Bridges shows his class for youth side

By CRAIG KERRY Nov. 12, 2012, midnight

.FORMER Leeds United striker Michael Bridges starred for a 10-man National Youth League Jets side, scoring two goals and setting up Newcastle’s other in a 3-1 win over Sydney FC at Leichhardt Oval yesterday.


Bridges, 34, who has has come off the bench three times this year for the A-League side but was unused in the win over Western Sydney on Saturday, scored early in each half.
He then set up Brazilian import Bernardo Ribeiro with a cross to make it 3-0 in the 75th minute.
Sydney scored a consolation goal through Aaron Calver with 10 minutes to go.
Bridges gave the Jets the lead in the third minute when he finished off a great run down the right from Andrew Hoole. Newcastle were down to 10 men in the 19th minute, after A-League defender Taylor Regan brought down a runaway Alec Urosevski on the edge of the penalty box. Despite the red card, the Jets continued their dominance to take a 1-0 half-time lead.
Bridges made it 2-0 in the 47th minute when he found the top right corner with a cracking strike from the edge of the penalty area.
Jets youth coach Clayton Zane said Bridges, who played the full game, was a class above everyone in the round-four match yesterday.
Zane said Ribeiro was another standout in his 90-minute performance.
The win was the Jets’ second of the year and came after a 3-2 victory over a strong Perth side in Inglewood.
Goalkeeper Matt Nash, defender Sam Gallaway and James Virgili were other A-League-contracted players in the Jets line-up. Sydney also had several first-team players but were without Jason Culina.
The former Jets marquee player is on the comeback from two years on the sidelines with knee problems and had his first game on Tuesday for Sydney in a friendly against Western Sydney.
Newcastle next meet the Australian Institute of Sport side on Saturday morning at Wanderers Oval. The Jets can play only youth league-aged players against the AIS.


Zane said the match would be a good test for his young squad.
Newcastle’s five Young
Socceroos may be available, depending how they fare in the under-19 Asian championship in the United Arab Emirates this week.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/948465/bridges-shows-his-class-for-youth-side/?cs=306

Can't help but feel sorry for the young lads at AIS.

Why?

Care to look at their results?

Care to look at their results?

Does anyone else feel like questioning Rado's recruitment when he's playing 2 of his 5 imports in the NYL? It's getting embarrassing for him, he really needs the comfort & security of Ange's coattails again.

Hopefully I'll be able to get to the Victory youth game on Sunday, keen to see how some of the guys are going

Haha I know their results, but I don't think they would be the least bit interested in your sympathy, or for that matter feeling sorry for themselves.

Yuji on the otherhand is squad depth.

Do is a long term signing and needs to get used to the physicality of the league. Yuji on the otherhand is squad depth. For potential injuries and for youth NT football, for Donachie and Geria.

And last season Heart claimed Maycon was a "project player". Label them however you like but a turd is still a turd.

Does anyone else feel like questioning Rado's recruitment when he's playing 2 of his 5 imports in the NYL? It's getting embarrassing for him, he really needs the comfort & security of Ange's coattails again.

Hopefully I'll be able to get to the Victory youth game on Sunday, keen to see how some of the guys are going

ais poor form needs a thread of its own considering a disproportionate number of ais players play in rep teams.

anyone have a table for the nyl so far?

Gareth Morgan, with ccmariners.com.au

NYL: Dixon's delight as Mariners claim glory

Saturday, 17 November 2012 4:00 PM
Patrick Dixon

CENTRAL Coast Mariners Youth have maintained their 100 per cent start to their National Youth League campaign courtesy of a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Perth Glory Youth.

Both sides made light of sweltering conditions at Intiga Stadium to produce an entertaining contest, with Patrick Dixon's second-half strike eventually proving enough to secure a fifth consecutive win for the visitors and condemn the home side to their third straight home defeat.

And while neither team managed to find a goal in the opening 45 minutes, they each showed plenty of attacking intent and created several decent chances - two of which were only kept out by the woodwork.

The first of the clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities fell the way of Glory's Jesse Makarounas, but he blazed wastefully over the bar after neat approach work from Riley Woodcock and Harry O'Brien.

