Berries win at ‘home’ away from home

It was ANZAC Day and in the spirit of cooperation West Sydney Berries ‘borrowed’ the home ground of Bankstown City - Jensen Park.

On a lovely afternoon in-front of a good crowd of 1,400 at the now re-developed venue which is ideal for football, fans were treated to an entertaining game which ended with West Sydney Berries securing all three points.

After the game Scott Baillie, coach of the Berries, was understandably delighted with his team.

“I am very happy because it’s been coming for a while,” he said.

“Once again we played well, and we got our just reward.

“Defensively we were outstanding today because Bankstown have some very good attacking players and we were able to nullify their attack.”

Baillie was not able to single out individuals in his team but the broad smile said it all. Furthermore, he anticipated another difficult game next week against the Sutherland Sharks who had their coach Brain Brown anxiously watching from the stands.

“All of my players played well today and I give everyone equal credit because they all worked hard,” he stated.

“Sutherland next week will be a tough game, but this win will be a big confidence boost for us.

“If we train well, like we did this week, then I’m sure we’ll get a positive result.”

The first shot on goal arrived in the 3’ minute when Robert Mileski found George Nohra who neatly set up Steve Liavas on the other side of goal, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

In the 18’ minute West Sydney Berries’ first chance fell to Nicolo Sama – once again one of the best players on the field - who shot across the face of goal and the ball ended up just wide of the post.

In the 21’ minute a John Tsironis cross was met by a Sash Tirovski header, but he too was just off target for the Berries.

In the 28’ minute Tayfun Devrimol received a nice ball from Nohra but, in attempting to chip the oncoming Hamish McLean, narrowly missed the target and the ball in the ended up innocuously over the crossbar.

In the 37’ minute Archie Kotsopoulos won the ball and found his team-mate Josh Sama who, with a powerful drive from outside the area, almost opened the scoring for the Berries until Zlatko Joseski in goal pulled off a fine save to turn it away for a corner.

In the dying minutes of the first-half West Sydney Berries took the lead when Tirovski’s initial powerful shot was saved brilliantly by Joseski, but he couldn’t hold onto the ball which landed at the feet of Nicolo Sama who didn’t miss the net with his pile-driver from inside the box.

After that late first-half goal both sides came out for the second-half rather cautiously until the 53’ minute when Shane Webb tried his luck from outside the box, but his shot on the run was well over the intended target.

In the 66’ minute West Sydney scored their second goal: Ryan Jones miscued a shot which Brett Studman failed to clear, but Dimitri Zakilas jogging on the spot slotted the ball home for an easy goal.

In the 69’ minute Josh Sama found Tsironis who, from close range, shot wide. Three minutes later Bankstown replied: Mileski found Devrimol charging into the area, but his shot couldn’t beat an alert McLean.

In the 78’ minute Zakilas beautifully gave the ball to Nicolo Sama who forced Joseski into another stupendous diving save to turn it around the post for a corner.

A long ball from Peter Tsekenis found Paul Harries in the 88’ minute and even though he somehow managed to stay onside, his shot was brilliantly saved by a fully stretched McLean.

It was all over shortly afterwards and the West Sydney Berries had taken all three points on their ‘borrowed’ home ground.

MATCH STATS

WEST SYDNEY BERRIES 2 (Nicolo Sama 45’, Dimitri Zakilas 66’)

BANKSTOWN CITY 0                     

Referee: Jonathon Streater

Assistants: Adam Dayeian and Sarah Ho

Yellow Cards:  N. Sama, J. Sama (West Sydney Berries) Makrys, Nohra and Liavas (Bankstown)

Crowd: 1,400 (official figure)

West Sydney Berries: Hamish McLean, Jack Sobczyk, Scott Thomas, Johnny Fotiadis, Nicolo Sama, John Tsironis, Archie Kotsopoulos (92’ Eli Squillaciotti), Ryan Jones, Sash Tirovski (55’ Dimitri Zakilas), Josh Sama, Angelo Petratos.

Substitutes not used: Joshua Ferguson, Johnny Frangeskou and Sargon Georges.

Bankstown City: Zlatko Joseski, Shane Webb, Brett Studman, Richard Luksic, Peter Tsekenis, Steve Liavas, George Nohra (74’ Paul Harries), James Monie, Robert Mileski (72’ Matthew Borg), Phil Makrys (46’ Ibrahim Haydar), Tayfun Devrimol.

Substitutes not used: Omar Saadi and A. Bazi

Player Ratings:

3 - N. Sama (WSB)

2 - J. Fotiadis (WSB)

1 - Z. Joseski (BC)

-By Joe Russo

*Article appeared first on www.footballnsw.com.au

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