Tarrawanna Blueys took on NPL NSW side Hakoah Sydney City East in the seventh round of FFA Cup Qualifying in a historic night for the club at Macedonia Park on Wednesday night, with a spot in the national draw at stake and the chance for Tarrawanna to become the first Illawarra Premier League side to make the national draw. However, like Bulli and Kemblawarra Dapto Fury, the side would fall at the final hurdle, with Hakoah winning 4-0 thanks to a brace from Takayuki Noji and goals to Harry Jones and Dominic Cox to spell the end of the Blueys’ fantastic FFA Cup campaign.

Despite Tarrawanna having knocked out a pair of higher tier sides in Macarthur Rams and University of NSW on their march to the seventh round, their opponents entered the match having defeated only NPL and NPL 2 sides on their way to the seventh round, downing Sutherland Sharks, Bankstown City and Mounties Wanderers and with Tarrawanna becoming their lowest ranked opposition, the Blueys entered the match with a heavy underdog tag placed upon them.

This underdog tag would not be shaken off immediately as the Blueys quickly fell behind in the third minute, when a poor defensive clearance from Liam Unicomb off a Hakoah corner allowed a loose ball to find the foot of Hakoah forward Takayuki Noji, who managed to quickly tap home an effort past Tarrawanna gloveman Adam Rodriguez and put the visitors into the lead.

Despite falling behind early, Tarrawanna were unwilling to give up and just four minutes later would have their first real chance of the match when Rick Goodchild latched onto a poor defensive pass from the Hakoah backline, allowing the Blueys forward to push forward and fire off an effort at the Hakoah goal. Unfortunately, Goodchild’s effort would shoot over the bar and Hakoah would remain in the lead.

The Blueys would have another great chance to level the scores in the 15^th minute when some great passing play saw Tarrawanna fly up the left side of the field and push the ball into the path of Liam Unicomb on the left-hand side of the Hakoah box. Unicomb would fire off a powerful effort, but his shot flew wide of the Hakoah goal and failed to trouble shot-stopper Anthony Bouzanis.

Despite Tarrawanna creating a couple of chances, Hakoah still managed to control the early play of the match, and just a minute after Unicomb’s effort, the NPL side would double their advantage. Having quickly pushed the ball into an attacking position, Anthony Frangie would find himself bounding down the left-hand side of the pitch before releasing a pass just outside of the reach of Blueys defender Corey Horner, finding an open Takayuki Noji. Noji would not need a signal to take a few steps and fire off an effort, and the former Wollongong United man would manage to beat a diving Rodriguez and give Hakoah a handy 2-0 lead.

Hakoah would add a third goal in the 29^th minute when a free kick on the left-hand side of the box from Harry Jones would managed to curl its way past the Tarrawanna wall and Rodriguez on its way into the net, giving the visitors a big 3-0 lead and pushing the Blueys further out of the match.

The visitors would have another chance to go even further ahead ten minutes later when Anthony Frangie found himself with the ball in the Blueys box, but his effort was denied by a rushing Rodriguez to keep the score at 3-0 at the half-time break, giving Tarrawanna a huge challenge if they were to turn the result around.

But the Blueys would come out firing and four minutes into the second half, the hosts would have a good chance to fight their way back into the match when Liam Unicomb when on a bursting run down the left-hand side of the field, but his final effort was lacking and flew over the Hakoah goal.

Eight minutes later Tarrawanna would create another great chance when a perfectly placed cross from Samuel Chapple off a Rick Goodchild corner would find the head of Corey Horner, but Horner’s effort would fly over the crossbar. Tarrawanna’s task was made even harder sixty seconds later when Horner was dismissed after picking up his second yellow card of the match, sending the Blueys down to ten men.

However, Tarrawanna was not going down without a fight and the side would come very close to netting in the 60^th minute when another Samuel Chapple free-kick found the head of an open Bradley Acev in the box, but Acev’s effort would go just wide of the post.

Hakoah, who had been sitting back a little more in the opening exchanges of the second half, would have a good chance to add to their lead in the 77^th minute when Mitchell Stamatellis would fire off a fantastic free-kick from distance that just sailed to the right of the top corner and out.

But the visitors would finally break through and net a fourth goal in the 85^th minute when Dominic Cox would receive the ball in the midfield, before turning and firing a long-range effort which managed to beat a diving save from Adam Rodriguez and hand Hakoah a 4-0 lead.

Tarrawanna would have one final attempt at a consolation goal in the 90^th minute when Rick Goodchild chipped a shot towards goal that forced Hakoah keeper Anthony Bouzanis back in order to make a leaping save, keeping Goodchild’s effort out and ensuring that Hakoah would keep a clean sheet, finishing the match as handy 4-0 winners and seeing the side advance to the national draw for the third time in their history.

For the Blueys, the loss sees the end of their fantastic FFA Cup run at the final hurdle before the national draw, falling at the same stage as Bulli and Kemblawarra Dapto Fury last year. The side will now turn their attention to the Illawarra Premier League and their upcoming clash against Wollongong Olympic on Saturday in a hugely important match as the season reaches the halfway mark.

Wednesday 30 May 2018 at Macedonia Park.

Tarrawanna SC – 0

Hakoah Sydney City East FC – 4 (Noji 3’, 16’, Jones 29’, Cox 85’)

Tarrawanna SC: Adam RODRIGUEZ, Daniel CHAPMAN, Bradley DURRANT, Corey HORNER, Jacob FRYDAY, Daniel GOODHEW, Bradley ACEV, Samuel CHAPPLE, Jared FISH, Rick GOODCHILD, Liam UNICOMB

Subs: Matthew NAYLOR (UNICOMB 59’), Kouryo KUBOTA (FISH 66’), Takumi MACHIDA, Reece MCALPINE (ACEV 66’), Bradley JONES

Hakoah Sydney City East FC: Anthony BOUZANIS, James COMBES, Dominic COX, Robert EZEKIEL, Jack GREEN, Oliver GREEN, Harry JONES, Michael KOUTA, Takayuki NOJI, Mitchell STAMATELLIS

Subs: Marley BEESTON, Connor ELDRIDGE (FRANGIE 59’), Jordan KOTON (O.GREEN 68’), Joshua ORCHARD, Jordan CRIGHTON (KOUTA 72’)

Referee – Craig FISHER

Assistant Referees – Kearney ROBINSON, Brad WRIGHT and Sam QUIENN

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn