Cant believe that they are actually playing semis on wanderers ground???? its a shit hole hope it rains so we play somewhere else? Luddenham anyone? haha

I hope you folks play @ Wanderers, we're on the field next door, and I'm looking forward to Completo's



and Chorizo's :D

And plenty of studs up challenges haha south americans

2010 Premiers Fairfield Bulls face a stern test against Hurstville City Minotaurs in Sunday’s major semi-final blockbuster the winner advancing to the grand final decider on September 18.
Bulls face-off with Minotaurs

While Fairfield thoroughly deserved their minor premiership trophy after dropping just one of their last 11 matches Hurstville are also in enviable form with eight victories from their last 10 appearances, including a solid 3-2 workout against Wanderers last week as the Bulls rested.

But Hurstville will need to work out a way to bring down Fairfield’s Knight Park fortress. The Bulls have not lost any of their home fixtures this year (winning six and drawing four games) in what has now become a principled stance for the competition’s number one ranked team and coach Michael Mamoo, who watched the Minotaurs dismantle Wanderers on Saturday.

“To be honest, this top five is a completely different ball game for us,” Mamoo said. “The minor premiership is over now, we know we’ve got that trophy, and now we have to stay motivated throughout the next three weeks. You can’t overlook Hurstville’s early season form and we know that every team will want to stop us from winning the grand final. I just hope the week off won’t effect us in any way.”

Hurstville general Peter Sarikakis held no fear in facing the minor premiers. “Fairfield doesn’t bother me,” he said. “It’s my players that concern me. If they turn up to play then we will be alright.” He also repeated his offer to host any of the finals matches at Belmore Sports Ground for free in a bid to avoid a meeting on a Knight Park pitch.

The contest between the two sides couldn’t be spicier after Hurstville proved too good for Fairfield in a 3-1 victory at Belmore Sports Ground way back in round 2 before the Bulls returned fire with a 6-2 broadside at Knight Park in round 13 on the back of five goals in 25 first-half minutes. That result drew the two sides level in fifth place with nine rounds to play. History will show that Fairfield went on to win the minor premiership while Hurstville snuck into third place on the final day.

Unfortunately, fans will be robbed of the chance to see Minotaurs strike ace Michael Di Meglio (league-leading 19 goals) take on Bulls dynamic duo Khaled Elkerhani (14) and Niram Kanoun (13), in second and third place on the goalscoring chart, after the latter sustained a hamstring injury in last week’s 4-0 final-round rout of Luddenham and is expected to be sidelined for a few weeks. However, Elkerhani has a terrific track record against Hurstville, scoring in the first meeting and netting twice in their 6-2 win.

Lively Luddenham meet wounded Wanderers

Luddenham United and Wanderers FC come together in an enticing elimination semi-final match-up on Sunday afternoon. Wanderers spent the week licking their wounds from last week’s frustrating 2-3 loss to Hurstville while Luddenham feasted well after winning their first-ever final 3-2 to dispatch the Roosters and be within two games of an historic grand final berth.

Two 1-1 draws throughout the year was unable to separate Wanderers and Luddenham and although United have the worst performance record against fellow top-five teams (two wins in nine games) coach Andrew Montgomery still fired a warning shot across his opposition’s bow. “We are the last team in the league the Wanderers want to play at the moment,” he said. “The finals is a different kettle of fish and any team can win on the day; that’s why I’m not really concerned who we play from here on in.”

Wanderers mentor Walter Alvarez backed his own players to respond to last week’s loss to Hurstville with their two greatest traits – football and passion. “I believe in my players and I know they will bounce back against Luddenham this weekend,” he said. “We play good football and the players will always fight to come back. We showed this when we won last year and wish that it will happen for us again.”

