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NSL: Spirit
Hold Onto Glimmer Of Hope National Soccer League - Round
18 - Friday 17th January, 2003
Northern Spirit 1 (Noel Spencer 70') A sweetly struck Noel Spencer rocket was all the difference in yet another hard fought and fervent derby fixture at North Sydney Oval. The makeshift skippers timely strike lifted the Spirit off the foot of the league and restored some pride to Sydney’s north. Historically, matches played between these two sides never disappoint in living up to their billing. Earlier on this season, a fiery 1-1 draw at Edensor Park was highlighted by a frenetic final few minutes in where United defender Boris Pavic was shown a red card. In their previous nine encounters, Spirit had won just twice, and only once at home in four attempts. However, on this occasion, United came into the match having not salvaged anything from an away game this season since a 1-1 draw against South Melbourne in Round 3. Following that match, United’s dismal away record read 5 games, 5 losses, 3 goals for and 13 against. All indications were that the stage was set for a tough and rugged encounter. Spirit had gone their previous two matches without finding the back of the net, and United had only scored twice in their last five outings. Never the less, with the lure of edging closer to a congested top six, and the satisfaction one gains from emerging victorious in derby fixtures, there was lots to play for, and fireworks were guaranteed. The home side at long last inducted Dylan MacAllister into the Spirit alumni. The Spirit’s number one signing’s ugly transfer wrangle had finally eradicated itself and the former Joey’s star was to be seen in Spirit colours for the first time. He lined up beside All White Brent Fisher to form a threatening Spirit attack. A new look four man midfield featured Matthew Osman on the right for the injured Jonathon Richter, John Hutchinson on the left and Ian Ferguson and interim captain Noel Spencer in the center. Alex Tobin and Julian Watts marshaled the defence and were flanked by Vuko Tomasevic on the left and Alex Wilkinson on the right. Paul Henderson was again the one to be barking instructions between the sticks. For the visitors, giant Croatian Vanja Ivesa was in goal, and in front of him a five-man defence. David Barrett was given the task of sweeper, and his two stoppers, Damon Collina and Michael Santalab were supported by wingbacks Louis Brain on the right and Boris Pavic on the left. Skipper Paul Bilokapic was the heart of the United midfield and was joined by Mile Jedinak and Ante Deur. Brendan Santalab and new signing from Wollongong Wolves, Zeljko Babic were up front for the Bravehearts. Having lost Gabriel Mendez, Jon Angelucci and Daniel Watkins midweek to Malaysian clubs and with the constant media focus on perennial Sydney United trouble makers in the crowd, the away team had not had the most ideal build up. But Branko Culina’s men were sure to put up a fight against a tenacious Spirit side that had been unlucky to return only one point from their last three matches. The game started slowly with both teams settling into their groove. It wasn’t until the 20th minute when anything of particular note occurred. A nicely weighted cross from the right by Matthew Osman, a contender for player of the half, was met by a powerful header from Brent Fisher. Nine times out of ten, Fisher would have done enough to open the scoring, but on this occasion, Vanja Ivesa produced a glorious save to his right, deflecting Fisher’s shot on to the post and out for a corner. Six minutes further on and the Spirit faithful caught their first glimpse of the capabilities of Dylan MacAllister. Despite reports that he was far from peak fitness, MacAllister rounded three United defenders in a strong charge towards the box, only to be thwarted by the last line of defence. Both sides traded chances until the break with John Hutchinson coming closest just seconds before the break. Another Osman cross bounced around in the area and ultimately found Hutchinson at the far post, whose left foot poke inched past the right upright. Going into half time, it was evident that a six-goal thriller was not going to eventuate. Both sides had played a calculated first stanza, with both the home team and the visitors seemingly reluctant to open up too much, given how much was at stake. Ante Deur had been impressive for the away team with an enthusiastic first period while Matthew Osman was the standout for the Spirit. United veteran David Barrett also deserved a mention, a series of desperate tackles and clearances all that stood between United and being a few goals down. The second half did not take long to come to life. MacAllister again showed elements of his class with a fiercely struck mid range effort that forced Ivesa to punch over the cross bar. Within the opening ten minutes, an indication of just how much pride was at stake in what was developing into an intriguing derby fixture was exemplified by a midfield melee, sparked by a harsh challenge by David Barrett on Noel Spencer. Such was the reaction