Group Stages
It was fairly clear that The Smoking Tree and City Water would emerge from Group 1, as though Hop Skip Jump tried they didn’t have the quality to match them. It was a similar story in Group 3 as FC Ailsa were the only A-League team in the group and the next best was Telita who have achieved promotion into the A-League for season 59. Shrewsbury were heads and tails above the rest in group 2, leaving it to Warburn FC to get the best of the Amputees for second place. While in group 4 it was between Abbotsford, {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles, Bondi Icebergs and SYD. Even Glasston weren’t out of it, but it was Abbotsford and {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles who stuck their heads highest above the mire.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Quarter Finals
Known for their willingness to take a risk, Abbotsford matched up FC Ailsa’s wing tactic with in a one sided short passing tactic. Tactically they won the dual, amassing 65% of possession and having more shots on target. But they lost the game through the individual brilliance of Alvaro Saldanha who scored a first half hat-trick to give them a 3-2 half time lead.
He added a 4th goal in the 67th minute to seal the win for FC Ailsa, as despite a 3rd consolation goal for Abbotsford in the 96th minute it was not enough to force the game into golden goal extra time.
| Match Facts |
AIA |
Abd |
| Goals |
4 |
3 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
0 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
4 |
3 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
1 |
1 |
| Shots |
12 |
14 |
| Possession |
35% |
65% |
This was a heavy weight encounter between two top A-League sides for whom results had gone the way of The Smoking Tree in the regular season. But the Senior National Cup is a different beast and regularly dumps more favoured teams in the gutter, disregarding form lines in favour of one off encounters.
This was one of those games, as {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles scored through the first of three Niklas Agotnes goals which would win the game for the Eagles.
His first came in the 31st minute. But after half time Giorgos Sakelariou then scored 2 goals in the 59th and 63rd minutes to give The Smoking Tree back the lead.
Niklas Agotnes then immediately equalised in the 66th minute and Fortunato Alfonsi put them in back in front in the 87th, before Agotnes secure his hat-trick in the 92nd. Thus one of the favourite had eliminated another.
| Match Facts |
EAGL |
TST |
| Goals |
4 |
2 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
0 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
3 |
0 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
1 |
0 |
| Shots |
13 |
15 |
| Possession |
53% |
47% |
Both sides went into the game with radical tactics that cancelled each other out. Telita running a box 4-man defence, 2 centre backs and 2 sweepers with no wide defenders, moving into a wing attack. Which Warburn FC countered with a one sided short passing tactic.
The contest was extremely close, so close that the man of the match was Telita goalkeeper Saul Lluc, who kept out all of the shots on goal by Warburn allowing Cheng Yun Bin to score the winning goal in the 74th minute.
| Match Facts |
Tea |
WAR |
| Goals |
1 |
0 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
0 |
1 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
6 |
5 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
3 |
0 |
| Shots |
13 |
14 |
| Possession |
45% |
55% |
By this time of the season City Water had sold their best players and as you can see the match was a non-event. Essential this was a forfeit.
| Match Facts |
YUM |
City |
| Goals |
8 |
0 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
0 |
1 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
5 |
0 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
0 |
0 |
| Shots |
20 |
2 |
| Possession |
64% |
36% |
Semi Finals
For whatever reason the form {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles showed in their quarter-final match against The Smoking Tree was absent and they walked out on to the pitch tired husks of the players they are. You could make an argument that they played a 3-man defensive short passing tactic against FC Ailsa’s wing tactic, putting them at a disadvantage, but still they underperformed and FC Ailsa were at the top of their game.
Alvaro Saldanha was again on song, scoring a hat-trick with 1 goal in the first half and 2 in the 2nd half. Throw in an own goal from {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles Aldamo Trancoso and
a single goal to Jessop Locke and the end scoreline of 5-0 reflects the blowout it was.
| Match Facts |
EAGL |
AIA |
| Goals |
0 |
5 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
1 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
2 |
1 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
0 |
1 |
| Shots |
6 |
15 |
| Possession |
45% |
55% |
Statistically the match was closer than the result suggests. But despite the evenness of the
Telita Match Stats
| Total |
|
1 |
10 |
5 |
117 |
67% |
44 |
50% |
7 |
39 |
Shrewsbury Biscuits FC Match Stats
Total |
|
4 |
14 |
10 |
109 |
64% |
42 |
60% |
4 |
38 |
stats Telita struggled to imposed themselves on the game. As they didn’t have the players to match Shrewsbury, who through the experience of players like Nereo Ulizes who scored a hat-trick won the match.
As despite scoring first through Florian Demaria, Telita then conceded goals steadily throughout the first half to be 3-1 down at halftime. Another Shrewsbury goal came in injury time of the 2nd half, but the game was well won by then.b
| Match Facts |
Tea |
YUM |
| Goals |
1 |
4 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
1 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
0 |
3 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
0 |
0 |
| Shots |
5 |
10 |
| Possession |
46% |
54% |
3rd Place Playoff
The 3rd place playoff was an engrossing contest as {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles built a steady lead and looked to be safely in front when Niklas Agotnes added their 3rd goal in the 47th minute.
But from here Telita began to fight back as Cheng Yun Bin reduced the deficit to one, with his first and second goal.
Fernando Alfonsi then gave the Eagles back a 2 goal buffer, which was brought back to 1 when in the 79th minute Cheng Yun Bin scored his 3rd goal with plenty of time for more. But this was where the flurry of goals ended and {Draxonia} Crimson Eagles held out for a 3rd place finish in the senior national cup.
| Match Facts |
EAGL |
Tea |
| Goals |
4 |
3 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
0 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
2 |
1 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
1 |
0 |
| Shots |
12 |
12 |
| Possession |
54% |
46% |
Final
|
Shrewsbury Biscuits FC – F.C.Ailsa |
|
3 – 4 |
| On league form this was an unexpected final. Shrewsbury are rebuilding after retirements and the sale of their older players, while FC Ailsa were having a solid first season in the A-League. Both sides looked evenly match on paper and on form, so as both sides line up for the national anthem each would have thought they had a good chance of winning.
Shrewsbury had the best of the play early, scoring first through Tyler Boyd in the 10th minute. From then on the first half was dominated by FC Ailsa, allowing them to
equalise through Leonard Ballstrom in the 36th minute, then continuing his red hot form Alvaro Saldanha took them ahead in the 41st to allow FC Ailsa to lead at the break.
Just like the first half, the second half began well for Shrewsbury as Nereo Ulizes equalised in the 46th minute, before once more FC Ailsa got back on top. Eventually converting
|
their possession and weight of shots on goal with man of the match Alvaro Saldanha completing his hat-trick in the 54th and 89th minutes to give FC Ailsa a 2 goal lead.
Tyler Boyd scored again in the 94th minute, but the party had begun for FC Ailsa who had captured their first National Cup trophy.
| Match Facts |
YUM |
AIA |
| Goals |
3 |
4 |
| Injuries |
0 |
0 |
| Yellow cards |
1 |
0 |
| Red cards |
0 |
0 |
| Free kicks |
1 |
3 |
| Penalty kicks |
0 |
0 |
| Corners |
0 |
0 |
| Shots |
8 |
19 |
| Possession |
56% |
44% |
Top Scorers
This was Alvaro Saldanhas’ tournament, taking FC Ailsa to the title with 81 goals, 36 more goals than his nearest competitor Nereo Ulizes. That’s almost double, quite a feat and FC Ailsa deserve the title.
Written by Scruttino
aussiezone 