PS4 NPL NNSW Round 16 Review

Ryan Griffiths kept up his perfect scoring record in the PlayStation®4 NPL Northern NSW netting his fourth goal in as many matches as Lambton proved too strong for Lake Macquarie.

Lambton Jaffas 3 (J.Griffiths 24’, Verity 33’, R.Griffiths 53’) defeated Lake Macquarie City Roosters 1 (Walker 78’) at Arthur Edden Oval. 

His brother Joel got the ball rolling for Lambton when he opened the scoring for in the 24th minute when the Roosters struggled to clear the ball out of their penalty box.

Luke Remington controlled the miscued clearance on the edge of the ‘D’ and teed up Joel Griffiths on the right who powered home on the volley from close range.

Nathan Verity then headed the Jaffas into a two-goal lead in the 33rd minute, after Joel Griffiths curled in a pinpoint corner.

Lambton took a 2-0 lead into half-time and when they returned Ryan Griffiths made it four goals in as many PS4 NPL matches.

 

Match of the Round
Edgeworth Eagles 2 (Taylor 6’, Bower 90+2’) defeated Maitland Magpies 1 (Cansdell-Sheriff 12’) at Cooks Square Park. 

Edgeworth young gun Will Bower proved to be the hero for the Eagles as he scored a stoppage time goal to steal three points at Cooks Square Park on Sunday.

The ‘Match of the Round’ could not have been tighter with both Edgeworth and Maitland very evenly matched as they have proved already this season. But, in the moment that mattered, it was Bower who stood tall.

The Eagles flew into an early lead inside the opening ten minutes when Brody Taylor darted down the left edge of the box and finish astutely into the right corner.

Their lead didn’t last long though as the Magpies applied sustained pressure on the Eagles defence. Josh Dutton-Black curled in a free-kick from the left edge and the tall timber of Shane Cansdell-Sheriff nodded the ball on to lock up the scores.

 

Hamilton Olympic 2 (Cooper 75’, Swan 87’) defeated Newcastle Jets Youth 1 (Moric 43’) at Darling Street Oval. 

Hamilton Olympic produced another stirring second-half fightback against the Jets Youth, as they scored twice in the final 15 minutes to record an important 2-1 victory.

For the ninth time, this season Hamilton scored in the final 15 minutes, as they begin to develop a reputation as the competition’s comeback kings.

Mark Moric got the Jets off to a dream start, but goals from Andrew Swan and Rhys Cooper in the second half ensured the three points would stay at Darling Street.

The Jets worked the first goal beautifully as Cody Carroll found space down the left edge and hit a chipped pass centrally to Finn Parris who laid the ball off for Moric to drive the ball into the right corner from close range.

The Jets led 1-0 at the break and looked set to record an upset victory.

Enter Andrew Swan.

 

Adamstown Rosebud 4 (Read 59’, Littlewood 77’, 84’, Tannock 88’) defeated Valentine Phoenix 2 (J. Brown 14’, 23’) at Adamstown Oval.

 Adamstown recorded one of the comebacks of the season as they fought back from a two-goal deficit at half-time to record a 4-2 victory over Valentine.

The Phoenix look set to sew up a finals spot after Jalon Brown struck twice in the opening 23 minutes, but the Rosebud’s came home like a steam train.

With the bye, next weekend, Valentine’s race for a top four spot just got a whole lot tighter.

The day began disastrously for the Rosebuds when Owen Littlewood played a weak back-pass to keeper Riley Hill in the 14th minute, which Phoenix striker Jalon Brown took full advantage of.

Hill reached the ball first, but it was too late as Brown blocked the clearance and tapped the ball into an empty net.

The afternoon got even worse less than ten minutes later for the home side as Alex Read stuck out an arm out to a Scott McGinley chipped pass.

 

Broadmeadow Magic 2 (J. Virgili 24’, Oxborrow 80’) defeated Charlestown City Blues 0 at Magic Park. 

Broadmeadow Magic ensured their finals hopes are alive and kicking in a huge way as they secured a 2-0 victory over 8th placed Charlestown.

Goals from former Hyundai A-League players James Virgili and Mitch Oxborrow bookended the win for Broadmeadow, with a red card for defender Scott Robertson the only sour note.

Charlestown striker Rene Ferguson caused some early headaches for Magic’s defence, but it was James Virgili who opened the scoring for Broadmeadow in the 24th minute.

After some quality build up from Dino Fajkovic, Oxborrow chipped a pass to Virgili who darted down the right edge of the box and finished superbly past Nathan Archbold in the Blues goal.

Josh Piddington almost doubled the lead for Broadmeadow minutes later, but his header was brilliantly saved by Archbold.

Magic took a deserved 1-0 lead into the break and when they returned Nathan Archbold continued to thwart the home side. First, James Virgili found space down the right and Archbold pushed his cross away from danger.

Then, Dino Fajkovic couldn’t find a way past Archbold twice. Fajkovic weaved into the box and powered his shot towards goal. Archbold parried the initial strike back to the strong front man who headed another effort on goal which Archbold jumped to his feet to grab.

 

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