from the tackle that almost all twenty two players on the park and even some from the bench ran immediately to center of the park to exchange opinions. For what was a rather nasty incident, only yellow cards to Barrett and Spirit defender Julian Watts were the repercussions. The volume level of the 2,016 on hand cranked up another decibel when Boris Pavic clobbered Alex Wilkinson with a nasty elbow right in front of the Spirit bench just two minutes later. The zealous atmosphere around the ground and on the pitch signaled that this particular derby had well and truly exploded, and we still had thirty-three minutes left to play. Pavic received (only) a yellow card for his troubles, much to the distain of everyone who saw the sickening incident. By this stage, it seemed that United were content playing for a draw, relying almost solely on counter attacking moves which focused on exposing the pace of Babic and Santalab against what was now a three pronged Spirit defence, having pushed an extra man forward in search of a much lauded goal. Anthony Doumanis was brought on for Deur in the 59th minute and he immediately sparked United into life. Almost entirely because of the pint sized midfielder, United enjoyed a ten minute spell of dominance which included a Brendan Santalab shot, from a Doumanis through ball, inching past the upright, and a Zeljko Babic shot from a sizeable angle, again courtesy of a Doumanis ball, hammered into a well placed Henderson at the near post for a corner. From the subsequent corner, Damon Collina came agonizingly close with a classy effort that shuddered off the crossbar. United would later come to rue this series of missed chances, as only minutes later, the 70th of the match, Spirit leader Noel Spencer scored what was to be the only goal of the game. Louis Brain was the one at fault, after a stray pass of his landed right at the feet of Spencer who after controlling a traveling forward, struck a low shot past the back-peddling United defence and to the right of Ivesa to hand his side a much deserved, and needed, 1-0 lead. The Spirit section of the crowd exploded with delight. It was now feasible that the streak of fives games without a win against their local rivals was about to end. Branko Culina reacted immediately, bringing on Solomon Islands awkward marksman Commins Menapi for Zeljko Babic. Just two minutes after Northern Spirit had snatched the goal they had been working towards all game, United should have hit back via Brendan Santablab. After Doumanis once more showed his silky skills to beat several Spirit defenders, he played a ball to Commins Menapi who in turn crossed to Santalab who from six yards out had Paul Henderson stranded on the ground as opposition to his shot. Much to the frustration of the United bench, Santalab drove his shot straight at Henderson who after a small fumble, cleared the ball, and sanity was restored to the shape of the enthusiastic Spirit. This was to be the only chance of particular note for the remainder of the game. Lawrie McKinna introduced Andrew McDermott back into the side with 17 minutes remaining, and Jonathon Richter came on two minutes later. In the 77th minute, Boris Pavic received the red card from Craig Zetter that he had been working towards all game. The temperamental Croatian’s frustration boiled over with a rugby style tackle on Jonathon Richter, and Zetter had no option but to brandish the red for what was such a pathetic tackle. It provoked Lawrie McKinna to almost run on to the pitch with anger over the treatment of his star winger. After some hairy moments near the end of the match, the Spirit rejoiced at the sound of the full time whistle at their fourth win of the season and their third at home. United were notably gutted to come away from North Sydney Oval with no points, when they dearly needed some to push their claim for a top six spot. Lawrie McKinna was indeed a relieved man and the conclusion. “We’ll take three points, we win on Monday, all of a sudden we’re right in the thick of everyone else. We’ve been positive all along, the boys have been positive and we played some good football tonight.” It was surprising to many that Dylan MacAllister lasted 88 minutes before being subbed for Kwasnik at the death, McKinna had only words of positivity for his star striker. “He’s still warming up to his best, we saw flashes tonight, he’s strong, he takes people on, he’ll get better, he’s a quality player.” The Spirit now look ahead to their amended fixture with their other local rivals Marconi at Marconi Stadium on Monday with McKinna still not prepared to give up on this season. “Win on Monday and then all of a sudden, I don’t know where exactly we’d be sittin’, we’d probably be fourth from the bottom, with still two more games, then we got the bye, then after Perth we got a bit of an easier run, but we definitely still got a chance.” United have a tough series of matches coming up, notably their next two home games against Perth and Olympic. But the Braveheart spirit is unlikely to diminish, as even after this evenings loss, they sit only one point out of the top six.