Moments later the hosts went close again through Moses Kalau.

The young midfielder bent a superb 22-metre free-kick around the wall with his left foot only to see it strike the post.

Mariners goalkeeper David Bradasevic then reacted quickly to prevent the loose ball from rebounding over the line.

The visitors, meanwhile, began to assert themselves later in the half, with midfielder Tomislav Cirjak prominent in most of their better moments.

His tenacity teed up a shooting opportunity for Daniel Bragg who fired over from the edge of the box, before Anthony Caceres came within centimetres of putting John McLafferty's side in front, striking the post with a thumping, 20-metre effort six minutes before the break.

The deadlock was finally broken three minutes into the second half however, and it was no surprise to see the impressive Cirjak involved.

Racing clear down the right, the Mariners No.10 played an inch-perfect low cross into the path of the onrushing Dixon, who made no mistake with a side-foot finish from close range.

Undaunted, the hosts threw men forward in search of an equaliser and it almost arrived on the hour mark when another fine through ball from Woodcock sent Ndumba Makeche clear, and although the powerful striker's shot crept under keeper Bradasevic, former Glory defender Brent Griffiths was on hand to clear off the line.

Perth substitute Storm Roux and the Mariners' Griffiths both went close with headed efforts at either end as the game moved into its final quarter and Glory continued to look threatening, particularly down the left, where Woodcock and Roux combined to great effect.

A frantic finale ensued as Gareth Naven's side piled on the pressure, but after Borbor Sam ended his mazy run by placing his right-footed effort wide, the men from Gosford managed to hang on to grind out the win that cemented their spot at the top of the NYL ladder.

Post match, Mariners Youth Head Coach John McLafferty praised his boys for their ability to cope with the stifling Western Australian conditions.

“We deserved the win in the end,” he said. “After a bit of a slow start to the game we began to control possession and took control of the contest.”

“Our holding midfielders Niko Stanojevic and Anthony Caceres performed exceptionally and really helped lay the platform for the victory.”

Mariners Youth play their next game at the Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence next Saturday 24 November against Brisbane Roar Youth. Kick-off is 3:00pm.

Perth Glory Youth 0
Central Coast Mariners Youth 1 (Dixon 48')

Perth Glory Youth: 1. Lewis Italiano (16. Devon Spence 62'), 2. Matthew Davies, 3. Ryan Lowry, 4. Jacob Collard, 5. Riley Woodcock, 6. Brandon O'Neill, 7. Harry O'Brien (13. Borbor Sam 62'), 8. Blamo Quaqua (12. Lawrence Shuruma 62'), 9. Ndumba Makeche, 10. Jesse Makarounas, 11. Moses Kalau (14. Storm Roux 46')

Central Coast Mariners Youth: 1. Luke Turnbull, 2. Nikola Stanojevic, 3. Michael Neill, 4. Kieren Paul, 6. Daniel Bragg (8. Dillon Vorster 57'), 7. Adam Jenner, 10. Tomislav Cirjak (5. Joshua Forbes 57'), 11. Patrick Dixon, 12. Louis Bozanic (14. Jordan Crighton 46'), 13. Brent Griffiths, 17. Anthony Caceres

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/centralcoastmariners/news-display/NYL-Dixons-delight-as-Mariners-claim-glory/53149

Steve Barrett at Hindmarsh Stadium, Omnisport Adelaide,

Heart settle for draw

Saturday, 17 November 2012 6:17 PM

Adelaide United battled out a tense 1-1 draw with an undermanned Melbourne Heart in Saturday's National Youth League clash at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday.

Melbourne substitute Anthony Cartanos' goal in the 67th minute was countered by United excitement machine Abir Mabil seven minutes later after the visitors were reduced to 10 men on the cusp of half-time following the red carding of Stefan Mauk.

Despite the setback, Heart refused to surrender and fought tooth and nail with the Reds.

Genuine clear-cut scoring opportunities were few and far between for large portions of the opening half.

Liam Wooding imposed himself physically, dead-ball specialist John Karatzas threatened on occasions, Jacob Melling held Adelaide's back four together and Mabil engaged in a thrilling duel with Philip Petreski for the best part of 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, Melbourne skipper Josh Groenwald and livewire Jeremy Walker held their own early on as the Reds threatened to take control.

