APIA Leichhardt Tigers faced up to Blacktown Spartans in a quarter-final encounter of the Waratah Cup at Lambert Park on a very chilly Wednesday night in Sydney and came away empty handed.
The Super League team upstaged the NSW Premier team to progress to the final four of the prestigious tournament.
Playing for most of the game with only ten players, the Spartans showed that simple, well-planned and committed football is all that is required.
After the game defender Peter Hubbarb, who when questioned, spoke proudly of his team.
“I thought that the boys did well after going down to ten men early,” he said.
“It was an uphill battle but knowing the character of the boys, I knew we had it in us, so we are really pumped.” Hubbarb said.
Hubbarb is a former Dulwich Hill player-of-the-year who returned only this year to the Spartans.
“At halftime, all we said was just stick in there, stay tight at the back and as soon as we lose the ball that we needed to get it back.”
The early stages of the game were very hard fought, but the Tigers certainly had the better of the half chances.
APIA Leichhardt pushed forward and were denied each time by the Blacktown Spartans defence who gallantly defended.
In the 22nd minute Nick Rizzo played in a nice ball for Anthony Hartshorn, who in turn found Franco Parisi, who forced a nice save from the ‘keeper Saliadarre with his powerful strike.
However, in 24’ minute Mario Ghobriel opened the scoring for the Blacktown Spartans when he received a perfect pass that split the APIA defence and, with a clinical finish, he scored.
In the 43rd minute the Spartans hit a stumbling block when Daniel Cornett was sent off by referee James Lewis.
He was caught trying to waste time by interfering at a free kick that the new Tigers recruit from the Newcastle Jets, Adam D’Apuzzo, was keen to take very quickly.
Unfortunately Cornett had been booked only a few minutes earlier for a reckless challenge and a second yellow card meant an automatic red.
In the 56th minute a beautiful cross by Rizzo from the right found Hartshorn in the box, but his header was wide of the mark.
In the 64’ minute a great shot by Mark Byrnes, from some distance out, almost had the Tigers team jumping for joy when the ball narrowly shaved the post and ended up against the side netting.
Late in the game Young threaded a ball through the Tigers defence for Ghobriel, but his diagonal shot needed more power behind it.
Right at the end Mohebee scored a goal as the Tigers pushed forward. The Spartans went downfield in a clever counter-attacking move that Mohebee finished off with a powerful shot that ended up in the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Game over and Waratah Cup dreams up in smoke for the Tigers.
A.P.I.A. LEICHHARDT 0
BLACKTOWN SPARTANS 2
(Ghobriel 24’, Mohebee 92’)
A.P.I.A. LEICHHARDT TIGERS: 1. Jose Bello-Amigo, 2. Mark Byrnes, 3. John Kelso, 5. Michael West, 19. Brad Bartels (12. Andrew Vitucci 78’), 15. Adam D’Apuzzo, 8. Anthony Hartshorn, 11. Nicola Rizzo, 14. Sam Messam (17. Wandi Jajaw 57’), 10. Franco Parisi (7. Stephen Kayes 53’), 9. Robbie Younis.
BLACKTOWN SPARTANS: 1. C. Saliadarre, 2. N. Agbinja, 4. D. Wells, 5. L. Boyd, 8. T. Spencer (18. T. McCrae 91’), 9. J. Young, 10. Mario Ghobriel (15. D. King 94’), 11. G. McPherson (3. M. Mohebee 81’), 16. L. Infanti, 17. Peter Hubbard, 14. Daniel Cornett.
YELLOW CARDS: Cornett 38’, Agbinja 63’, Ghobriel 66’, Hubbard 85’
RED CARD: Cornett 43’
REFEREE: James Lewis
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