Let’s check out the mini-reviews from Round 1 of the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW Men’s competition.
Catch up on all the action below!
Match of the Round
Lambton Jaffas 1-1 Maitland FC (match abandoned)
Lambton Jaffas and Maitland FC saw their season opener abandoned following a serious leg injury to Jaffas defender Luke Remington on Friday night.
Lambton and Maitland continued where they left off in last season’s grand final with the first 20 minutes at Adamstown Oval played at a blistering tempo.
Jaffas opened the scoring with a penalty in the sixth minute after Will McFarlane was adjudged to have brought down Bailey Newton in the penalty area.
Newton picked himself up to dispatch the penalty past Maitland goalkeeper Paul Bitz to give the reigning champions the lead.
The Magpies were level seven minutes later when Rhys Cooper’s long throw landed at the feet of Braedyn Crowley. The reigning NPLM NNSW Player of the Year was allowed to turn and fire a shot at Ben Kennedy, with the Jaffas captain producing a fine save.
But the rebound fell to the feet of Crowley’s strike partner James Thompson who slotted home.
The match had plenty of the same physicality and intensity as the grand final meeting between the sides last year with neither side taking a backward step, highlighted by a tussle between Crowley and Lambton defender Josh Piddington in the 16th minute which saw the pair lucky to escape sanction.
But the contest was cut short on 22 minutes when Remington went down under a hard Tom Davies tackle. Remington suffered a badly broken and dislocated ankle, with the match having to be abandoned due to the wait for an ambulance.
The match will be replayed in full in accordance with the competition regulations at a date to be confirmed.
The football community has rallied around Remington, with Lambton Jaffas coach David Tanchevski setting up a GoFundMe page to help support the former NPLM NNSW player of the year.
“Luke suffered a horrific broken leg and faces a long road to recovery. Not only will Luke have no income while he recovers and goes through surgeries but his medical bills will be a mountain for Luke to cover,” Tanchevski said.
“I’m hoping the football community can come together to help Luke as well as his friends and family.
Donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated.”
Broadmeadow Magic 2-0 Weston Workers FC
Broadmeadow fizzed the ball around on the dewy surface and stamped their authority on the game, enjoying the majority of possession in their 2-0 win over Weston on Friday night.
But an organised Weston starved Magic of meaningful possession in the final third and went into half-time at Magic Park scoreless.
Magic started the second half with several good attacks only to be pulled back by the assistant referee’s flag or last gasp defending.
A disciplined Weston defence held their line and played the offside trap with good effect.
After an hour of entertaining football with chances at either end, the match turned.
Magic’s relentless pressure eventually paid off forcing two crucial errors in a chaotic three minutes.
Magic attacked down the left, seemingly heading for the touchline when the Bears right-back impeded the attacker and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
In an all-round polished performance, Magic centre forward Jarred Baker made no mistake and fired the ball into the bottom left corner.
Baker’s pace, first touch and dribbling were a thorn in the side of the Bears and he linked up effectively with midfield general James Cresnar.
Three minutes later, a comedy of errors resulted in the second goal.
Weston’s goalkeeper took a free kick from the left edge of the penalty area. As Magic players pressed, a Bears defender rolled the ball across the top of the penalty area in hope of finding a teammate.
The alert Magic striker intercepted, ran at goal and was fouled and consequently awarded another penalty.
This time Baker chose the opposite side and sent the goalkeeper diving the wrong way to make it 2-0 with Magic pleased with three points from a tricky opener.
A resilient Weston Bears will take solace from their performance where they matched last year’s premiership runners up for large periods of the game.
The Bears have international quality which has bolstered their squad with the team needing time to gel.
New Bears coach and former Dutch international Kew Jaliens provided insights on activity behind the scenes.
“We have plenty of positives and have [added] three new potential starters to the squad,” Jaliens said.
While on a trip to Holland Jaliens spotted talented defender Alessandro Ouwerkerk and persuaded him to join the Bears.
Jaliens has also brought in Japanese import Yuta Kongaya and striker Connor Heydon who will all be available for selection next week.
“My centre back, the Dutch boy [Ouwerkerk] landed in Australia last Saturday. The Japanese boy Yuta and striker Connor came in last week.
“With that in mind, I knew it was going to be difficult because we haven't been together for that long.
“Even so, I think we played ok, we didn't play our best game but I wouldn't say that Magic outplayed us,” Jaliens said.
Jaliens was acutely aware of Magic’s passing game and had a plan to stop it.
“We had a tactic for them because we know their game is built around their rotations,” Jaliens said.
“It mostly happens on the right side of the pitch, so we had a system to close it down every time they went to the right.
“So that worked for us, the only thing I wasn't happy with was our performance when we had possession.
“That can and has to be better if you want to play football.
“In the first-half our midfield was disjointed because we were following players instead of staying in formation and working as a block.
“Which meant when we won the ball, we didn't have players to pass to. That was one thing we changed at half-time.
“The midfield needed to be more compact, so if we lost the ball, or won the ball, we had players around the ball to keep it moving.
