Nine-Man Blacktown Hold Out for Three Points Over Rockdale

The National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 2022 season got underway in sensational fashion with a courageous nine-man Blacktown City outfit securing a 1-0 win over Rockdale Ilinden at Blacktown City Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.

The two title contenders locked horns in the opening round and it didn’t take long for the sparks to fly when Japanese import Hiroaki Aoyama netted what turned out to be the only goal of the game on debut in the 8th minute.

Terrific work from Charles Mendy down the right resulted in a delightful centre for the diminutive striker to slide home to secure an early lead for the hosts.

It was a lead they had to defend vigorously after being reduced to 10-men in the 40th minute and then nine with eight minutes left to play.

Tomoki Wada spotted 16-year old debutant ‘keeper Alex Robinson off his line and tried his luck from distance with a delightfully flighted ball that sailed agonisingly over the bar in only the 2nd minute of the game.

City were soon on the attack and Charles Mendy brought out a good save from David Bradasevic at his near post.

A second goal for Aoyama was on the cards moments after his first but a show of brilliance from the Ilinden ‘keeper narrowing the angle saw the striker shoot into the side netting, again after terrific work from Mendy.

It was a good spell of sustained pressure from the home side, not allowing Rockdale to break out from their own half.

Ilinden consolidated but forays forward were sporadic as Blacktown pressed for a second but a whipped in corner from Wada in the 38th minute eluded everyone in a packed goalmouth and went behind for a goal-kick.

A fiercely contested match soured when Matt Lewis was shown a second yellow card in the 40th minute, leaving Blacktown to see out the remainder of the match a man down.

The incident also saw Ilinden’s Bai Antoniou added to the book, but with no further addition to the scoreboard it would be a mixed half-time in both camps.

Jak O’Brien replaced goal scorer Aoyama after the interval for 10-man Blacktown.

Rockdale, looking to capitalise their man advantage, pressed from the restart in search of the equaliser against a well-drilled and disciplined City defence.

Mendy was ready to pounce on a Bradasevic slip from a Mitch Mallia cross in the 49th minute in the increasingly greasy conditions, but the gloveman was able to recover and gather at the second attempt.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Blacktown were on the hunt for a second with Mendy whipping one across the face shortly after.

Another fumble from Bradasevic allowed Grant Lynch to toe-poke an effort wide of the mark – it was a difficult half-chance at best.

Alec Urosevski curled a snap shot wide from the edge of the area on the hour mark but the hard work of Blacktown at the back held out the visitors from a clear-cut opportunity.

Substitute Nikola Kuleski tried his luck from distance but his shot went straight at Alex Robinson between the sticks who gathered easily.

In reply, Mallia twice had shots blocked on the counter after a good ball over the top from Adam Berry. It was his last action as he was replaced by Carlos De Oliveira shortly after.

In a last throw of the dice for Rockdale, Steve Zoric put on Chris McStay and Mo Ahmed for Araujo and Petkovic respectively, but Blacktown were reduced to nine men in the 82nd minute when Jackson Bandiera received his second caution of the match.

The second red forced the home side very much into a defensive unit, although De Oliveira did fluff his lines in a one-on-one with Bradasevic on the break.

It was a valiant effort by City to keep Rockdale at bay and secure their first three points of the season in the opening match, leaving the visitors to rue what might have been.

“We have plenty of faith in what we do,” said City coach Mark Crittenden after the game.

“I said to the guys at halftime, I’ve seen plenty of games where a team has gone down to ten men and still won the match.

“We then went down to nine on the pitch, but I always have the faith in my players.

“I thought the first 20 minutes was the best I’ve seen a Blacktown side play in a long, long time and it was great footwork from Charles [Mendy] to set up the goal.

“We had to change our structure a little after the break obviously, but it was a great performance against a top side and to get the points in our opening fixture is always what we aim for of course.

“That’s what it takes to win things, sometimes you get dealt a tough card but you have to persevere and take the rough with the smooth and we did that today for a very pleasing result.”

“The send-offs for Blacktown makes it hard for us as well,” commented Ilinden coach Steve Zoric.

“It obviously made it hard for them, but they changed their structure and sat deep and made it very difficult for us to break down.

“We tried to stretch them and clip the ball to the far post and test them out that way but credit to them, they defended stealthily and kept their shape.

“It’s always difficult to come here and get anything but after they scored we adjusted our shape a little bit and got back into the game.

“It could have been a different story had Tomi’s [Wada] shot gone in but we battled hard today and I cannot be critical of the efforts the lads put in.”

Match Stats

Blacktown City 1 (Aoyama 8’)

Rockdale Ilinden 0

Blacktown City Sports Centre

Sunday, 6th March 2022

Referee: Christian Verdicchio

Assistant Referees: Amber Morris and Alexis Johnson

Fourth Official: Alessandro Llana

Blacktown City:  3. Daniel Collins, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 5. Grant Lynch, 6. Matthew Lewis, 11. Mitchell Mallia (22. Carlos De Oliviera 75’), 17. Dakota Askew (18. Nicholas O’Brien 82’), 19. Adam Berry, 21. Charles Mendy (7. Jordan Smylie 62’), 24. Jackson Bandiera, 30. Alex Robinson, 32. Hiroaki Aoyama (8. Jak O’Brien 46’)

Substitutes Not Used: 4. Caleb Jackson-Brown, 20. Cayden Henderson

Yellow Cards: Lewis 6’, Bandiera 24’, Campbell 29’

Red Cards: Lewis 40’, Bandiera 82’

Rockdale Ilinden: 1. David Bradasevic, 2. Daniel Petkovski (16. Mo Ahmed 79’), 4. Mitchell Stamatellis, 5. Will Mutch, 6. Daniel Araujo (88. Chris McStay 79’), 7. Alec Urosevski, 9. Bai Antoniou (11. Peter Kekeris 63’), 10. Tomoki Wada, 14. Brayden Sorge, 19. Pat Savor (8. Nikola Kuleski 54’), 23.J aden Casella

Substitutes Not Used: 3. Lachie Griffiths, 31. Matt Murrum

Yellow Cards: Araujo 16’, Antoniou 41’, Kekeris 90+3

Red Cards: Nil

Player Ratings

3 – Grant Lynch (BC)

2 – Mitchell Stamatellis (RI)

1 – Alex Robinson (BC)

By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Reporter Micky Brock