DIVISION TWO MAJOR SEMI FINALS – (KNIGHT PARK 4, FAIRFIELD)

FIRST GRADE Fairfield Bulls v Hurstville City Minotaurs 3.00pm

RES GRADE Fairfield Bulls v Fairfield Wanderers 12.30pm

DIVISION TWO MINOR SEMI FINALS – (KNIGHT PARK 3, FAIRFIELD)

FIRST GRADE Fairfield Wanderers v Luddenham United 3.00pm

RES GRADE Hurstville City Minotaurs v Belmore Hercules 12.30pm

-By Daniel De Nardi

State League Two Finals Series Round 2 Review
05.09.10 23:18






Daniel De Nardi reviews State League Two Finals Series round 2 action between Fairfield Bulls v Hurstville City Minotaurs and Luddenham United v Wanderers FC.
Bulls turn away Minotaurs

Fairfield Bulls booked themselves a grand final berth the hard way, staving off a determined Hurstville City Minotaurs via a gut-wrenching penalty shootout.

Sunday afternoon’s major semi-final billing lived up to all expectations as Hurstville hit back twice – with goals in regular time and extra time – to force a spot-kick lottery that would eventually decide the affair in Fairfield’s favour.

The Premiers defended their proud home record in gutsy style and remain unbeaten in 11 games at Knight Park. The Bulls will now wait for the winner of next week’s preliminary final between Hurstville and Luddenham to see who meets them in the 2010 championship decider at Lidcombe Oval on September 18.

Fairfield dynamo Alaa Ali Khan broke through after an even opening half-hour to put the Bulls in front, his neat carve up of the Minotaurs defence giving the home side a 1-0 halftime buffer. Hurstville came out in the second term minus star striker Michael Di Meglio (hamstring injury) knowing they have not won a game this year without his name on the scoresheet, but as the clock ticked towards fulltime it was Nick Goumis who came to their rescue, knocking in a goalmouth scramble to lock the scores up.

The Bulls came out firing in extra time and Ali Khan’s mesmerising dance down the right hand flank resulted in a superb individual goal – his ninth of the year – to restore Fairfield’s lead, but it was that man Goumis who again breathed life into Hurstville’s struggle, his second goal drawing plenty of applause and, more importantly, leveling the scores up a second time.

The penalty shootout started routine enough before Minotaurs stalwart Angelo Vagenas inexplicably popped one up for young Bulls keeper Luke Hermis to collect and put Fairfield’s nose in front a third time. And when Hurstville’s Emmanuel Papageorgiou hit the post with his effort the Bulls had secured their 10th win in 12 games and could now look forward to a well-deserved grand final place.

Fairfield coach Michael Mamoo knew it was close. “I thought we dominated for long periods; their keeper [Josh Da Palma] was absolutely brilliant and pulled off 4-5 saves; but I also thought we were fitter and that showed as the game wore on,” he said. Mamoo praised 19-year-old Hermis, who stepped up into first grade in round seven and has held his spot since with some stellar performances in goal.

It will be a big day on September 18 for the Fairfield club with their grade-20 side also booking themselves a grand final berth following a thrilling 3-2 win over Wanderers in extra time on Sunday. The Bulls will play the winner of next week’s Wanderers versus Minotaurs preliminary final for the trophy.

Hurstville coach Peter Sarikakis called it a tough loss. “It was very tight,” he said. “I thought we had better chances than them but just couldn’t put them away. We got a bit frustrated because we were behind and then fell sleep when we finally got back level with them. It was a tough game but we are not finished.” And he is sure to have Di Meglio back at his disposal for the Luddenham crunch match.

Fairfield Bulls 2 (Alaa Ali Khan 27/92m) Hurstville City Minotaurs 2 (Nicholas Goumis 90/98m) – Fairfield win 4-2 on penalties

Luddenham disperse Wanderers

Luddenham United soaked up the moment after an exhilarating 2-1 knockout semi-final win over Wanderers FC at Knight Park on Sunday afternoon. Wanderers were up against it from the outset after a midweek dispute between club and coach saw them go separate ways, but the players still gave their all and Ian Peti’s close-range half-volley forcing even more of the action into the middle of the park as the home side closed ranks behind a 1-0 lead on the quarter-hour mark.

