Rockdale City Suns secured their first win of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 season, with a tidy 2-0 victory over Hakoah Sydney City East in front of a healthy crowd at Hensley Athletic Field on Saturday.
Buoyed by the support of their own 10-man version of the Red and Black Bloc, Rockdale did enough to subdue a willing and physical Hakoah side that made life extremely difficult for the visitors.
Hakoah conceded two early free kicks but they also received the first corner of the match.
It didn’t take long before Hakoah’s young gun Aaron D’Mello threaded a silky pass into the box, only for Rockdale keeper David Bradasevic to deny the home side with a courageous save.
Hakoah continued to press, Steven Abbott rasped in a low and hard cross from the left flank that forced Rockdale’s Bradasevic to again come to his team’s rescue.
The first real goal scoring opportunity presented itself in the 15th minute when robust Hakoah defender Nathan Bowden-Haase unleashed a drive from 25 yards that clattered against the post.
On the stroke of the half hour mark, Kevin Lopes struck a beautiful volley past Bradasevic into the back of the net but referee Nash disallowed the goal for dangerous play.
Rockdale appeared energized when they returned to the pitch for the second half.
It only took eight minutes of the second stanza for the Suns to score.
Alex Urosevski blasted home a screamer after he controlled the ball with his chest, and, with his back to goal, blasted his shot on the turn past a despairing Costa. To give Rockdale a 1-0 lead.
Despite being on the back foot, Hakoah battled hard on the counter attack and created enough opportunities to equalise. But all to no avail.
Rockdale substitute Peter Makrillos settled the match in the 80th minute when he waltzed through the Hakoah defence to make it 2-0 for Rockdale.
Rockdale player/coach Paul Reid said he wasn’t surprised by Hakoah’s tough, physical style.
“We knew that technically we’d be better than them but we also knew they’d be really physical and put us under a lot of pressure,” he said.
“In the first half we got a bit carried away and we weren’t patient with the ball.
“We were good all over the park and we didn’t look like conceding. We could have scored more than two goals but that final pass seemed to let us down.
“We were tight all over the park and I think the most encouraging thing is keeping a clean sheet.”
Hakoah’s Mark Robertson conceded that playing at the top level has been an eye-opener for his team. But despite losing for the second week in a row, he was happy with the effort.
“The effort, endeavor and commitment from my boys will always be there,” he said.
“I can’t fault them for their efforts. The positives to come out of the match are the opportunities we created. We hit the post and had a goal disallowed.
“We created opportunities where the boys could have put it in the back of the net. And at the end of the day if they don’t (score) they haven’t done their job properly.”
Match Stats
Hakoah Sydney City East 0
Rockdale City Suns 2 (Alex Urosevski 52’; Peter Makrillos 82‘)
Saturday, March 19 2016
Hensley Athletic Field
Referee: T. Nash
Assistant Referees: T. Lee, J. Bell
Fourth Official: P. Liaros
Hakoah Sydney City East: 1. COSTA Anthony, 4. WALKER Bradley, 5. BOWDEN-HAASE Nathan, 10. GILMARTIN Deklan, 11. RAE Gavin, 12. ABBOTT Steven, 13. RANDALL Michael, 14. JONES Lee, 31. LOPES Kevin, 17. MUNDELL Jordan, 18. D’MELLO Aaron (34. PAIKIN Brad)
Coach: Mark Robertson
Unused Substitutes: 8. ORGAD Paul, 15. BANDUR Jacob, 16. ANDRICOPOULOS Costa, 20. MCKENZIE Matthew
Yellow Cards: 11. RAE Gavin (55’); 17. MUNDELL Jordan (89’); 10. GILMARTIN Deklan (90’+1); 18. D’MELLO Aaron (90’+2)
Red Cards:
Rockdale City Suns: 1. BRADASEVIC David, 2. PETKOVSKI Daniel, 4. MCCLENAHAN Trent, 5. REID Paul (12. EL HAFIANE Idriss 72’), 6. RICCIUTO Blake (9. MACALLISTER Dylan 85’) 7. UROSEVSKI Alex (10. MAKRILLOS Peter 75’), 8. CANAK Alex, 11. TANOSKI Hristijan, 15. PETRILLO Nick, 16. SAVOR Isaac,17. ALAMEDDENE Toufic
Player/Coach: Paul Reid
Unused Substitutes: 18. DASCAL David, 22. BAZI Andrew (GK)
Yellow Cards: 7. UROSEVSKI Alex (70’), 4. MCCLENAHAN Trent (86’)
Red Cards:
Player Ratings
3 – Toufic Allamadene (RCS)
2 – Alex Urosevski (RCS)
1 – Steve Abbott (HSCE)
-By Derek Royal at Hensley Athletic Field
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