Rangers perfect on top

GREGOR MACTAGGART
April 18th, 2010

NAKARA Azzurri-University Rangers rocketed to the top of the Habitat Premier League following a 4-3 win over Mindil FC at Darwin Football Stadium yesterday.

The Rangers remain the only side with a 100 per cent winning record through two rounds after an action-packed success that featured seven goals, 10 yellow cards and a red card.

The Padres opened the scoring in the eighth minutes through Luke Eckel and held the advantage for 24 minutes before Anthony Di Lembo levelled.

Round 1 hero Owen Linehan made it two goals in as many weeks, giving Rangers a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute and Stavros Makyrlos added a third just seven minutes later.

William Reddell's 70th minute effort gave the Mindil faithful some hope, but Robert Povey squashed it four minutes later when he capped a brilliant game with a well-taken goal.

Mindil got a consolation through Lachlan Conway, but the Rangers held on for an important win.

Last night, an impressive Hellenic gunned down Port Darwin 4-0.

In general play, the sides were fairly even, but the difference was in finishing and that's where the Blues made it count.

Hellenic seized control early in the first-half with two goals in the space of four minutes through Manoli Giallouris and John Makyrlos.

In contrast, Port wasted its best chance of the match when Manoli Maragos went through one-on-one with Hellenic keeper John Tsaknis and overplayed his hand to his side's detriment.

Former Port star Helio Carvalho proved a nemesis for his old team, scoring Hellenic's third and the outstanding Pedro Stefanidakis added a fourth in the 87th minute.

And on Friday night, Casuarina exacted revenge for their President's Cup Final loss to Darwin Olympic, winning 3-2.

The match sprung to life early with two goals inside the first three minutes, the opener to Casuarina's Daniel Silva, then Michael Tsounias hit back inside sixty seconds for the Reds.

The Rowdies opened up a 3-1 lead through a Scott Piper penalty and Alberto Serra, and while Mitch Amidy got Olympic's second, the Rowdies sealed an important three points.

CASUARINA 3 (D Silva, S Piper, A Serra) d OLYMPIC 2 (M Tsounias M Amidy)

NAU RANGERS 4 (A Di Lembo 32, O Linehan 58, S Makyrlos 65, R Povey 74) d MINDIL FC 3 (L Eckel 8, W Reddell 70, L Conway 80)

HELLENIC 4 (M Giallouris 14, J Makrylos 17, H Carvalho 70, P Stefanidakis 87) d PORT DARWIN 0.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/04/18/140561_ntsport.html