Crane as the goalkeeper rushed off his line; however Zac Cairncross was on hand to keep his side in the match with a headed clearance to clear Gibbs’ goal bound effort off the line.

The interval gave the hosts a much needed chance to reorganise their structure and formulate a plan to find their way back into the match, and they went close just after the restart as only a raised flag denied them an equaliser after Travis Major strayed into an offside position before firing Cairncross’ flicked header into the back of the net.

Marconi went close with a couple of chances of their own as Webb’s dangerous cross forced Crane to tip the ball over his crossbar before Ali Haydar volleyed a glorious opportunity over from a Marconi corner.

Despite playing one man short it was Blacktown who were able to control the momentum of the second-half as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser while Marconi looked to defend their lead and create their chances purely on the counterattack.

Luke Austin fired over for the hosts around the hour mark following substitute Yamauchi’s set up, while Adam Jenner drew a brilliant save out of Mercuri after cutting inside Nunes and rifling a powerful effort at the Marconi goal.

Blacktown pressed forward in numbers and were eventually rewarded for their persistence as Yamauchi connected with Ryuji Miyazawa’s hopeful long ball to volley over Mercuri and snatch the late equaliser via the underside of the crossbar.

The home fans were jubilant after their side’s resilient performance while a crestfallen Marconi were left to rue two dropped points.

Following their late salvage effort Blacktown City FC coach Mark Crittenden was pleased with the effort of his side, yet left frustrated after ill-discipline saw his side finish with ten men yet again:

“That’s four games out of five we’ve played with ten men – three of them in the first-half,” said Crittenden.

“Our discipline has been poor, we spoke about it during the week to try and fix it and our skipper gets himself sent off after 25’ minutes or something.

“Then you look at the other side of the coin and the effort of the boys has been unbelievable – teams just don’t know how to break us down when we go down to ten men.

“If you look at that second-half we created all the best chance, we definitely controlled the tempo.

“I think we took it to them and definitely deserved to take a point out of the game I feel.”

After Yamauchi’s late equaliser Crittenden took time to praise his Japanese imports for their contribution to his squad in their first season:

“They’re great guys,” said Crittenden.

“You take a punt sometimes – we didn’t know a lot about them – and technically they’re superb and they fit in fantastically well with the boys.

“It’s just a really tight knit unit we’ve got here.

“We’ll get eleven on the park soon and then might be able to hurt the opposition.

“Even with ten I don’t think they looked like scoring and we did.

“Maybe we should just start with ten each week,” joked Crittenden.

Match Stats

Blacktown City FC 1 (Yuchi Yamauchi 90’+2’)

Marconi Stallions 1 (Joey Gibbs 43’)

Sunday April 29th, 2012

Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills

Referee: Kevin Peddie

Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Nicholas Backo

Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts

Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 3.Ryo Watanabe (12.David Cain 85’), 4.Travis Major, 6.Matt Lewis, 7.Luke Roodenburg, 9. Ryuji Miyazawa, 10.James Monie (11.Yuchi Yamauchi 60’), 15.Ray Miller (13.Daniel Vellonio 79’), 16.Luke Austin, 19.Zac Cairncross

Substitutes Not Used: 20.Luke Turnbull, 18.Keiran Paull

Yellow Cards: Luke Austin 70’

Red Cards: Luke Roodenburg 27’

Marconi Stallions: 40.Andrew Mercuri; 2.Andrew Mailer, 3.Ali Haydar, 4.Umut Tokdogan, 6.Shane Webb, 7.Sean O’Connell, 8.Joey Gibbs (15.Alan Da La Cuadra 90’), 11.Nathan Elasi, 16.Daniel Severino (19.Damian Travis 75’), 23.Christopher Nunes, 26.Nahuel Arrarte (9.Keith Shelvin 66’)

Substitutes Not Used: 21.Kresimir Kurdan, 39.Frank Martey

Yellow Cards: Keith Shelvin 85’

Red Cards: nil

Player Ratings:

3 – Ray Miller (BCFC)

2 – Shane Webb (MS)

1 – Yuchi Yamauchi (BCFC)

-By Michael Shoolman