Manly pop the curse of Popondetta
Manly United FC is back in the NSW National Premier League top-5 after an entertaining 1-0 win over Mt Druitt Rangers on Friday night. Considered a graveyard for visiting teams – Rangers had not lost a game there this year – Manly busted the Popondetta Park hoo-doo with a 56th minute strike by Jack Fulton.
After an opening stanza that began like a game of chess, Manly dominated the midfield and made the contest their own in the second half.
Striker Dejan Pandurevic was heavily involved and forced Rangers’ goal-keeper Carlos Saliadarre into several excellent saves.
Yet Saliadarre – Mt Druitt’s best – couldn’t contain Fulton who latched onto a reflex save that rebounded for the striker to smash into the net from a tight angle.
“We needed to take control of the game and have some more patience in possession, and we did this in the second half,” Pandurevic said. “We controlled the tempo and it gave us a number to chances to score. Before Jack’s goal we had a number of chances on goal and eventually the ball dropped to him and he did very well to score.”
Pandurevic paid tribute to Mt Druitt. “They are very tough to beat at their home ground. Our whole team had to perform well and we did; we worked hard. The lads who came off the bench made a very positive impact on the game, too.
“It was a great victory for us and we’ll look to do the same next week [against Wollongong Wolves at Cromer Park on Saturday].”
Rangers coach Stewart Montgomery said his team was beaten by a “hungrier side”.
“We got the result we deserved tonight. I don’t think either coach would have enjoyed the first half until it settled. It was always going to come down to who could control the ball and settle,” Montgomery said.
Manly United coach Adam Griffiths said his team was “deserved winners”.
“It is tough to come out here and win, we created a lot of chances but did enough to get the points. We worked on our reaction press and the easy pass to have a more competent second half that gave us the win,” Griffiths said.
Match Stats
Friday 14 May 2021
Popondetta Park, Emerton
Referee: M. Bailey
Assistant Referees: H. Fenton-White & E. Saba
Fourth Official: K. Yaghi
Mount Druitt Town Rangers 0
Manly United FC 1 (Fulton ‘56)
Mount Druitt Town Rangers: 1. SALIADARRE Carlos, 3. OUGHTRED Travis, 4. SMITH Mitchell (5. TUSON-FORTH ‘70), 6. THOMPSON Blake, 7. STEWART Jack, 8. PEREZ Jason (18. MACEROLA ‘57), 10. TSUJIMURA Takumu, 14. KAMADA Fumoto, 17. COSKERIE Cooper (16. SUNMOLA ‘86), 21. ELRICH Tarek, 33. WARREN Marc
Unused subs: 13. ALGARAWI Ahmed, 20. NICHOLS Peter, 22. MAMONE Jake
Yellow cards: Elrich, Perez, Warren
Red cards: nil
Manly United FC: 2. PAULL Kieran, 3. GEORGAKLIS James (5. GALLAGHER ‘66), 7. FULTON Jack (13. BALDERSON ‘88), 10. CARDOZO Richard (18. RAINBIRD ‘90+5), 12. KMET Luca (31. GIBSON ‘66), 14. PANDUREVIC Dejan, 15. PIRIZ Jesse, 16. KAMBAYASHI Seiya, 19. BENTON Sam, 20. AGANOVIC Alen, 24. ASHTON Finn
Unused subs: 1. MADDEN Jacob, 40. MATTISON Mitchell
Yellow cards: Balderson
Red cards: nil
Player Ratings (By Justin Davies @JustDavies90)
3 – Dejan Pandurevic (MU)
2 – Carlos Saliadarre (MDTR)
1 – Richard Cardozo (MU)
Photo taken by FootballNSW