Let’s check out the mini-reviews from Round 4 of the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW Men’s competition.
Catch up on all the action below!
Match of the Round
Lake Macquarie City 1-3 Charlestown Azzurri
Lake Macquarie City stunned the league leaders when Nick Emanuel opened the scoring but the celebrations were short lived as Charlestown Azzurri won the match 3-1.
Lakes flew out of the blocks at Macquarie Field on Sunday when Emanuel wrongfooted Taylor Regan and finished one-on-one with the goalkeeper to put Lake Macquarie City 1-0 ahead after three minutes.
But three minutes later, the set-piece specialists Charlestown Azzurri were awarded a corner with the ominous arrival of towering centre backs Regan and Nigel Boogaard following.
Regan leaped highest and flicked the ball backwards into the top right corner to level the score at 1-1.
On 25 minutes, Azzurri were awarded a free kick from 35 yards, cue the arrival of Boogaard and Regan into the penalty area again.
But Jacob Melling didn't follow the script and hit a rocket of a free kick beating the goalkeeper on his inside post to put the Azzurri 2-1 ahead.
Not only was it a perfect shot but it was also smart football. Wounded by Azzurri's first goal, Lake Macquarie City set up for another aerial bombardment but it was the direct route which paid dividends.
On 50 minutes Kyle Munns wrapped up the three points for the Azzurri when he latched onto a long diagonal cross and hit a looping header over the goalkeeper.
The three points maintains Azzurri's position at the top of the table and a three-point lead over second-placed Broadmeadow Magic who also won.
While the temperatures were cooler and perfect for football, the playing surface was not ideal for Azzurri's passing game after heavy rain.
"The pitch was tough to play on today. It was good that the game got on," Charlestown Azzurri coach James Pascoe said.
"Pleased with the composure to come back from an early goal and but for their goalkeeper making some outstanding saves the score line would have been bigger.”
Broadmeadow Magic 2-0 Cooks Hill United
Jarred Baker and Riley Smith combined twice to steer Broadmeadow Magic to a 2-0 win over Cooks Hill United at Magic Park on Friday night.
Whatever Magic coach John Bennis said in the pre-match team talk worked as Magic started immaculately, zipping the ball around with Cooks Hill barely getting a touch for the first five minutes.
Baker's sublime first touch created some half chances in the opening exchanges.
But after weathering the storm, Cooks Hill eased into the match and flashed the ball wide, coming close on a few occasions in the first 20 minutes.
Magic opened the scoring after 21 minutes, a majestic first touch from Baker created enough space for a shot on goal.
The shot was too-hot-to-handle and the goalkeeper could only parry into the path of Smith who drilled the ball home for a 1-0 lead.
Twelve minutes later Baker was found lurking on the left-side of the penalty area.
Another good first touch allowed Baker time to look up and place the ball onto Smith’s head to make it 2-0.
Smith wreaked havoc in the Cooks Hill defence all night and was unlucky not to get a hat-trick.
Magic controlled most of the second half and were content maintaining possession without committing too many players forwards for an accomplished 2-0 victory.
Magic boss Bennis was pleased with the three points but still wanted more from his side.
"I thought our performance was good in passages but we are still striving to see those passages turn into longer periods of sustained pressure," Bennis said.
"Very pleased to keep a clean sheet as we knew Cooks Hill would be aggressive in possession and we had to defend well at times.
"We had James Cresnar [ankle] and Jake Harris [flu] out of the starting line up.
"Ben Diamond came in and was solid but wanted to give a special mention to young Jerome Abrahams who came in and did extremely well.”
Former Kiwi captain and Cooks Hill coach Chris Zoricich was on his feet the entire match providing instructions and encouragement to his troops.
"[I was] just keeping them accountable and telling them to stay positive," Zoricich said.
"Main tactical information was trying to get them to hold their defensive shape.
"Magic are a good, experienced team and we knew it was going to be difficult but I was happy we stuck at it and didn't let the game get away from us.
"On another night if one of our chances went in it would have made things interesting.”
Adamstown Rosebud 1-2 New Lambton FC
New Lambton secured their first win in the top flight with an impressive 2-1 victory over Adamstown Rosebud on Saturday.
After nine minutes thunder struck for New Lambton, the Rosebud goalkeeper deflected a rasping shot upwards for Chase Lattimore to nod into an empty net and put New Lambton ahead 1-0 at Adamstown Oval.
But nine minutes later Lattimore was sent off for a two-footed tackle and New Lambton had to play over 70 minutes with 10 men.
The visitors went into the sheds 1-0 ahead but gaps opened in the second half.
On 53 minutes Adamstown poured forwards and were rewarded with the equaliser.
Adamstown searched for the winner but New Lambton did not park the bus and searched for an improbable win.
On 77 minutes New Lambton were rewarded with a penalty which Kai Bradley converted, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.
Adamstown created multiple more chances but New Lambton goalkeeper Alex Bozinovski proved impenetrable.
