Ilinden scorch hapless Sharks in demolition derby
Rockdale Ilinden remains top of the National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Competition after a commanding 4-0 win against a struggling Sutherland Sharks outfit at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday.
It was one-way traffic, with Rockdale scoring two goals on each side of the interval to claim all three competition points.
It was a tough day at the office for the Sharks, who slumped to their fourth loss of the season.
Kyle Cimenti opened the scoring for the visitors after 14 minutes before Bai Antoniou doubled their advantage on the cusp of half time.
It was more of the same in the second stanza, with Urosevski stretching the lead just after the restart, before Cimenti wrapped up the win in the 58th minute.
The Sharks had a fast start to the game and created an early chance as Chris Lindsay picked up the ball in the left-hand channel of the box.
Attempting to power a left-footed shot into the roof of the net, he saw his effort deflected for a corner.
14 minutes in, the visitors found the opener as a smart pass from Tomoki Wada slipped the ball into Alec Urosevski inside the box who then found Kyle Cimenti, who confidently passed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
Midway through the first half, Sutherland had a great chance to level the scores when Christopher McStay lined up a right-footed shot from outside the box on the right-hand side, seeing his effort narrowly miss the near post.
In the 39th minute, a well-worked move down the left-hand side saw the ball cut back to Cimenti at the penalty spot, who played the ball to his right, finding Urosevski, whose shot was tame and easily held by Anthony Bouzanis.
Three minutes before the break, the away side doubled their advantage.
Urosevski was played down the right-hand side and played the ball across to the top of the box to Bai Antoniou, with the former Shark making no mistake sending the ball into the bottom-left corner.
A dominant first period saw Rockdale go into the break with a 2-0 lead.
Rockdale came out of the sheds flying, doubling their advantage within the opening six minutes of the half.
Within 30 seconds, the side had a third as another superb pass from Wada on the edge of the box found the feet of Urosevski, who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner. The ‘Baker’ notched up his seventh goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Sutherland almost pulled a goal back when Lindsay delivered a freekick from the right-hand side into the box, which found the head of Nic Petrillo, who saw his effort come off the post.
In the 51st minute, the visitors added a fourth when Urosevski found space centrally playing the ball into Cimenti, who deafly lobbed the ball over the on-rushing Bouzanis – it was his seventh goal of the 2021 campaign.
With 15 minutes to play, Rockdale shot-stopper David Bradasevic produced an impressive save at his near post from James Andrew’s header and moments later saw his crossbar rattled by the home side.
The visitors went on to secure their fifth win of the season to remain top of the league.
Sharks head coach Nick Dimovski felt the side created their own problems in the match with unforced mistakes while praising the performance of the visitors.
Dimovski also commented on the fact his side hit the woodwork on multiple occasions in the match.
“I thought Rockdale were very good and took nothing away from Rockdale,” he said.
“I think we were our own worst enemies today the number of errors we created cost us the victory.
“We hit the woodwork, I think on three occasions… you’re gonna get that where the bounce of the ball doesn’t go your way.
“We’ve just got to rebuild, be resilient.”
Rockdale coach Steve Zoric was delighted with the display highlighting the noticeable improvement since their defeat to Blacktown City in Round 5.
“Very impressed, I’ve got to give it to the boys we’ve bounced back since the defeat to Blacktown,” he said.
“They’ve dominated this game really well and showed again how to dominate we are and how dominant we can be.
“They keep lifting every week, and we’re just improving every week.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 0
Rockdale Ilinden 4 (Kyle Cimenti 14’ 58’, Bai Antoniou 42’, Alec Urosevski 46’)
Saturday 17th April 2021
Seymour Shaw, Miranda
Referee: T. Danaskos
Assistant Referees: H. Fenton-White and S. Allum
Fourth Official: H. Al-Nakeeb
Sutherland Sharks FC: 1.Anthony Bouzanis (GK), 3.Gabriel Contigiani, 4.Brendan Hooper (12.Harry Sutherland 58’), 5.Nic Petrillo, 6.Patrick O’Shea, 8.Oliver Green (25.Alex Masciovechchio 71’), 9.Jeremy Cox (13.Charlie Jones 58’), 10.Lachlan Everett (99.Jonathan Grozdanovski 58’), 14.Chris Lindsay, 17.James Andrew, 88.Christopher Mcstay
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Gerard Roebuck, 22.Patrick Scibilio
Yellow Cards: Patrick O’Shea 45’
Red Cards: Nil
Rockdale Ilinden: 1.David Bradasevic (GK), 2.Daniel Petkovski, 3.Michael Neill, 4.Michael Stamatellis, 5.Banri Kanaizumi, 7.Alec Urosevski (10.Amaury Gauthier 80’), 8. Tomoki Wada, 9.Bai Antoniou (13.Zac Sfiligo 67’), 14.Brayden Sorge (18.Samuel Gulisano 77’), 19.Partick Savour (6.Daniel Araujo 77’), 23.Kyle Cimenti (99.James Temelkovski 67’)
Substitutes not used: 22.Andrew Di Blasio
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Tomoki Wada (RI)
2 – Kyle Cimenti (RI)
1 – Alec Urosevski (RI)
–By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Timothy Gibson
