A Frustrating Night: Blacktown Take The Points In A Tight Encounter

NPL NSW Men's | Round 19

We fell to a 2-1 defeat at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday night, going down to Blacktown City in a game that felt like it had a lot more in it for us. Travis Major was the difference-maker for the visitors, scoring twice to hand City only their second away win of the 2026 season.

Richard Shoueiki on the attack

We had our moments early. Brendan Gan had space inside the box but skewed his shot wide, with the ball falling kindly to Richard Shoueiki who, caught off guard by the mishit, couldn't convert. Shoueiki threatened again shortly after, driving into the area and clipping the ball just beyond the far post. On another night, we're ahead inside the opening 20 minutes.

City grew into it from there. Kodai Tanaka was a constant threat down the right flank, and it was his work that created the opening goal, with Major given too much time and space on the edge of the area. He made no mistake, finding the back of the net via the post in the 26th minute. We felt hard done by at half-time too, with strong appeals for a goal from a corner in the dying seconds of the half going unanswered.

Jamie Percevski being a denied a brilliant header

Major struck again six minutes into the second half, another Tanaka assist turning the knife. To our credit, we responded well. Jordan Perez drew a foul inside the box and Nick Olsen stepped up to slot the penalty away coolly, giving us a platform to push for the equaliser. We created chances, but couldn't find the finish to go with them.

Danijel Nižić was superb late on, producing a flying full-length save to his left to deny Adam Berry what looked like a certain third. In the end, City held on. Credit to them for digging in when we were pushing, but this one will sting for a while.

Nižić watching on

We're back at it next weekend, heading out West to take on Western Sydney Wanderers in a must-win.