New Lambton coach Thomas Davies was jubilant to record their first ever win in the NPL Men’s NNSW competition.
"Great result considering we had to play 70 mins with 10 men," Davies said.
"It was fantastic to get our first win of the season.
"Players were excellent and remained disciplined and we knew we would continue to create chances when we won the ball back.
"Kai Bradley and Riley Taylor both played as striker or winger depending on the moment, They didn’t stop running and always offered us something going forward.
"Sam Maxwell and Tom Siderovski were excellent at the back as they kept us organised under pressure.
"Alex Bozinovski made some vital saves towards the end of the game.”
Weston Workers FC 1-1 Newcastle Olympic
A disciplined Newcastle Olympic frustrated the Weston Bears as the teams shared the points in a 1-1 draw on Saturday night.
Was it a cross or was it a shot? It didn't matter, Olympic's Joey Langlois recycled the ball into the penalty area and opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time for Olympic.
Aaron Nikonkuru equalised for the Bears on 48 minutes at Rockwell Automation Park after some nifty footwork and a measured strike.
A disciplined Olympic frustrated the Bears denying them space when they crossed the halfway line.
The Bears have scored six goals in their previous two matches but Olympic had a well-executed plan which denied the Bear's tricky wingers one-on-one opportunities.
While the Bears enjoyed possession and created many half chances, they were denied clear cut opportunities.
The result fell short of the expectations of Weston Bears coach Kew Jaliens.
"I think we lost two points today," Jaliens said.
"We let ourselves down by not converting our ball possession into shots on goal and crosses from the sides which we need to score goals.
"Although I think we've created enough scoring chances to score more goals to be able to win the game.
"But another positive was we kept playing football and trying to disrupt their defence which in patches we did.
"A moment to learn from, be ruthless with the chances you create.”
Newcastle Olympic boss Joel Griffiths was acutely aware of Weston's recent goal scoring prowess and concocted a plan to stop them.
"Our main focus was to be defensive minded. We will build confidence off that as a very important point given the circumstances,” Griffiths said.
"We just need to find confidence with our young boys.”
Maitland FC 1-3 Valentine FC
Valentine produced the upset of the weekend with three goals in five minutes late on securing them a 3-1 win over reigning premiers Maitland on Saturday night.
It seemed business as usual when Damon Green put the Magpies ahead on the stroke of half-time at Cooks Square Park but a pivotal moment in the 61st minute changed the game.
Green broke the deadlock when he escaped the offside trap and raced through the Valentine defence and blasted into the left corner.
The teams exchanged blows for the first 15 minutes of the second half until Sean Pratt received a second yellow card and Maitland were reduced to 10 men.
Valentine sensed their opportunity and peppered the Maitland goal twice on 68 minutes with headers and shots on goal.
On 78 minutes Sakeel Balfour Brown sprinted into the penalty area but was tripped.
Chris Fayers made no mistake and converted the spot kick to square the match at 1-1.
Two minutes later Valentine penetrated down the left wing with a perfectly weighted pass across the six-yard-box for Charlie Daniels to put Valentine ahead 2-1.
Instead of shutting up shop, attack was the best form of defence and Valentine put the game out of reach on 83 minutes.
After a long ball into the penalty area, Charlie Daniels leaped high and pressured the Maitland goalkeeper who fumbled and Daniels nodded home on the second attempt.
Valentine did not stop running which coach Adam Hughes credited to the hard yards on the training ground.
"Can see with the way we have been training of recent, it's starting to reflect and it did in this game,” Hughes said.
"We are still trying to get players back to fitness from injuries.”
The win elevates Valentine into fourth place on the table while last year's premiers are in 10th place having played a game fewer.
Maitland coach Michael Bolch reflected on the turning point of the match.
"We controlled the game in the first half and deserved to lead at half-time," Bolch said.
"Turning point was definitely the send off.
"Very disappointed to have conceded three goals in a six-minute period late in the second half but full credit to Valentine, they took advantage of the extra man and finished the game off in the last 10 [minutes]."
Edgeworth FC 0-1 Lambton Jaffas
A Reece Papadimitrios thunderbolt free kick earned the Lambton Jaffas a 1-0 victory over Edgeworth and their first win of the season on Sunday.
Lambton Jaffas coach David Tanchevski was pleased to get the 2023 campaign back on track.
"We controlled the game really well in the first half and created a number of opportunities and limited them to one long distance shot," Tanchevski said.
"Second half we were not as dominant but we're really disciplined in our structure and they didn't really trouble us.
"Probably only disappointing thing in the performance for me was we didn't take enough of our chances again.
"But it was a good, tough, clean game and in the end we ground out the three points.”
Edgeworth boss Peter McGuinness wanted more end product from their possession.
"Disappointed we didn't get something out of the game," McGuiness said.
"We held a lot of the ball but didn't really create enough good chances from all the possession.”