Sydney FC NPL 2 Men’s 1st grade bounced back to winning ways and the top of the ladder following a 4-2 win against Spirit FC at Lambert Park on Saturday night.
The game started with Spirit FC jumping out of the blocks and within ninety seconds they took the lead following a miscommunication in the Sydney FC backline allowing the livewire David Mavisa to nip between two defenders and poke home the opening goal.
The early glitch woke up the Sydney FC outfit who then began to dominate possession and field position for the majority of the half as Spirit FC packed their defensive line with five and at times six players at the back.
The Sky Blues continued to play patient football and spread the ball across the park shifting their opponents and looking for the opening. It appeared to arrive in the 34th minute when Cristian Gonzalez put over a delightful cross for Bai Antoniou to head into the top corner but the joy was short lived as the referee adjudged Antoniou to have nudged the defender in the back as he rose high for the header.
The reprieve didn’t last long for Spirit FC as just four minutes later Antoniou was not to be denied as he ripped a ferocious volley into the roof of the net for his 15th goal of the season following some clever combination passing on the edge the box between Daniel Araujo and Chris Zuvela and the scores were level at 1-1.
Young Socceroo, George Timotheou, saved some blushes just before the break when he cleared a rare Spirit FC threat off the line to maintain parity at half time.
The second half saw Sydney step up the pressure and on 52 minutes skipper Yianni Spyrakis won the ball on the half way line. He played forward to Charles Lokolingoy and continued to surge ahead to receive a return pass from the striker before he slammed home the second goal to give Sydney FC a 2-1 lead.
On the hour mark new signing William Mutch made his Sky Blues debut and was thrown into the fray by Head Coach Rob Stanton. He made an immediate impact as soon as he came on with a penetrating run down the right side and then a square pass back inside to Spyrkis who again found the back of the net for his brace and a 3-1 lead.
The competition’s leading scorer Lokolingoy notched his 17th goal of the campaign after 78 minutes as he rifled a low shot past the diving Spirit keeper for 4-1.
A late consolation goal by Mavisa made it 4-2 on the night and as the full time whistle blew Sydney FC moved back into top spot on the ladder by a single point. The clean sweep of results with Under 18’s winning 1-0 and the Under 20’s wining 5-1 also sees Sydney FC lead the Club Championship table by ten points.
The young Sky Blues have a tough week ahead of them as they play a washed out fixture on Wednesday, 15th June against Mounties Wanderers at Cook Park, Meadows Road, Cabramatta West 7.30pm kick off before backing up a few days later on Saturday, 18th June when they face Mt Druitt Rangers at Popondetta Park, Popondetta Road, Emerton 7.00pm kick off.
Sydney FC 4 (Antoniou 34′: Spyrakis 52′ & 63′; Lokolingoy 78′) defeated Spirit FC 2 (Mavisa 2′ & 81′)
Line Up: Mitch Evans (GK); Nicola Kuleski; Patrick Flottman; George Timotheou; Cristian Gonzalez (Brendan Curtis 80′); Yianni Spyrakis (C); Chris Zuvela; Daniel Araujo; Bai Antoniou: Charles Lokolingoy (Aaron Avery 80′); Juan Zapata (William Mutch 60′)
Subs Not Used: Nicholas Sorras (GK); Mani Gonzalez
