Sydney United claim Zarko Ozdakov Cup against Bankstown City Lions

Sydney United skipper Joe Vrkic shown holding the Zarko Odzakov Cup

Sydney United were crowned the inaugural Zarko Odzakov Cup winners after a fierce 1-1 draw with the Bankstown City Lions at Jensen Park on Sunday.

United won the trophy 2-1 on aggregate, after defeating the Lions 1-0 in their first leg in Round two of the TeleChoice Premier League.

After a short delay, the game began at a slow pace however built up into a great midfield battle by both teams.

The first chance of the match fell to former Perth Glory striker Luka Glavas in the 6’ minute. After being put through on goal via a great pass by Elsid Barkhousir, Bankstown goalkeeper Zlatko Joseski was quickly off his line to deny the striker the opening goal.

Glavas continued to pressure the Lions defence, though the men from Bankstown got on the ball and held onto possession, however seemed to be lacking the final touch in-front of goal.

Finally the bulk of possession led to the opening goal. In the 15’ minute, George Nohra received the ball with some space ahead of him. The midfielder’s goal-bound effort seemed to be travelling wide, though a deflection from a United defender saw the ball fall directly to the feet of Hussein Salameh who blasted the ball into the back of the net past Vedran Janjetovic for the 1-0 lead.

Immediately following the kick-off, United pressed Bankstown’s defence and won a corner. From the resulting corner United almost had their equaliser in comical fashion with Bankstown City’s player/coach Peter Tsekenis heading the ball directly to United’s attackers metres away from the goal-line, however was lucky for the ball to go wide.

The men from Edensor Park continued to search for the equaliser with Glavas pestering the Lions defence with another one of his shots going just over the bar on 23’ minutes.

Thirty minutes into the game and United were presented with their best chance to equalise as Barkhousir was released one-on-one with the goalkeeper from a Mitch Thompson through ball, however the speedy striker could not keep his shot low enough to force a save from Joseski.

The Reds pressure paid off shortly after a Glen Trifiro free-kick in the 33’ minute to draw his side level.

Bankstown City turned their attentions to attack, and in the 40’ minute George Nohra was unlucky not to have sent his team into the lead at the break.

After first putting a beautiful through ball for Greg Owens to cross, Nohra regathered possession and went around Damon Collina to get a powerful shot on goal which was comfortably saved by Janjetovic.

Sydney United again had another chance to take the lead however Barkhousir also blasted the ball over which sent the teams into the break at 1-1.

The second-half commence with the home-side again dominating possession, though no clear-cut opportunities were cut out.

In a bizarre twist to the game on the hour, Hussein Salameh went down after a strong challenge from the Sydney United defence and struggled to get back up.

Following a fierce tackle on Salameh, the game turned into a very rough and physical encounter as both teams tried to find the winning goal.

Sydney United were again gifted another one-on-one opportunity in the 67’ minute, with Mitch Thompson again releasing Barkhousir who unluckily saw his shot veer to the right of the goal.

The Lions continued to search for a winner, however continued to show their lack of a final touch with countless opportunities blasted over the top of goal.

In the closing stages of the match, Sydney United went agonisingly close to scoring the winner. A Glen Trifiro cross was dropped by Joseski and Sydney United captain Joe Vrkic shot the ball on goal only to be denied by a desperate Tsekenis clearance on the goal-line.

Following the game, the Sydney United captain said he was happy with his team’s performance:

“I thought we played a lot better today in general,” Vrkic said.

“Our team showed a lot of enthusiasm on the field and I think we had the better chances than Bankstown. We had more one-on-ones, we defended well and Bankstown had to resort to long-range shooting.”

Sydney United next week welcome back influential player/coach Ante Milicic after his two week trip away as the Assistant coach of the Young Socceroos, as the team hopes to return to the winner’s list after three-weeks without a win.

Match Stats

Bankstown City Lions 1 (Hussein Salameh 15’)

Sydney United 1 (Glen Trifiro 33’)

Sunday, 31^st May, 2009

Jensen Park, Sefton

Referee: Kris Griffith-Jones

Crowd: 300 Approx.

Bankstown City Lions: 1.Zlatko Joseski; 2.Ibrahim Haydar, 5.Richard Luksic (C), 6.Peter Tsekenis, 7.Steve Liavas, 8.George Nohra, 10.Fadi Ghossan (99.Chris Gody Bascur 67’), 14.Suad Ameti, 15.Hussein Salameh (20.Cameron White 75’), 29.Hussein Akil, 40.Greg Owens

Yellow Cards: Steve Liavas 41’, Fadi Ghossan 57’, Richard Luksic 62’, Ibrahim Haydar 86’, Zlatko Joseski 90’+3’

Red Cards: Nil

Sydney United: 1.Vedran Janjetovic; 2.Ricky Perenich, 3.Roger Galayini, 5.Damon Collina, 6.Joe Vrkic, 7.Todd Brodie (12.Davor Bajsic 55’), 11.Luka Glavas, 15.Lisandro Berbis, 16.Elsid Barkhousir (25.Dennis Cutura 77’), 18.Glen Trifiro, 19.Mitch Thompson

Yellow Cards: Lisandro Berbis 29’, Vedran Janjetovic 63’

Red Cards: Nil

-By Chris Georgakopoulos 

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