Rejuvenated White Eagles snap Suns winning streak
Bonnyrigg White Eagles have ended Rockdale City Suns three game winning streak with a 4-2 win at Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
The early action was all Rockdale’s until two quick goals by Jewook Woo gave Bonnyrigg the lead going into the break.
Sam Gallaway and Shervin Adeli both struck for Bonnyrigg after the restart to stretch the White Eagles lead to 4-0 with only 15 minutes left on the clock.
Toufic Alameddine and Alec Urosevski found the back of the net in quick succession for the Suns but by this point it was too late as Bonnyrigg secured a well deserved victory away from home.
The first salvo of the game was in the 3rd minute when a nice low down shot by Alec Canak was blocked by James Chronopoulos to his right. It was followed by Blake Ricciuto’s diagonal shot which went across the face of goal two minutes later.
It was clear from these early half chances that Rockdale City Suns were intent on showing who was boss
Bonnyrigg White Eagles’s first chance though was in the 13th minute when a feisty shot from Bradie Smith was well met by Ante Covic but it was nothing the veteran shot-stopper couldn’t handle.
Rockdale City came close in the 20th minute when Jordan Figon fed the ball to Urosevski but his powerful diagonal shot was beautifully stopped by Chronopoulos once again. At this stage it was the Bonnyrigg custodian who was keeping his side in the game.
However, the White Eagles replied with a rocket from Tynan Diaz in the 24th minute from some distance but Covic delightfully turned it away for a corner. It was perhaps a starting point for the visitors to awaken from their hibernation as they then scored two goals in quick succession.
In the 30th minute Bonnyrigg took the lead and it was a goal to Jewook Woo from the acutest of angles. Covic, off his line trying to prevent a corner, inadvertently gave the ball to Woo who placed it superbly across the face of goal and into the far corner of the net.
Two minutes later the same player scored again. The ball reached him out on the right this time and he fired a shot that went straight into the back of the net and there was nothing that Covic could do.
Rockdale could have hit back in the 36th minute when Figon was played through but from close range Chronopoulos saved well indeed to prevent a certain goal.
The early chance of the second stanza of play had the home fans off their seats. It was Canak in the 49th minute that fired a blast into the side netting that provided the optical illusion of a goal.
Bonnyrigg hit back though and made it three goals in the 64th minute when Smith found Gallaway in the box with a neat pass and the latter beautifully chipped Covic to extend the visitors’ lead.
It was four goals to Bonnyrigg in the 73rd minute. A seemingly innocuous cross from the right was deflected and fell into the path of the unmarked Adeli in front of goal and his simple task was to slot the ball home from close range.
It should realty have been five in the 81st minute when Smith blasted over from close range but Rockdale then hit back with two goals in quick succession.
Rockdale were awarded a penalty in the 83rd minute when Urosevski went down in the box. Toufic Alameddine quickly took the spot kick to put the home side on the scoreboard.
Rockdale got their second four minutes later. A long ball from Ricciuto in 87th minute reached a galloping Urosevski who scored easily to make the final few minutes of the contest really interesting.
After the game a very pleased Brian Brown, coach of Bonnyrigg White Eagles, knew how important it was to secure three points at a difficult venue.
“It is difficult to win here and we struggled in the first 15 minutes,” he said.
“After that we settled down and I thought that we deserved the win.
“We had a couple of boys who hadn’t played a lot and they got a bit tired towards the end and we conceded two late goals. This win though is what we really needed for confidence.”
Rockdale City Suns coach Paul Reid was taking the defeat in his stride while trying to pinpoint what went wrong.
“We were on top in the first 20-25 minutes and they didn’t look like they were any chance of scoring a goal,” he said.
“Then we gifted them a goal and even though we were down by two at half time, we were still in the game.
“Again we gifted them goals in the second half and Bonnyrigg were clinical tonight with their finishing.
“They had two chances in the first half and they scored two goals. If we had have scored early with our chances, momentum would have swung to us but that’s football.
“Week in, week out, I say that you need to be mentally tough. At the end of any game you should be spent both physically and mentally. There are no dull moments in a game and you need to be mentally switched on not to concede anything and that is what we haven’t done tonight.”
Match Stats
Rockdale City Suns: 2 (Alameddine 83’ pen, Urosevski 87’)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 4 (Jewook Woo 30’ & 32’, Gallaway 64’, Adeli 73’)
Sunday, 17th June 2018
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees: Joon Park, Daniel Stack
Fourth Official: Jarryd McFarlane
ROCKDALE CITY SUNS: 1. Ante Covic, 2. Daniel Petkovksi, 6. Blake Ricciuto, 7. Alec Urosevski, 8. Alec Canak, 9. Bai Antoniou, 14. Brayden Sorge, 15. Nicholas Petrillo, 19. Patrick Savor (10. Harris Gaitatzis 62’), 21. Michael Neill, 23. Jordan Figon (17. Toufic Alameddine 65’).
Substitutes not used: 4. Trent McClenahan, 12. Idriss El Hafiane, 25. Jake Soutter
Yellow Cards: Ricciuto 36’, Canak 77’
Red Card: Nil
BONNYRIGG WHITE EAGLES: 1. James Chronopoulos, 2. Aaron Avery (12. Dean Bereveskos 82’), 3. David Vrankovic, 7. Tynan Diaz (20. Ben Tosi 76’), 10. Shervin Adeli, 13. James McKenzie, 14. Bradie Smith, 16. Sam Gallaway, 17. James O’Rourke, 18. Gil Mun-Soo, 22. Jewook Woo
Substitutes not used: 4. Nikola Krljar, 11. Asmir Kadric, 21. David Bradasevic
Yellow Cards: McKenzie 60’, Smith 63’
Red Cards: Nil
-By National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Joe Russo