Heart settled down and found their feet about 15 minutes in, with Zac Walker's miscue in the 18th minute the visitors' best early chance.

On 23 minutes, Mabil, playing one of his better games for the club, came streaming into the box in space before having his shot deflected by the desperate Mullet.

Five minutes later, Groenwald's sliding close-range lunge on the back of a menacing set piece went agonisingly close to finding the back of the net, before Golgol Mebrahtu's 32nd-minute strike went past a sprawling John Hall, but wide of the right post.

After an indifferent start, Heart were starting to look good but they would enter the sheds with their heads down after losing 16-year-old Adelaide-raised Mauk in the 45th minute.

Mauk was given his marching orders after receiving a red card for an over-the-top challenge on Melling, who clearly didn't appreciate the attention.

The Reds threw everything at the 10-man Heart immediately after the interval.

Melling, Briscoe and Mabil forced Melbourne gloveman Alastair Bray to earn his keep, but the Heart stopper was up to the task, with a series of smart saves.

The visitors soon regathered their composure and took the lead in the 67th minute when Cartanos, who only five minutes earlier had come off the pine to replace Evangelo Batsis, pounced on a shocking Jake Monaco back pass and pushed the ball comfortably past Reds substitute keeper Paul Izzo.

Barely two minutes later, the Reds came within a whisker of drawing level when substitute Dion Kirk pushed one into the woodwork, the ball rebounding off and cleared safely by Melbourne.

United weren't left to rue the missed opportunity for long.

In the 74th minute, Mabil mopped up and slotted the equaliser from a ricochet off the gloves of Bray following a Scott Nagel shot on goal.

Mabil was in the thick of it again in the 83rd when he found a closing Briscoe one-out but the resulting shot sailed high.

William Abbott's close-range nod in the 90th minute was knocked away by Izzo, representing the Heart's best late-game chance, as the deadlock was unable to be broken.

Adelaide United 1 (Mabil 74)
Melbourne Heart 1 (Cartanos 67)
@ Hindmarsh Stadium

Adelaide United: 1. John Hall (20. Paul Izzo 45), 2. Shaun Harvey (6. Jake Monaco 66), 3. Jordan Elsey (c), 5. Scott Nagel, 7. Liam Wooding, 8. Thomas Briscoe, 9. John Karatzas (12. Allan Welsh 45), 11. Zenon Caravella (10. Dion Kirk 66), 14. Awer Mabil, 15. Jacob Melling, 16. Antony Golec.

Melbourne Heart: 1. Alastair Bray (16. Christopher Maynard 78), 2. Jeremy Walker, 4. Andrew Mullett, 5. William Abbott, 6. Joshua Groenwald (c), 9. Evangelo Batsis (3. Anthony Cartanos 61), 10. Stefan Mauk, 11. Golgol Mebrahtu, 12. Philip Petreski, 14. Stipo Andrijasevic (8. Paulo Retre 45), 15. Zac Walker (7. Ersin Kaya 61).

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Adelaide-Heart-settle-for-draw/53154

Kieran Francis

Victory youth fall to Sydney

Sunday, 18 November 2012 5:48 PM

Sydney FC finally got their first National Youth League win for the campaign with an entertaining 3-2 away win against Melbourne Victory at SS Anderson Reserve.

Victory got off to the best possible start through Christopher Cristaldo on nine minutes but the opener was quickly cancelled out by Sky Blue striker Alec Urosevski. Two goals on either side of half-time by Dimitri Petratos and Keifer Dotti gave Sydney a two-goal advantage before substitute Connor Pain got a late consolation goal for Victory.

Victory dominated the early stages and got on the scoresheet early when Theodore Markelis found space on the left flank in a promising position. The former Valencia youth player squared the ball across the box and Cristaldo arrived to slot it in the corner of the net.

It didn't take long for Sydney to equalise. After a defensive mix-up at the edge of the area, Urosevski stole the ball and poked it home with just Victory goalkeeper Tando Velaphi to beat.