A halftime lashing from coach Andrew Montgomery provided the spark Luddenham needed to fire up in the second half and they finally got on the board when Angelo Martino beat two players down the right hand side of the park, and his laser-guided cross was met by a rising Saula Matayola at the far post to make it 1-1 with 15 minutes to play.

With the match seemingly headed for extra time, John Paul Vella went on a canter for United and provided a flighted cross from the right that bounced over a Wanderers defender and into the path of Martino to finish off with a strong header. The goal, 2-1 lead and eventual win sent the Luddenham faithful into a frenzy as they advanced into unprecedented territory – a preliminary final match-up with Hurstville next week.

“It was very tense and I gave them a bollocking at halftime,” Montgomery said. “The effort wasn’t quite there, but we knew there was no tomorrow, and we did really well in that second half to come over the top of them. Their mistake was they tried to shut the game out and sat deep after scoring their goal.”

Fairfield Wanderers 1 (Ian Peti 15m) Luddenham United 2 (Saula Matayalo 75m Angelo Martino 95m)

Finals results

First grade

Major SF: Fairfield Bulls 4 (Alaa Ali Khan 27/92m) Hurstville City Minotaurs 2 (Nicholas Goumis 93/98m) - win on penalties (2-2 F/T 2-2 E/T)

Minor SF: Fairfield Wanderers 1 (Ian Peti 15m) Luddenham United 2 (Saula Matayalo 75m Angelo Martino 95m)

Grade-20

Major SF: Fairfield Bulls 3 Fairfield Wanderers 2

Minor SF: Hurstville City Minotaurs 3 Belmore Hercules 2 - win on penalties (2-2 F/T 2-2 E/T)

Next week’s games

First grade: Hurstville City Minotaurs vs Luddenham United (3pm)

Grade-20: Hurstville City Minotaurs vs Wanderers FC (1pm)

Preliminary final matches will probably be held at Belmore Sportsground on Sunday afternoon. Check footballnsw.com.au website for confirmation.

-By Daniel De Nardi

Congratulations on making it through. I'll be sure to come and watch.

We lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

Could not play good football on the field due to the wind not allowing to play long/high/through balls and not being able to play on the deck because it just bounced everywhere! As I'm sure your team told you.

Yeah the ground was a disgrace impossible for good football i seen the shoot out unlucky mate but thats the way the cookie crumbles you guys should have had a penalty when your #9 hit the ball and the Minotaurs defender basically caught the ball but oh well what can you do. We also had 2 goal disallowed!!! dodgy linesman, hes the one who let wanderers score when the guy was 5m offside in our 2nd last game of the season when we were 1 up. Pumped for the game this week not the biggest fan of the guy who calls himself the General. Not that hes ever done anything wrong by me but he just has a massive mouth haha.

Yeah, everyone managed to see the handball in the box except the ref, lol. Oh well, what can we do, we had 4-5 first graders playing and we still couldn't win...

Previous two matches, when it was even, we dominated them. Funny how the finals are...

Are you guys playing at Belmore Sports Ground?

id say so but hasnt been confirmed yet. Just happy to be away from Knight park weve played there 3 times in 4 weeks!!!

No way, can never get sick of the Chorizo's and Completo's ;)

Either way, i'll be there to support you guys to beat Sarikakis the big mouthed fuck.

Do any of yous know where the final will be played?
As for knight park i think next season Fairfield Bulls will play thier home games at the old Hajduk Wanderers ground. (by the way whats hapened to them do they still play there under a new name or did they just fold).

Yeah mate final is at Lidcombe oval I'm pretty sure and Hadjuk merged with Mount Pritchard. Looking forward to playing bulls again hopefully both games this year were good games and I might be biast here but I believe we are the top 2 teams in the league

To be honest i think theres not much difference between any of the teams in the top 4.They have all been good.

State League Two Preliminary Final Preview
07.09.10 08:18



With division two premiers Fairfield Bulls safely booked into the 2010 grand final it’s now left to see who will join them as Hurstville City Minotaurs take on Luddenham United in a preliminary final dust-up at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
And by all measures it will be a game for the ages as a proud Hurstville club take on a Luddenham team in their first finals foray.

