White Eagles knockout Suns in six goal thriller

1932_Photos_by_loopii

Bonnyrigg White Eagles has prevailed in their do or die PlayStation®4 NPL NSW Men’s encounter against Rockdale City outgunning the Suns 4-2 in a frenetic elimination final at Lilys Football Stadium.

It was a fitting curtain-raiser for the 2016 finals series as the White Eagles capitalized on a canny second half performance to break Rockdale hearts. Unusually tame throughout the course of the normal campaign, Brian Brown’s traditional competition heavyweights nailed their championship credentials to the wall in convincing style with three goals in the final twenty five minutes.

Asmir Kadric marked another impressive first team cameo with a sensational opening goal inside ten minutes before Rockdale replied with a smashing goal of their own, skipper Daniel Petkovski hammering home the scraps from a poorly defended Bonnyrigg corner to restore parity.

Alexander Mansueto proved the unlikely hero for the White Eagles after restoring the lead with a sweeping finish midway through the second half, and Bonnyrigg all but sealed passage into next week’s preliminary final against either Manly United or Blacktown City when Robbie Younis slammed home a third with five minutes remaining.

A match crammed with drama continued to boil over into the dying minutes, with Rockdale restoring a glimmer of hope through Alec Urosevski’s neat volley – but it was almost instantly quelled by a gorgeous curling strike from Martin Lo, who turned in a subtly brilliant ninety minutes on a mad evening in Seven Hills.

Lo’s sumptuous finish almost banishes memories of what was nearly an opening of sheer calamity for Bonnyrigg. White Eagles custodian James Chronopoulos incredibly let an innocuous Rockdale ball downfield slip through his grasp – but the horrified keeper managed to escape what would have been a comical opening goal and gaffe as the ball slowly rolled past the post.

It was perhaps this bizarre lapse of concentration from the Bonnyrigg stalwart that spurred the visitors into gear, and Brian Brown’s outfit took the lead almost immediately through Kadric.

The Bonnyrigg forward bamboozled Rockdale fullback Patrick Savor after plucking Bo Hyun Chun’s floated cross from the heavens before coolly lifting the ball over Rockdale shotstopper David Bradasevic to send travelling fans into raptures.

Perhaps incensed at the audacity of Kadric’s opener, Rockdale responded with a series of venomous forays of their own, and Chronopoulos showed a timely reminder of his class to parry a superb curling effort from Blake Ricciuto past the post. 

But it would only repel the danger for mere seconds, with Petkovski thumping home an unstoppable equalizer from the resulting corner after Bonnyrigg had failed to clear their lines.

Both sides missed huge chances to seize initiative early in the second stanza. Toufic Alameddine has proven a genuine match winner for Paul Reid’s side during their campaign but the forward wasted a great opportunity to edge Rockdale ahead after a brilliant piece of trickery from Peter Makrillos on the byline, while Younis blazed an opportunity over the bar at the end following a sweet turn in the box.

Fortunately for Bonnyrigg they received a replica of Younis’ chance minutes later, and this time it was gratefully accepted by fullback Alexander Mansueto who kept his effort low and past the outstretched arms of Bradasevic.

Rockdale were unable to summon the reaction of the first half and although the offside flag thwarted the home side on several occasions, they failed to truly worry Chronopoulos despite piling numbers forward in search of an equalizer.

It left the White Eagles with acres of space to exploit and they needed no invitation to slice through the Rockdale resistance twice in the final three minutes – rendering a fine reply from Urosevski meaningless, with both Bonnyrigg goals following clinically executed transitions with Lo and Younis at the forefront.

Match Stats

Rockdale City Suns 2 (Petkovski 25’, Urosevski 89’)

Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 (Kadric 8’, Mansueto 65’, Younis 88’, Lo 90’)

Saturday 20th August, 2016

Lilys Football Centre, Seven Hills

Rockdale City Suns: 17. Toufic ALAMEDDINE, 1. David BRADASEVIC, 8. Aleksandar CANAK, 12. Idriss EL HAFIANE (7. Alec UROSEVSKI 70’), 10. Peter MAKRILLOS, 4. Trent MCCLENAHAN, 2. Daniel PETKOVSKI, 15. Nicholas PETRILLO, 5. Paul REID, 6. Blake RICCIUTO, 19. Patrick SAVOR (11. Hristijan TANOSKI 78’)

Substitutes Not Used: 40. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES, 3. Stephen HESKETH, 16. Isaac SAVOR

Yellow Cards: 19. Patrick Savor 20’6. Blake Ricciuto 63’

Red Cards: N/A

Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 1. James CHRONOPOULOS, 21. Bo Hyun CHUN, 16. Samuel GALLAWAY, 17. Gil MUN-SOO (3. David VRANKOVIC 87’), 18.Asmir KADRIC (10. Yuta KOKADO 77’), 7. Gregory KONDEK, 31. Martin LO, 2. Alexander MANSUETO, 4. Michael ROBINSON, 9. Robert YOUNIS, 6. Nikola ZONJIC

Substitutes Not Used: 5. Adam JENNER, 13. James MCKENZIE, 20. Stevan SAVICIC

Yellow Cards: 6. Nikola Zonjic 48’, 21. Bo Hyun Chun 77’, 1. James Chronopoulos 83’

Red Cards: N/A

Player Ratings

3 – Martin Lo (BWE)

2 – Asmir Kadric (BWE)

1 – Robbie Younis (BWE) 

 – by PlayStation®4 NPL NSW Men’s reporter Jacob Windon