The Sky Blues had a golden opportunity to take the lead mid-way through the half after a heavy touch from Victory defender Nicholas Ansell allowed Christopher Naumoff to nick the ball and be one-on-one with Velaphi. The Victory goalkeeper stood up tall and the Sydney youngster squandered the opportunity wide of the right upright.

On the stroke of half-time, Sydney took the lead in the most unusual circumstance. A Sydney cross was touched back to Velaphi by Ansell and referee Greg Gontscharow ruled that the Victory keeper had picked up a back pass. From the resulting indirect free kick, Petratos thumped into the net from six yards despite the Victory players forming a wall on the goal line.

The Victory fell further behind on 52 minutes when a corner found its way to the back post and Sydney left-back Dotti was on hand to smash the ball in from a tight angle to make it 3-1.

Despite being behind, Melbourne still maintained their possession advantage and missed two good chances to get back in the game. Substitute Jake Nakic struck the crossbar on 64 minutes and Markelis was denied brilliantly by Sydney custodian Vedran Janjetovic seconds later.

Markelis continued to work his way into the game and his cross brought about Victory's second goal. The delivery was rolled across the face of goal and substitute Connor Pain arrived at the back post to tap into an empty net on 81 minutes.

Even though they dominated the latter stages, Melbourne couldn't find an equaliser as the Sky Blues finally lifted themselves off the bottom of the standings.

Melbourne Victory 2 (Cristaldo 9, Pain 81))
Sydney FC 3 (Urosevski 11, Petratos 45, Dotti 52)

Melbourne Victory: 1. Tando Velaphi (20. Lawrence Thomas 46), 2. Matthew Foschini, 3. Nicholas Ansell, 4. Sam Gallagher, 5. Dylan Murnane, 6. Luc Jeggo, 7. Theodore Markelis, 8. James Jeggo, 9. Luke O'Dea (c) (12. John Buceto 58), 10. Julius Davies (14. Jake Nakic 58), 11. Christopher Cristaldo (13. Connor Pain 46)
Yellow Cards: (Markelis 39, Gallagher (45+2)

Sydney FC: 2. Keifer Dotti, 3. Aaron Calver, 4. Roberto Speranza, 5. Daniel Petrovski (12. Lukas Stergiou 28), 6. Hagi Gligor (7. Joshua Macdonald 58), 8. Peter Triantis (c), 10. Christopher Naumoff, 14. Dimitri Petratos (9. Nikola Taneski 58), 16, Alec Urosevski, 17. Adam Griffiths (14. Dimitri Petratos 80), 20. Vedran Janjetovic

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbournevictory/news-display/Victory-youth-fall-to-Sydney/53245

Victory Youth go top

Ben Cameron, Omnisport
Sunday, 25 November 2012 8:26 PM

A John Buceto brace has helped Melbourne Victory move into top spot on the National Youth League ladder with a 3-0 win over Perth Glory at Intiga Stadium on Sunday.

Melbourne share a record of five wins from six matches with second-placed Central Coast, but have a far superior goal difference with 14 to the Mariners' five.

Both teams are now five points clear of their nearest rivals Newcastle and Brisbane, who sit on 10 points.

Buceto opened the scoring in the 42nd-minute when he was allowed to run onto a through ball that cut the middle of the Perth defence open and he rolled home past Lewis Italiano.

Buceto's second came five minutes into the second-half when he buried a cross from 15 yards and substitute Luc Jeggo's 66th-minute goal put the result beyond doubt.

In an error-ridden first-half, it was Melbourne who pressed up the pitch early and had the ball in their attacking third, which caused mistakes in the Perth defence.

Goalkeeper Italiano almost succumbed to the pressure when he mis-kicked a back pass and the ball squirmed off the side of his boot and rolled dangerously across the face of goal.

Perth began to work their way into the match and had a couple of chances of their own towards the end of the first-half.

Firstly, Ndumba Makeche cut in from the left, but blasted his shot over the bar with two open teammates in the box.

Regular first-team substitute Chris Harold almost played through Adrian Zahra with a probing ball between two Victory defenders, but Lawrence Thomas was quickly off his line to clear for the Melbournians.