History will show the Minotaurs beat United twice during the year, a 3-0 demolition in round three followed up by a resounding 2-0 win in round 14, but the results seemed to do more good for Luddenham than harm. United went on a nine week unbeaten run following their round three defeat to eventually top the ladder before back-to-back losses (the second to the Minotaurs) ignited seven undefeated games and a taste of finals football.

Interestingly, Hurstville stepped off the cliff following their early 3-0 victory over Luddenham, winning just two of their next 10 matches to drop out of the top-five altogether. The next time they beat United, however, the Minotaurs launched into an impressive run of eight wins in 11 outings – snatching third place from Luddenham in the final round – leading up to this weekend’s much-anticipated rematch.

There certainly has been some spicy banter between coaches Peter Sarikakis (Hurstville) and Andrew Montgomery (Luddenham) throughout the season as the new kids on the finals block look to challenge The General’s established troop. The Minotaurs will also be looking to make the grade-20 grand final with a preliminary final match-up against Wanderers FC in the reserves competition (12.30pm kick-off).

One factor that could play a big role in deciding the first grade game is sharpshooter Michael Di Meglio. The Minotaurs striker has been in sublime form this year scoring a league-best 19 goals – including goals in both of Hurstville’s wins over Luddenham – but he has some doubt cast over him after picking up a slight hamstring injury in last weekend’s loss to Fairfield Bulls. If he is on the park, Hurstville will be buoyed by the fact they have won 13 of the 14 games he has scored in this year.

Luddenham, by comparison, have shared the goalscoring workload this year, Michael Wood leading the way with seven goals from a team total of 36, but it has been captain Angelo Martino and Saula Matayola who have kept United’s finals advance going, the dynamic duo netting goals in both of Luddenham’s finals appearances.

Montgomery gave a cheeky backhander to Sarikakis in his finals forecast. “There’s really only two runners that can win it from here – us and Fairfield Bulls. Hurstville are just a stepping stone for us on the way to the final,” he said. “The teams we beat in the semis were teams we hadn’t beaten this year [two losses to Roosters and two draws with Wanderers] and Hurstville are just next on the list.”

“This [the finals campaign] is all about the players and club – first and foremost. We’re doing our very best to reward all the guys in the committee for all of their hard work over all those years. They’re stroked for us and we really want to do it for them,” Montgomery said.

A fired-up Sarikakis believes he can guide both of Hurstville’s teams into their respective grand finals. “We have a few injuries to work on this week and we have to play in two games, so it won’t be easy,” he said after Sunday’s major semi-final loss to the Bulls on penalties. “Michael Di Meglio did a hamstring in the first half, but he should be back next week.”

“We’ve beaten Luddenham twice already, so I’m quietly confident. It’s only my team that bothers me – they have to play to their full potential. But the first step is to put 11 players on the park on Sunday and see what happens. [In regards to Montgomery’s predictions] Good luck to them; we’ll see what happens this weekend,” Sarikakis said.

It’s interesting to note that while Hurstville boast division two’s best hit-ratio on local turf this year, winning seven of 10 allotted home fixtures, Luddenham’s weekend victory over Wanderers at Knight Park lifted them to the best away record of any side in 2010, United winning six and drawing three of 12 road games in a spirited performance away from “The Oval”. In fact, their only away defeat since that March loss to Hurstville at Belmore Sports Ground was to minor premiers Fairfield three weeks ago.

Waiting for the victor of this weekend’s clash is Fairfield Bulls coach Michael Mamoo. He wasn’t fussy about who his team played and couldn’t pick a winner. “Luddenham’s on a roll, they look tough, and either team is going to be a tough grand final,” he said. “I’m not going to pick or choose who we prefer to play; hopefully the best team will meet us in the final.”