“I think in the second half, apart from the two penalty moments, we pretty much had more control in the midfield than the first half.”
Jaliens reflected on the two goals conceded as opportunities to improve.
“It looked like the Magic striker was running out of play but that comes with experience,” Jaliens said,
“Don’t tackle like that inside the box, do it outside of the box, I don't think there was much in it.
“Don’t force the referee to make a call, which he did, which was fair.”
Twenty-year-old Jacob Dundas was a shining light for the Bears and with the addition of new players and the tactical prowess of Jaliens, their match against the Jaffas on Saturday will be one to watch.
Newcastle Olympic 0-2 Edgeworth FC
Newcastle Olympic and Edgeworth battled hard and didn’t give an inch for almost an hour until the Eagles broke the deadlock with a set-piece free kick at Darling Street Oval on Saturday night.
Sascha Montefiore leaped high and connected with a looping header that rose over the crowd of defenders and dropped into the net.
Ten minutes later Edgeworth doubled their lead from a throw-in.
It started on the left sideline. Edgeworth quickly transitioned the ball across the penalty area and into the stride of Joey Melmeth on the right wing who finished clinically.
Edgeworth coach Peter McGuinness welcomed the three points after a hard-fought game separated by small margins.
“Glad to get off to a winning start, we've had a very good pre-season,” McGuinness said.
“The win is enjoyable, the boys worked hard.
“The new boys worked really hard, we’ve formed a nice group and team culture and it was good to see the rewards.
“The first half was pretty even, a fair and typical first round game. I thought in the second half we had much better purpose.
“We could have been more clinical to be honest and got a couple more towards the end.
“Jacob Pepper was very good at the back, very composed at centre-half.
“Andrew Pawiak was very good in midfield and Pat Wheeler was awesome in midfield, they helped us take charge second half.”
New Lambton FC 0-1 Charlestown Azzurri
Alder Park, Saturday, 4 March at 2:30pm
An eight-man Charlestown managed to ruin New Lambton’s highly-anticipated NPLM NNSW debut as Azzurri prevailed 1-0 on Saturday.
The first half was scoreless at Alder Park with Azzurri enjoying most of the possession.
Charlestown zipped the ball around but an organised New Lambton deprived them of chances in the final third.
Charlestown had Matty Johnson sent off after 51 minutes but that did not seem to affect their play as they scored five minutes later.
Rene Ferguson hit a bullet-header from a corner which the New Lambton goalkeeper miraculously deflected onto the crossbar.
Azzurri responded quickest to the second ball and recycled the ball back into the penalty area.
Ferguson made no doubt from his second bite at the cherry, which ultimately won the match.
After 83 minutes Charlestown had Harry Frendo sent off for a high tackle, leaving the visitors down to nine players.
With all hands-on-deck, goal scoring hero Ferguson was thrown into a makeshift defence which he did immaculately.
Taylor Regan was colossal at the back for Azzurri, playing with confidence and composure despite their dire situation.
Azzurri goalkeeper Nathan Archbold made countless saves and marshalled the stretched defence back into shape time after time.
After 92 minutes things went from bad to worse when New Lambton attacked down the right and Luke Callen tugged the player back.
Callen was already on a yellow card and the referee had no hesitation in brandishing a second yellow and his marching orders.
Azzurri will reflect on the pluses and minuses, a clean sheet finishing with eight men shows grit.
However, on another day against another team they would have punished their disciplinary woes.
With more discipline, Charlestown have the credentials to advance on last year’s fourth place finish.
NPL newcomers New Lambton will take positives from matching the NPL heavyweights for the first 45 minutes.
Cooks Hill United 5-2 Lake Macquarie City FC
Fearnley Dawes Athletic Field, Saturday, 4 March at 3pm
Goals were predicted and the goals poured at Fearnley Daws on Saturday as Cooks Hill United opened their 2023 campaign with a 5-2 victory over Lake Macquarie City.
It took 31 minutes for Cooks Hill’s Matt Berrigan to open the scoring and the flood gates opened thereafter.
Cooks Hill attacked from every part of the pitch, with defender Joel Clissold spraying the ball over the Lake Macquarie defence exposing their pace at the back.
Former New Zealand captain Chris Zorocich has instilled an attacking brand of football and Cooks Hill added three more goals to go 4-0 ahead after 71 minutes.
A gutsy Lake Macquarie got a goal back but it was their body language after scoring that showed character.
There was no celebration, they picked the ball from the back of the net and sprinted to the halfway line in the hope of an unlikely comeback.
Both teams went on to score one more goal apiece and the entertaining goal fest finished 5-2.
Adamstown Rosebud 0-1 Valentine FC
Adamstown Oval, Sunday, 5 March at 3pm
For large parts of the match Adamstown and Valentine cancelled each other out but Valentine’s extra quality in the final third proved the difference.
Valentine Adam Hughes was happy to start the campaign with three points and welcome back returning troops.
“The result was the important thing for us today as we have many players coming back from injury lacking match minutes,” Hughes said.
“We know we can play better than we did, though we are happy we have come through the game injury free, so we build from here.”