Manly United thump League Leaders APIA
Harry McCarthy scored a superb hat-trick as Manly United shocked competition leaders APIA Leichhardt with a 4-0 demolition at Cromer Park on Saturday night.
McCarthy’s opening goal in the fourth minute set the tone for what was a red-hot performance from Patrick Zwaanswijk’s side, blowing away an APIA side who were previously unbeaten in six matches.
The match then remained tight until the hour mark, when a one-on-one double save from Levi Kaye marked an important turning point in the contest – as moments later McCarthy tapped home his second, before Bruno Mendes finished off a classy counter-attacking goal ten minutes later.
A memorable night for Manly was capped off in the third minute of stoppage time, as McCarthy lofted in a special strike from all of 30 metres, sparking scenes of jubilant celebration around Cromer Park.
Deploying an attack-minded starting lineup, Manly kicked off the game in impressive fashion.
Their first chance came inside two minutes as Connor Rose broke through and stung the palms of Ivan Necevski.
Two minutes later, they took the lead.
It was a superb individual goal from Harry McCarthy, his third in as many games, who picked up the ball out wide and tricked his way through the APIA defence before slotting home in trademark fashion.
APIA created their first chance of the night on 13 minutes as a strong save from Kaye denied Sean Symons.
In the minutes that followed, the chances continued to flow for the hosts.
Seiya Kambayashi’s backheel for Koop saw the attacker’s shot blocked from close range on 25 minutes before Rose nearly picked out the bottom corner, only denied by a sharp Necevski stop.
From that point, the goalmouth action dried up as both sides engaged in a tense midfield battle for the remainder of the first half.
Just like the first, the opening chance of the second half fell to Rose as he rolled an effort across the face of goal.
APIA then had their best chance of the game arise in the 63rd minute, as Yianni Nicolaou tried to round Levi Kaye, only to be denied by a superb double save from the Manly goalkeeper.
In the subsequent corners that followed, APIA struck the crossbar twice, but the ball would not fall in the back of the net for the visitors.
And just as APIA went so close to an equaliser, they soon found the deficit doubled.
Bilal Bilkadi played a clever one-two and found himself in behind, with his shot appearing goal-bound before it was tapped in from close range by McCarthy.
Then in the 67th minute, Manly scored a special counter-attacking goal.
It was ultimately started and finished by two Bruno Mendes touches – 90 metres apart.
It was Mendes’ clearance off a corner that saw Kambayashi find McCarthy, who fed it through for Matt Sim to swing in a first-time ball into the path of the Brazilian, who coolly chested it home.
McCarthy went close to a hat-trick in 89th minute, has his header was saved well by Necevski, but he would soon find it in spectacular fashion.
Seconds before full time, a miscued clearance fell into the path of the in-form forward, who was urged to shoot by the home crowd from way out and duly obliged, finding the net an outstanding effort from long range.
The celebrations kicked on from there, with the healthy Cromer crowd’s applause soon greeted by the final whistle.
Post-game, Manly Head Coach Zwaanswijk lauded his side’s showing.
“At home we are a very confident team, we have been playing well the last five or six weeks and the only thing that has been missing was the goals,” he reflected.
“It could have been 3-0 at half time with the chances we created, in the second half they tried to fight back with a lot of quality in their squad.
“But we are very good in transition, have a lot of creativity, and tonight was one of those nights where everyone had confidence we made a lot of good choices in the final third.”
The result was undoubtedly one of the highlights of a mixed campaign for the Northern Beaches club, and also held some consequences for the title race.
Elsewhere, Marconi’s 5-1 win over NSW Football Park means APIA’s lead is closed to nine points, with Rockdale a chance to go within seven if they secure victory over Bulls FC academy on Sunday.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 4 (McCarthy 4’, 67’, 90+2’ Mendes 77’)
APIA Leichhardt FC 0
Saturday 22 July 2023
Cromer Park, Cromer
Manly United FC: 20 Levi Kaye (GK), 3. Jesse Piriz (C) (18. Lucas Rainbird 80’), 7. Seiya Kambayashi, 9. Benjamin Koop (2. Kieren Paull 64’), 10. Bruno Mendes (31. Marcus Lal 80’), 14. Connor Rose (11. Matthew Sim 69’), 19. Alen Aganovic, 29. Hunter Elliott, 22, Bilal Belkadi, 23. Harry McCarthy, 32. Saxon Hillyer (12. Kristian Santich 80’)
Substitutes Not Used: 93. Montgomery Partington
Yellow Cards: Mendes 39’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Ivan Necevski, 6. Anthony Sparacino, 9. Jason Romero (8. Florent Indalecio 83’), 15. Themba Muata-Marlow, 16. Sean Symons, 17. Rory Jordan (19. Fabian Monge 45’), 18. Adrian Ucchino (C) (29. Luke Prsa 83’), 21. Michael Kouta, 23. Dakota Askew, 38. Yianni Nicolaou, 98. Franco Farinella
Substitutes Not Used: 2. Harry Stavris, 3. Paul Galimi, 12. Anthony Bouzanis
Yellow Cards: Kouta 69’
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani & Emma Kocbek
Fourth Official: Aaron Bloch
Player Ratings:
3 – Harry McCarthy (MUN)
2 – Bilal Belkadi (MUN)
1 – Levi Kaye (MUN)
Report by NPL NSW Commentator and Reporter Chris Curulli (Twitter @ChrisCurulli)