2010 division two preliminary final at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday:

First grade: Hurstville City Minotaurs vs Luddenham United (3pm)

Grade-20: Wanderers FC vs Hurstville City Minotaurs (12.30pm)

*The 2010 State League Two Grand Final will be held at Lidcombe Oval on Sunday September 19

See you on Sunday :D

State League Two Preliminary Final Review
12.09.10 20:10



Hurstville City Minotaurs marched into the 2010 State League 2 Grand Final with a second-half goal-rush that left Luddenham United’s gallant season in tatters at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon.

Hurstville emerged 4-1 victors when the dust had settled following a titanic last-gasp struggle in the preliminary final and will now face Fairfield Bulls in both grand finals (at Lidcombe Oval this Sunday) after the young Minotaurs disposed of Wanderers in the grade-20 prelim final to cap off a great day for the Hurstville club.

It was a tentative start from both sides to Sunday’s match and the battle unfolded mostly in the middle of the park, but Hurstville could have taken an early lead had golden boot Michael Di Meglio’s strike gone an inch the other side of the crossbar while Luddenham had a Michael Wood goal disallowed for offside. As it was a 0-0 stalemate at halftime made for an electric feel in the second term, especially as United looked to have opened the scoring when Saula Matayola outjumped the Minotaurs keeper on a ricochet to head into goal, but the referee raised his arm upfield for a free kick instead.

The tension finally broke just after the hour mark when Stefano Marconi slid in between the United keeper and the wall to head in a Hurstville free-kick, but their joy was shortlived as Luke Stanowski stepped up to score his first goal of the year with his first touch as a substitute for Luddenham to level the scores just minutes later. Stanowski’s perfectly timed run to the edge of the penalty area to finish off Michael Woods’ effort to meet two defenders resulted in a superb goal for United.

The Minotaurs grabbed the ascendancy with 15 minutes to go when Di Meglio sent a beautiful pass from Angelo Vagenas in front of Nick Goumis to smash in and restore Hurstville’s lead, forcing Luddenham to push forward. Di Meglio then took advantage of the extra space in the United defensive half to score two super goals, outpacing his marker on both occasions and finishing off with great control to seal an emphatic 4-1 victory. The Minotaurs gun has now scored a staggering 21 goals for the season, seven ahead of his nearest rivals, Fairfield duo Niram Kanoun and Khaled ELkerhani.

The win did come at a cost for Hurstville, who will be nursing several players through injuries this week, but Minotaurs coach Peter Sarikakis said he was happy with the way his players responded to his call to beat Luddenham’s big defenders by playing the ball on the ground. “I told them to keep it simple as I wasn’t happy that they weren’t following my instructions in the first half,” he said. “When they did they scored four goals and perhaps should have got more.”

Sarikakis said the double victory, with first grade following up the earlier grade-20 victory to reach both grand finals against Fairfield, had created a great feeling of togetherness within the club. “After the game we had bongo drums [in the change rooms] and there was plenty of singing and it was good to see the boys so happy… it’s nice to part of the Minotaur family,” he said.

Luddenham coach Andrew Montgomery was notably deflated after a match he thought his team should have won. “We made Hurstville look second rate at times … it’s still good for the club [finishing a highly respectable third] but it’s a hollow result coming this far and dominating a side and not going through to the grand final,” he said.

It took a couple of minutes before Montgomery’s fighting spirit came out. “We’ll just have to come back and be stronger next year and wrap the league up earlier in the season,” he said. “Honestly, I couldn’t ask anything more of the guys; they are a great bunch of guys and we’ll start it all again with pre-season in November,” he said. As for a tip for next week’s final: “Bulls to win by six!”

Hurstville City Minotaurs 4 (Stefano Marconi 68m Nicholas Goumis 76m Michael Di Meglio 80/87m) Luddenham United 1 (Luke Stanowski 70m)

Grade-20: Hurstville City Minotaurs 3 Wanderers FC 1

2010 State League Two Grand Final

The 2010 division two grand final will be held at Lidcombe Oval on Sunday afternoon.