An errant Nicholas Ansell backpass allowed Makeche to get on the end of it but Thomas again was quick to come out and block the shot.

Perth failed to put any sort of sustained pressure on the Melbourne defence in the second-half, and the defeat sees them sit second bottom of the NYL standings, ahead of only the AIS.



Perth Glory 0
Melbourne Victory 3 (Buceto 42, 50, Luc Jeggo 66)

Perth Glory: 1. Lewis Italiano (GK) (16. Jordan Franken 63), 2. Matthew Davies, 4. Ryan Lowry (c), 5. Riley Woodcock, 6. Brandon O'Neill, 7. Adrian Zahra, 8. Lawrence Shuruma (12. Kearyn Baccus 59), 9. Ndumba Makeche, 10. Jesse Makarounas, 11. Chris Harold (15. Borbor Sam 45), 13. Storm Roux (14. Blamo Quaqua 61).

Melbourne Victory: 1. Lawrence Thomas (GK) (20. Luke Radonich 81), 2. Matthew Foshini, 3. Petar Franjic (13. Conor Pain 63),, 4. Nicholas Ansell, 5. Dylan Murnane, 6. Space Pilevski (12. Luc Jeggo 59), 7. Christopher Christaldo, 8. James Jeggo, 9. Luke O'Dea (c), 10. Theodore Markelis (14. Kwabena Boahene 63), 11. John Buceto

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Victory-Youth-go-top/53860

6. Space Pilevski

Youth in Focus: Palatsides excited by NYL progress

Tuesday, 27 November 2012 10:46 AM

After two matches without a win, Melbourne Heart's National Youth League side produced its best performance of the season on Sunday to brush aside Newcastle Jets 3-0.

Facing a Jets side that featured a host of senior players, including former Heart full-back Craig Goodwin, James Virgili and Jacob Pepper, who had all made an impression in the Hyundai A-League match the night before, coach Joe Palatsides was particularly impressed with his side's progress.

As a breeding ground for Heart's newest talent, Palatsides prasied both the team and individual performances on the weekend.

“I think I’m happy with the performance, we’re always happy when we win, [but] there was a big difference in the way we played to the way we were playing in the last couple of weeks," Palatsides reflected on Sunday.

"The players are slowly coming to grips with what we’ve been asking them to do and I think that in the last 45 minutes that’s the best we’ve played all year.

“We were focussed on really setting the tempo from the first five minutes and that’s what we said in the dressing before we went out.

“We knew that what we worked on throughout the week, that if our structure was good we can play against any team in the league and do quite well against them, it was just a matter of the boys being switched on and starting from the first minute.”

Paulo Retre was partly responsible for kick-starting Heart's strong opening with a flashy strike into the top corner for the pick of Heart's goals so far this season.

“Obviously scoring early gave us a bit of confidence and we just went on from there and I think it was a well-deserved victory and a very good performance as well," Palatsides said.

“That’s probably Paul’s best game for us. He’s been having back problems for a while so as we were going along he’s getting a bit better and his back has been loosing up a bit and when that happens he is a good playe.

However, Palatsides reiterated the team's overall performance on the day.

“It was really hard to find a player that didn’t perform, especially in the first-half, to the expectations that we have at Melbourne Heart, so all the players did exceptionally well," Palatsides said.

“I’m really pleased with the whole bunch, even the guys that came on added a bit to the team when we were a bit tired.”

One of those players injected into the match in the final half hour was substitute Zac Walker who opened his account for the new season, while there were strong performances from goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, Evan Batsis, GolGol Mebrahtu and Will Abbott.

“I was really pleased of the way they defended and that was part of the structure that we set out at the start of the year that first we’ll get out defensive side right then we’ll work on the rest of it from that point on<" Palatsides said.

“It was a really good team effort so we’ll try and build from that, this week we go to Sydney so hopefully we can string a few wins together now.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbourneheart/news-display/Youth-in-Focus-Palatsides-excited-by-NYL-progress/54014

Regarding the spelling errors in names, the ladder is also way wrong and Victory aren't top. Amateur hour at a league hq sometimes...

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/yleague

Ladder there seems to have MV on top...

Ah, I see :lol:

Well, it has been fixed now.