It was another entertaining weekend of football in the National Premier Leagues, and beyond, across Australia. KEEPUP brings you the best bits.
Golazo alert!
Travis Major scored one of the goals of the season in Blacktown City’s dominant 3-1 victory over premiership hopefuls Marconi Stallions in NPLM NSW over the weekend.
Major – the club’s all-time leading goalscorer – produced a moment of absolute magic as the talismanic striker launched a thunderous strike from long range that gave Blacktown the lead at Landen Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was his eighth goal of the season as defending champions Blacktown sit fourth in the standings, seven points behind leaders APIA Leichhardt.
“We know what to expect with them and they’re always pretty good games of footy, very hotly contested,” Blacktown head coach Mark Crittenden said via NPL NSW as the team prevented Marconi from staying level on points with APIA.
“I don’t think it was a great spectacle, but I felt that we probably won the battle and took our chances today which we haven’t been doing well enough.
“We’ve been creating a lot of chances on goal that we probably haven’t really been taking.
“Trav [Major] started off with a bomb, but we got ourselves into some dangerous areas.
“I thought we kept enough position to probably deserve to take the three points, but again, it was a tough battle and one that we got stuck into and I couldn’t be any prouder of the boys.”
Major stands alone in Blacktown history as the first player to score 100 goals for the club.
A four-time NPL champion with the club, the 2022 Robbie Slater Medallist also has history in the A-Leagues.
Major – who also spent three years abroad with Pegasus in Hong Kong – joined Central Coast Mariners during the 2014-15 Isuzu UTE A-League season, from Blacktown.
A January recruit, the 33-year-old made 10 appearances for the Mariners – coached by Phil Moss at the time – and scored a goal.
In a team featuring the likes of current Mariners boss Nick Montgomery, John Hutchinson, Eddy Bosnar, Fabio Ferreira, Liam Reddy, Anthony Caceres and Storm Roux, his only goal came in a 5-1 loss to Sydney FC.
He also played in the AFC Champions League qualifier against Guangzhou R&F (now known as Guangzhou City), which Central Coast lost 3-1 in Gosford.
Elsewhere, APIA edged Sutherland Sharks 1-0, the Mariners defeated Sydney FC 2-1 and Wollongong Wolves crushed Rockdale Ilinden 4-0 with help from Japanese star Takumi Ofuka – who scored a stunning free-kick.
Tiki-taka stunner
You will not see many better team goals than this courtesy of Bankstown City in NPLW NSW.
Not only did Bankstown ruin APIA Leichhardt’s unbeaten start to the season but they produced a stunning ‘tiki-taka’ move to leave their high-flying opponents helpless in an eventual 3-2 win.
After Susan Phonsongkham – who starred for Perth Glory in the Liberty A-League last season – scored twice in an electrifying opening, Bankstown then sliced through APIA for a 3-0 lead inside 24 minutes.
After no less than 10 passes, Phonsongkham was played through on goal and squared the ball to Alexia Karrys-Stahl to give the visitors a three-goal cushion.
APIA rallied in the second half but they were unable to extend their unbeaten start to the season to 16 matches.
Meanwhile, Macarthur Rams continued their pursuit of top spot with a 2-0 win over Northern Tigers in a rematch of last season’s Grand Final.
A debut to remember
If you ever wanted to make an instant impact, just do what Aedon Kyra did for Preston Lions in NPL2 VIC.
Kyra made the move to Preston from APIA Leichhardt in Sydney and the attacker capped his debut with an outrageous strike in the 1-1 draw with Melbourne City.
In the 39th minute, the ball fell to the Preston recruit from just inside halfway and he launched an audacious long-range strike that found the back of the net.
The points were shared at the Veneto Club as Preston sit third in the standings, a point behind leaders Western United, while City are eighth and eight points off the pace.
In Victoria’s top tier, Avondale FC continue to set the pace following their 4-0 rout of Green Gully on Friday night.
Over in NPLW VIC, Kurea Okino scored her 21st goal of the season in Boroondara-Carey Eagles’ 3-3 draw away to Alamein FC.
In NPLM WA, Daryl Nicol scored his 18th goal of the campaign but Perth RedStar fell to a 2-1 loss as Stirling Macedonia moved two points clear atop the standings.
RedStar, meanwhile, in the women’s competition stretched their unbeaten streak to 11 matches courtesy of a 4-0 rout of Balcatta Etna.
