Rockdale City Suns hold League leaders to draw
The Suns opened the scoring in the 26? minute via Shay Spitz before Phil Makrys saw his free-kick sail into the net to make it 1-1.
After last weekend?s humiliating loss to Marconi Stallions, Sydney Olympic made their intentions clear from the opening whistle with a flurry of attacks unsettling the Rockdale defence.
Jerry Kalouris played a lovely through ball to Will Angel in the 3? minute for the latter to cross into the box, only for the Rockdale defence to clear.
2? minutes later Sydney Olympic had their first sight on goal as Brett Studman?s header from a corner was cleared off the line, keeping the scores level.
Rockdale slowly got back into the game and in the 8? minute a lovely cross by Pece Apolevski found a free Jason Naidovski who could not control the ball with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The Suns almost took the lead in the 14? minute when Apolevski latched onto a corner only to see his half-volley hit the crossbar.
The visitors kept the pressure on 3? minutes later as a long throw saw James Monie head the ball goal bound only to be expertly tapped out for a corner by Olympic goalkeeper Paul Henderson.
Rockdale took a deserved lead in the 26? minute when Apolevski played a square ball to Sash Trajcevski for the midfielder to chip over the Olympic defence with Shay Spitz creeping in behind to slam home.
The League leaders tried to get back into the game as moments later Robbie Mileski took on the Rockdale defence though his impending shot went wide of the mark.
Despite being outplayed for the majority of the half it would be Sydney Olympic who would next find the back of the net. Phil Makrys?s free-kick sailed over the head of Dion Shaw and into the back of the net to make the score 1-1.
Rockdale were unlucky not to re-take the lead on the stroke of half-time as James Monie was played a lovely through ball only to strike his shot wide of the mark.
Sydney Olympic came out of the break with all guns blazing as Emmanuel Giannaros? shot from the corner of the 18-yard box floated just over the left hand corner of the goal.
Rockdale?s fans were again left frustrated in the 52? minute as former A-League striker Jason Naidovski beat the offside trap and got the ball past the oncoming Henderson, only to hit the post.
The chances kept coming for the visitors as Shay Spitz?s cross was met by the head of Monie ? the striker?s header though finished over the crossbar.
Sydney Olympic slowly regained the majority of possession but could not break the stringent Suns defence.
In the 71? minute Olympic?s fans were on their feet as Gullo was sent goal bound with only the goalkeeper to beat. Unfortunately for the youngster, Gullo succumbed to cramp, as the chance went begging.
2? minutes later the Blues had another chance on goal as Phil Makrys found Chris Triantis in space on the right. Triantis? shot though went directly into the hands of the awaiting Dion Shaw.
Tod Bamber had a great chance to help his team take the lead 1? minute after coming onto the pitch but saw his half-volley go well over the bar and out for a goal kick.
In the 83? minute Triantis took on the Suns defence, making his way into the box from the left before cutting the ball towards Zac Elrich whose impending shot was saved and quickly headed out for a corner.
Triantis had another chance 2? minutes later but his curling effort went straight to the chest of Shaw.
Bamber had the best chance to win the game for his team in the dying moments. Triantis played a lovely through ball to the striker only to see his one-on-one opportunity well saved by Shaw.
The home side fought hard in the final 5? minutes with a handful of opportunities gone missing ending the game at 1-1.
Following the match Rockdale City Suns coach Wally Savor said he was happy with the result despite his side needing a win:
?It was a game we needed points from to stay alive and I know Olympic needed the points too,?? he said.
?I think we played really well and in patches we kept the ball well.
?First-half was maybe ours and the second probably theirs. So I was happy with our start and even into the second-half.
?But in respect to them they threw some numbers forward and they have some fast players so we?re not complaining as we have gotten a point. I think a draw is a fair result.??
In the home dressing room Peter Tsekenis said:
?We did come out a bit shaky and Rockdale came here with no real pressure on them and it showed,?? he said.
?We weathered a big storm as they did come at us and credit to the boys we stuck in there and got an equaliser.
?I thought in the second-half we picked it up and as the game went on we got stronger.
?We had a couple good chances in the end and you would probably wonder how they could miss them.??
In the Grade-20 fixture Rockdale City Suns ran away with a 4-1 victory over Sydney Olympic.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 1 (Makrys 40?)
Rockdale City Suns 1 (Spitz 26?)
Sunday 21st August, 2011
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Janne Sjogren
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 18.Jerry Kalouris, 3.Brett Studman, 8.Chris Triantis, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 14.Will Angel (17.Mitchell Stamatelis 62?), 7.Phil Makrys (C), 11.Robbie Mileski, 9.Husky Akil (22.Zac Elrich 67?), 19.David Gullo (15.Tod Bamber 79?)
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Bill Tsanidis, 21.Sam Emmanouil
Yellow Cards: Studman 66?
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale City Suns: 22.Dion Shaw; 21.Mirko Jurijl, 6.Josh Lawson, 2.Paul Dee, 7.Pece Apolevski (C), 3.Shay Spitz, 10.Sash Trajcevski, 17.Sasho Tirovski (19.Marino Musumeci 46?), 23.Ashkin Oygur, 18.James Monie (11.Adem Kir 91?), 9.Jason Naidovski (5.Jeffrey Issa 80?)
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Anthony Perri, 1.Ben McNamara
Yellow Cards: Oygur 70?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Chris Georges