First grade: Fairfield Bulls vs Hurstville City Minotaurs (3pm)

Grade-20: Fairfield Bulls vs Hurstville City Minotaurs (12.30pm)

-By Daniel De Nardi

---

LOL at Montgomery saying Bulls will win by 6 goals.He either doesnt rate them at all and thinks thier win was lucky or he simply hates thier guts.

lol@you Loyalist saying by 6...

hahaha, you shit stirrer. Last minute thing came up and I couldn't make it to the match. Those fuckwits in the Grand Final in both grades!!! mother fuckers.

I'm glad they're going to be stuck in Division 2 next season!

Hahhaa seriously Bulls are the best side in our league i rate them very highly they will punish Hurstville. We were all over Minotaurs had 2 goals disallowed one of them the ref actually gave the goal then changed his mind???? at the end of the day a greek ref shouldnt be refing a greek side full stop we could have been 2 or 3 up at half time. But in saying all that our defenders were at fault for a few of their goals so cant blame the ref entirely. Good luck Robstazzz on Sunday but i got a feeling you wont need it.

wtf are you about LUDDENHAM COACH

Your fat number six should of been send of for studs up tackle
and then kept arguing near the end with the referee

Your black guy should of also been send off for the tackle on
the keeper

Minataur deserved the win totaly destroyed you guys in the last
20 minutes

The ref was greek but all th3 50 50 challenges he gave to you guys

You guys dominated the 1st half but your defenders fell asleep

Ps Steve Berry is that guy about 60 lol lol

You need to replace your no 2 and 6 and you would
be a better team

I agree with you Loyalist.The referee should always be a neutral one niether croastion or greek should have been the way as is always the case with internations and champions league games ect ect.

Tell me the ref wasnt biast when i made a substitution he ran from the other side of the park to our bench and said "good sub coach you should have taken him off a while ago hes shit" what a wanker

Thats disgusting coming from a ref.Now if the player had heard it and told the ref off since he would of taken it personally he would have been in trouble and the ref would of got away with it.What a joke.

The whole bench heard it including the player i took off and even the people sittle near the fence in the stands were shocked. I heard them say shit ive never heard a ref say that before! The player i took off was livid. After the game i had to walk him down the tunnel cos he wanted at the ref and that muppet Macedoniaisgreek recons he was 50 50 haha hes having a laugh.

Hey Loyalist, do you know what would happen if Fairfield Bulls dont have the money needed to get promoted and choose to stay in div 2?
Would that give runners up in the league table Fairfield Wanderes or Grand Finalist Hurstville a chance to take up the oppurtunity to go up? or does the team that came last in div1 keep its spot in this event?

To Be perfectly honest ive no idea what would happen, but id assume Zagreb would get dropped into div 2 and either Minotaurs,Wanderers or Luddenham would go up. Out of those 3 ive got a feeling that Wanderers dont have the funds or ground to go up so id assume it would be between Luddenham and Minotaurs in the event that Bulls dont go up. Dont you play for Bulls? from what ive heard Bulls will have plenty of cash for next year and will be playing out of Hadjuk, but ive also heard from a little birdy that Football NSW arent too keen on letting Bulls go up or even letting them continue as a club? how reliable that is i dont know. I hope Bulls do go up because i think they thouroughly deserve it as they have played the best stuff by far, but should the situation arise then yeah hopfully its Luddenham to go up.

Shame they all behave like a pack of barbarians.

Nah i just watch them.2 of my mates play for them.I was also told the same thing about playing home games at hajduk's ground and thn moving back to nineveh field the year after.But i did hear one rumour that theres a chance they might not go up if they didnt have the money.The 2 players i know however are confident so only time will tell.

Only if provoked lol...no seriously though apart from the team having a tiny little fight last season with prospect which was badly overexagerated by some people, they havnt had any trouble with any teams this season.
And back in the super league years when the club was averaging approx 500 fans to each game there was not once a fight in the stands as i used to go to every single game.So as for the (they all act like barbarians) quote i think your wrong there.