The final of the Waratah Cup between Blacktown City FC and Manly United FC ended with a comprehensive victory to Blacktown City FC by 6-2 at Lambert Park in Leichhardt where the floodgates opened in an eight goal thriller.
The game itself played on a beautiful sunny, wintery afternoon was of a high standard but in some ways the score line didn’t truly reflect the closeness of the encounter.
Blacktown City certainly deserved to win but Manly United were worthy finalists on the day and can justifiably feel proud of their achievements. However, Blacktown City is always a formidable opponent on any day and their composure, poise and experience prevailed which is full credit to all involved with the side especially their astute coach Mark Crittenden.
In the second minute Mitchell Mallia had a shot from outside the box for which Manly United can thank goalkeeper Tonu Liiband who turned the ball away for a corner with a delightful save.
The opening goal arrived two minutes later when a powerful shot from Daniel Araujo forced goalkeeper Liiband to block the ball, but only as far as Ryuji Miyazawa who jogging on the spot knocked the ball into the net for Blacktown City FC.
In the 7’ minute Christopher Payne took advantage when Blacktown City goalkeeper Blake Tuxford was slightly off his line and, with an audacious shot from approximately 40 metres out, scored arguably one of the goals of the season to equalise the ledger for Manly United.
In the 14’ minute Travis Major standing on the left received a ball from the right and with a stupendous left foot shot grazed the crossbar for the western Sydney based team.
In the 23’ minute Manly United tried their luck when Leigh Egger fired a shot from outside the box that was well saved by Blake Tuxford.
Blacktown City regained the lead just before half time when Travis Major made the most of a corner that was poorly cleared by the Manly United defence and his shot from close range went in off Graeme Forbes. It was a goal that Manly United would have been very disappointed to have conceded so close to half time.
An immediate reply arrived at the other end when Chris Payne fired in a shot that Tuxford did well to save and this was to be the last opportunity of the first half of play.
In the second half in the 55’ minute the ball from a corner reached Zac Cairncross and he fired over the crossbar for Blacktown City.
In a nicely worked move in the 64’ minute Kearyn Baccus scored for Blacktown City by putting the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net after receiving a nice pass from Miyazawa.
Blacktown City secured the Waratah Cup, if wasn’t already theirs, when in the 68’ minute a beautiful run down the left by Miyazawa ended when he crossed the ball across the face of goal for Mitchell Mallia who delightfully scored. It was now 4-1 to Blacktown City.
In the 75’ minute a free kick from Brendon Cholokian reached Payne in the box who outjumped all and sundry to score a wonderful headed goal to possibly bring Manly United back into the game and his second of the match.
However, it wasn’t to be because in the 79’ minute Blacktown City scored again when from close range Miyazawa scored his second after goalkeeper Liiband had parried a shot into his path.
Blacktown City made it a tennis score in the 87’ minute when Danny Choi, unmarked in the box, was reached by a beautiful Matt Lewis cross and the player who had been on the field only a matter of minutes got his name on the score sheet too. After eight goals one could arguably conclude that the 2014 edition of the Waratah Cup final was the best ever.
Match Details
Manly United 2 (Christopher Payne 7’, 75’)
Blacktown City 6 (Ryuji Miyazawa 4’ and 79’, Travis Major 40’, Kearyn Baccus 64’, Mitchell Mallia 68’, Danny Choi 87)
Sunday 6th July, 2014
Lambert Park, Leichhardt
Referee: Chris Young
Assistant Referees: James Tesoriero and Joon Park
Fourth Official: Adam Susz
MANLY UNITED FC: 20.Tonu Liiband, 2.James Oates, 3.Leigh Egger, 4.Graeme Forbes (C), 5.Joshua Lawson, 6.Josh Ward (21.Patrick Weir 46’), 8.Daniel Grant (11.Roberto Speranza 71’), 9.Christopher Payne, 10.Brendon Cholokian, 15.Rhys Williams (19.Daniel Saric 63’), 31.Dylan Whitlock (7.Scott Balderson 46’)
Substitutes not used: 1.Dylan Mitchell
Yellow Cards: Scott Balderson 57’, Patrick Weir 70’, Brendon Cholokian 72’, Christopher Payne 81’, Roberto Speranza 83’
Red Cards: Nil
BLACKTOWN CITY FC: 13.Blake Tuxford (1.Thomas Heward-Belle, 91’), 4.Yianni Fragogiannis (10.Shayne D’Cunha 85’), 5.Jacob Poscoliero (15.Marco Travaglini 86’), 6.Matthew Lewis, 7.Travis Major, 8.Sasa Macura, 9.Ryuji Miyazawa (12.Joel Hardwick 90’), 14.Mitchell Mallia (11.Danny Choi 82’), 16.Kearyn Baccus, 18Daniel Araujo, 19.Zac Cairncross
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil