Bankstown slip-up at home against resurgent Manly United

Bankstown City Lions suffered a damaging blow to their Premiership aspirations as they were beaten by an incisive Manly United FC outfit 2-0 at Jensen Park on Sunday.

The Lions lost the chance to battle for the Premiership in the final round after Sydney United recorded a victory earlier in the day 1-0 over Penrith Nepean United.

Just one round out from the finals-series, the win for Phil Moss’ industrious outfit will help to build momentum as they look to finish inside the top three and thus ensure themselves a second chance if they happen to lose a match during the Finals.

For Peter Tsekenis’ Bankstown City Lions, there is work to be done ahead of a potential meeting with Manly again in the near future, after a wasteful first-half in-front of goal.

Indeed, the home-side started particularly well, pressing and playing at a high-tempo with Daniel Severino given two set-piece opportunities inside the first ten minutes.

It was on 11’ minutes though that Tsekenis’ men had their first real opportunity, Salameh Hussein showing blistering pace, latching onto a Richard Luksic through ball before cutting inside veteran defender Spencer Prior from the by-line.

Particularly lively during the opening exchanges, Hussein saw his effort parried sharply from a narrow angle by Manly goalkeeper Brad Swancott, Daniel Severino half-volleying the rebound well over the crossbar.

Ever-present as an attacking threat despite struggling territorially, Manly came just as close to opening the scoring two minutes later, an unmarked Scott Thomas heading a deep corner back across goal, striker Josh Sama rising superbly but heading just over.

Swancott would again come to his side’s rescue as Bankstown continued to create goal-scoring chances by either graft or guile, Salameh finding the ball at his feet inside the area, only to fire straight at the shot-stopper’s legs to the disappointment of a partisan 700-strong crowd.

The hard-working George Nohra next went closest, dragging an effort just past the right post before Lions captain Richard Luksic met a Severino set-piece with a diving header, only to see the ball flash past the same upright.

With both defences gradually beginning to tighten up before the break, the final meaningful action saw Severino force a good low save from Swancott with a shot on the half-turn.

The Lions carried their first-half momentum with them after the re-start, Salameh slipped into the penalty area but only managing to fire the ball into the side-netting, with the likes of Newcastle Jets manager Branko Culina, his predecessor Gary Van Egmond and Sydney FC Youth coach Steve O’Connor all in the stands.

They will have been impressed by Manly United’s opener on 70’ minutes as well, as Brad Groves played a superb ball in-behind the Bankstown defence for Robert Cattanach, who showed characteristic composure by entering the area and simply passing the ball past goalkeeper Zlatko Joseski and into the net.

Bankstown responded by committing bodies forward but left themselves open to a potent Manly counter-attack, Josh Sama epitomising that ability by creating the second goal of the game.

Released quickly down the right flank, the striker took advantage of the space afforded to him by squaring the ball for Keith Shevlin, whose first touch took him around Josevski before he finished coolly into an empty net.

That finish effectively ended Bankstown’s resistance, with their manager Peter Tsekenis lamenting two refereeing decisions – the denial of what he deemed to be a clear penalty appeal to referee Strebre Delovski for a handball and the decision to allow Spencer Prior to enter back onto the field illegally after receiving treatment for an injury – in changing the complexity of the game.

He did however admit to a lack of decisiveness in front of goal that his side will need to rectify ahead of the finals:
“We had the better chances, we played the better football, it was a tight fixture but like I said the turning point was those two decisions,” Tsekenis said.
“We didn’t finish our chances and we have to take them but the pleasing thing is we did create them and we did play better football.”

Manly manager Phil Moss meanwhile praised his side’s work ethic – but also pointed out that his men perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve for their ability to play football:
“It’s funny, everyone always says we are a hard-working team – which we are – but I don’t think the ability that we’ve got is given due credit either,” Moss said.
“Our goals tonight were fantastically worked goals and the ball that Groves played through to Cattanach for the first goal was top-shelf; you see balls like that in the A-League.”

Match Stats

Bankstown City Lions 0

Manly United FC 2 (Robert Cattanach 70’, Keith Shevlin 77’)

Referee: Strebre Delovski

Assistant Referees: Murray Wilson and Bachar Allum

Fourth Official: Mark Mitchell

Crowd: Approx 700

Bankstown City Lions: 1.Zlatko JOSEVSKI; 8.George NOHRA (29.Hussein AKIL 77’), 15.Salameh HUSSEIN, 13.Matthew PRESSELLO, 4.Brett STUDMAN, 7.Stefanos LIAVAS, 11.Phillip MAKRYS, 10.Robert MILESKI (23.Tallan MARTIN 85’), 5.Richard LUKSIC, 82.Daniel SEVERINO, 3.Shane WEBB

Substitutes Not Used: 14.Suad AMETI, 19.Sam Emmanouil, 32.Shannon Burgin

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Manly United FC: 1.Brad SWANCOTT; 3.Andrew MAILER, 4.Spencer PRIOR, 5.Joel GRENELL, 6.Scott THOMAS, 8.Michael LLOYD-GREEN, 9.Robert CATTANACH (12.Jamie GARSIDE 89’), 10.Josh SAMA (11.Craig MIDGLEY 85’), 15.Keith SHEVLIN, 16.Joey SCHIRRIPA, 24.Brad GROVES

Substitutes Not Used: 41.Ben MCNAMARA, 7.Ashley RYAN, 37.Luke READING

Yellow Cards: Prior 71’

Red Cards: Nil

-By Chris Paraskevas

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