By Jay Mwamba
Shamrock S.C. were left licking their wounds again in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League last Sunday after New York Dinamo’s late explosion sent the Queens side crashing to a 3-0 defeat at Downing Stadium.
Dinamo’s new Argentine ace, Marcelo Sanchez, brought his two-week tally in the CSL First Division to five with a brace (75th, 80th) that broke Shamrock’s spirit, before Mured Ibrahimov (85th) sealed the win.
Stunning as was the Shamrock’s late collapse, coach Dermot Clarke wasn’t that disappointed with the League Cup holders’ form.
"We played a lot better than we done last week," Clarke said. "A draw would have been a fair result."
Shamrock, whose reserves edged Dinamo 3-2 on goals by John Walsh, Dennis O’Boyle and Kevin Brennan, were beaten 3-0 by St. Barnabas on Sept. 12.
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For Dinamo’s player-coach Kristo Curanovic, the result was sweet revenge for his promotion side’s 4-3 loss to Shamrock on their last visit to Downing Stadium two years ago. That defeat cost Dinamo promotion to the First Division, which they now lead after two weeks with 6 points.
"It was a tough game until the last 20 minutes," Curanovic said of Sunday’s meeting.
Earlier at Downing Stadium, Emmett Murphy and Niall Carolan connected for the Shamrock Third Division side in its match against newcomers Jersey City F.C.
Saints held
St. Barnabas blew a 2-0 lead against Polonia S.C., who forced a 2-all tie at Little Bay Park in Bayside with goals in the last 10 minutes.
Krzysztof (80th) and Mariusz Brulinski (83rd) canceled out earlier strikes by the Saints’ Dennis Frawley (12th) and Jamie Wu (37th) during a frenetic finish.
St. Barnabas official Aidan Dennis attributed his team’s poor finish to lack of fitness. "We were all over them until then," he said.
Polonia’s reserves won 1-0.
Rocky floors NYAC
Ronan Downs’s New York Athletic Club, the CSL champs, also coughed up a comfortable lead in the Bronx. They let New York Albanians off the hook and then succumbed 3-2 to Rocky Bojovic’s killer header (70th).
Bojovic had sparked the Albanians’ fight-back with a 25-yard scorcher (55th), as NYAC led 2-0 on goals by Matt Roberti (30th) and Chris Mitchell (40th). Bojovic’s winner came after Arben Mirja had tied the game (64th), which was played under floodlights at Evander Childs High School.
"It was a game of two halves," the still upbeat Downs noted after the match. "We played super, super football in the first half, probably the best we’ve played in years."
Albanians’ Joe Shrekli said the same of his side in the second half.
"We played excellent and could have scored five or six goals," he said.
Spot kickers
Banatul and New York Hungaria scored a penalty each in a 1-all tie at Woodbridge in New Jersey. Joe Fulop (20th) converted the spot kick that had Hungaria ahead until the 75th minute when Andjelko Bogadanov replied in kind.
Banatul had the pick of the chances, hitting the crossbar once and seeing Bogadanov denied with only the goalie to beat in the 85th minute. The Hungaria reserves triumphed 2-0.
Lansdowne pointer
Simon Hopkins’s penalty conversion on the hour earned Lansdowne S.C. a point from a 2-2 tie with Barnstonworth Rovers on what was the opening day of the season in the Second Division. Ray Barrett was the other Lansdowne scorer.
CD Iberia got off to a winning start, courtesy of Victor Gonzales (22nd), who notched the only goal of the match against B.W. Poughkeepsie.
Clarkstown S.C. dispatched the Mike Fitzgerald-trained Manhattan Kickers 2-1 at Kennedy Field, with goals by Danny McNulty and Jason Bennett. Norman Pile (75th) had Kickers’ response.
Double duty
Homenetmen fielded their reserve team for both fixtures against New York Wanderers at McCarran Park and paid the price for it. They lost the designated reserve meeting 2-1 and the main game 5-0. Michael Mufungo, John Whelan, Mauro Serdisi and Brian McMahon were on target for Wanderers first XI.
Michel D’Sousa scored for Ukrainian S.C. in their 1-1 tie with
Concord S.C., also at McCarran Park, this, after the Ukrainian reserves had won 4-2.
And Astoria Gaels made a nightmarish debut in the Second Division under floodlights at Grover Cleveland High School, losing a wild shoot-out 8-3 to fellow promotion side Ripensia-Romania.
The two sides were tied 3-3 at one point before Ripensia blew Gaels away. Olimpiu Roman, Razvan Anghel and Paul Sassu each scored twice, while Sebastian Lazar and Robert Nicole had a goal apiece. Ripensia took the reserve fixture 4-0.
Third division
B.W. Gottschee, regrouping in the Third Division after dropping out of the upper echelon at the end of last season, won a nine-goal thriller against Chile F.C. on goals by Ian MacLean (8th, 12th), Safir Mashrikir (60th) and John Figueroa (67th, 83rd).
At Grady Field, Hakan Akudman had a hat-trick in Brooklyn Stars’ 4-1 romp over Krimean Turkish. Gustaf Ortega was the other Brooklyn marksman, while Ali Gul (75th) tallied for Krimean.
Metros burst
Steve Bodden (75th, 82nd) and Brazilian Fabio (85th) came up big for G.H. Metros in their 3-0 result over B.W. Gottschee in the "B" Division.
Metros coach Rory Finn gave kudos to Gottschee goalie Frank Lackner for his exploits between the posts.
Paulo Serferle was one of NYAC’s heroes in a 2-1 decision over Guyana Veterans, while Luis Barios scored for New York Greek-American Atlas in a 3-1 losing effort against Fairfield/Westchester United.