Northern Spirit 1 (Noel Spencer
70') Crowd: 2,016 MATCH STATS: Northern
Spirit
:
Substitutes: Yellow Cards:
V Tomasevic 36', J Watts 54'
Sydney
United
:
Substitutes: Yellow Cards:
P Bilokapic 24', D Barrett 54', B Pavic 58' Referee: Craig Zetter 8/10 - controlled the game wll that threatened to boil over Pitch: 8/10 Game rating: 8/10 Best Players : 3 – Noel Spencer
(Spirit) POST MATCH INTERVIEW WITH SPIRIT COACH LAWRIE McKINNA Lawrie McKinna: I think some of the press hammered us for getting beat 1-0 last week in Melbourne, I’ve played in the National League for 10 years, coached for 6 and I’ve never won down there. I was gutted that we never won, that we never got a result, because I honestly thought we could. The thing that pisses me off is people would say although we played Newcastle and we played them off the park, they had a bad day and South Melbourne had a bad day, they have a bad day because other teams don’t let them do what they normally do, so that’s very frustrating. But we’ll take three points, we win on Monday, all of a sudden we’re right in the thick of everyone else. We’ve been positive all along, the boys have been positive and we played some good football tonight, it made it easier when the boy (Boris Pavic) got sent off but you take your breaks you know? The boys were committed, we played good football; Dylan, he made a difference, he and Fisher did very well and that’s probably what we’ve been lacking a bit, when we build from the back, go up front and come back again, so the two of them done very well. Osman done very well, Wilkinson, all the young boys done the job and the old heads, Tobin and Wattsy did well too. Overall, I’m very happy with that one. Benjamin Coonan: Good to have Dylan back? Lawrie McKinna: Yeah, ‘cos he was our major signing and we waited six months all up and he’s not played a game, he’s been injured and he actually only trained for the last four or five days. He’s still warming up to his best, we saw flashes tonight, he’s strong, he takes people on, he’ll get better, he’s a quality player. Benjamin Coonan: It must be heartening that you’ve only conceded one goal in the past three games, in the same three games at the start of the year you conceded eight? Lawrie McKinna: The problem was that we we’re always scoring, but we we’re always letting goals in and people blamed the defense for being too slow but I don’t agree to that, a lot of the goals came from mistakes from some of the young guys who maybe switch off for a wee minute. It’s a great call, we lost eight in the first round and now one, it’s huge. Benjamin Coonan: You seemed to really push forward in the second half, whilst United withdrew; you were really pushing for the victory? Lawrie McKinna: I felt in the first half we dominated the game. Benjamin Coonan: A great save from the Fisher header. Lawrie McKinna: Oh, terrific. The second half we started dominating again, they had a little spell, just before we made the substitution and Doumanis came on, apart from that I don’t think we were under any kind of pressure. Benjamin Coonan: In the match program last home game at Brookie, you said that you were looking for an improved second half of the season, but the Top 6 may be a little ambitious. I don’t want to be blowing any horns, but after tonight’s win is it still within grasp? Lawrie McKinna: Bloody right it is yeah. Win on Monday and then all of a sudden, I don’t know where exactly we’d be sittin’, we’d probably be fourth from the bottom, with still two more games, then we got the bye, then after Perth we got a bit of an easier run, but we definitely still got a chance, until it is mathematically impossible, the boys have got good spirit, we let a few players go, who probably didn’t want to be here, probably a little big negative, we’ve brung in a few boys who want to be here. We’re still looking at a striker from Scotland, a Premier League striker, who we’re looking to bring over in a couple of weeks. Benjamin Coonan: What club does he play for over there? Lawrie McKinna: Dunfermline. Benjamin Coonan: Can you give me a name? Lawrie McKinna: Yeah, Stuart Petrie. He’s having a test game on Tuesday over there, and possibly could fly out at the end of the week, so we’ll have to wait and see, we just need a bit of experience. Benjamin Coonan: So, now that Dylan’s back, is Robert Trajkovski the only player still out? Lawrie McKinna: Robert Trajkovski… yeah, he’s out, his is long term. Benjamin Coonan: Season? Lawrie McKinna: Yeah, he’s still a long way away, he’s not even training yet, I’d say the season. Benjamin Coonan: So that was essentially full strength today? Lawrie McKinna: Yeah, everybody’s available, Ferguson was under the whether tonight with a hamstring/groin strain, McDermott wasn’t a hundred percent fit, and Richter wasn’t a hundred percent fit, but we managed to get by. Benjamin Coonan: Will they be up for Marconi on Monday? Lawrie McKinna: We’ll see how they pull up tomorrow, they’re a bit tight and sorry now, so we’ll see tomorrow. Written by Benjamin Coonan
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Crafted lovingly by hand © Magic Llama 2000, 2001